A Review of Surface Erosion Measurements in Low Voltage Switching Devices

摘要

Consideration is given to the arc erosion of switching contacts in low voltage devices. To constrain the scope of this review the main focus will be on devices types typically used in domestic and light industrial applications. The purpose of the review is to introduce methods for the evaluation of some of the underlying physical phenomena in switching arcs and not to focus on the commercial testing of devices where international standards are often used to define the testing programme. The commercial testing of manufactured devices will often make it difficult to develop a detailed understanding of the physical phenomena. In this paper a brief review of testing methods is followed by a detailed review of the evaluation of 3D surface erosion using surface scanning methods.