Abstract:There are several hundreds of spots operating simultaneously on cathodes of vacuum arcs in high-power vacuum circuit breakers. In this work, the spot distribution along the contact surface is simulated by means of an approach that is based on the concept of surface density of spots and represents a natural alternative to tracing individual spots. An equation governing the evolution of the surface density of the spots or, equivalently, the distribution of macroscopic (averaged over individual spots) current den… Show more
In this paper, a numerical simulation on the interaction between the double cathode spot craters in the vacuum arc is carried out. By establishing a double-cathode spot ablation model, the crater development process when two spots coexist is simulated, and the formation mechanism of cathode spot groups is analyzed. The simulation results show that the two cathode spots appearing on the flat electrode would squeeze each other to form a liquid metal ridge, which changed the ablation morphology of the cathode spots. When the double-spot arc craters appear simultaneously, the metal ridge will be squeezed into a straight line, otherwise, when the spots appear one after another, the liquid metal ridge will shift toward the side of the spot that appears first. The relative experimental results are adopted to compare with the simulation results. By comparison, it is found that the morphology of the multi-spot crater in the experiment is in agreement with the simulation results.
In this paper, a numerical simulation on the interaction between the double cathode spot craters in the vacuum arc is carried out. By establishing a double-cathode spot ablation model, the crater development process when two spots coexist is simulated, and the formation mechanism of cathode spot groups is analyzed. The simulation results show that the two cathode spots appearing on the flat electrode would squeeze each other to form a liquid metal ridge, which changed the ablation morphology of the cathode spots. When the double-spot arc craters appear simultaneously, the metal ridge will be squeezed into a straight line, otherwise, when the spots appear one after another, the liquid metal ridge will shift toward the side of the spot that appears first. The relative experimental results are adopted to compare with the simulation results. By comparison, it is found that the morphology of the multi-spot crater in the experiment is in agreement with the simulation results.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.