A Proposal of a New Evaluation Scheme of Pips and Craters Formed by Arc Discharges on Electrical Contact Surfaces

摘要

A new scheme for evaluation of shapes of pips and craters formed by arc discharges on electrical contact surfaces is proposed. Measuring a height of a pip or a depth of a crater as well as an average diameter thereof with a scanning laser microscope and then putting a plot having the measured values as its vertical and horizontal coordinates enable us to numerically and briefly evaluate shapes of those pips and craters on arc-damaged contact surfaces. Some exemplary results obtained by this evaluation scheme are presented here.