4th International Conference on Electric Power Equipment– Switching Technology (ICEPE-2017)

611 / 2017-05-15 16:55:39

Time-resolved radiation measurement and energy balance of air arc

Energy balance,radiation measurement,electrode material,electrode erosion

To improve the interruption performance of electric switching apparatus, it is critical to understand how the injected energy is dissipated between the electrodes. In this paper, the time-resolved energy balance of air arc is investigated under various currents and electrode materials. The total energy injected to the arc is divided into two parts: energy transferred to electrodes which mostly causes the melt and vaporization of the electrodes; energy dissipated from the arc column to the surrounding air by radiation, convection and conduction. Relevant data including arc voltage, arc current, radiation power of the arc and the ablated mass of two electrodes are recorded in real time. Under some assumptions and approximation, the time-resolved power balance can be obtained. The test results show that the metallic vapor has the strong effect on the radiation power.