TWO CHANNEL EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP FOR THE STUDY OF A VACUUM BREAKER PLASMA RADIATION

摘要

The object of the investigation is the radiation emitted by the metal plasma in a low voltage vacuum breaker. The time evolution of the visible radiation was recorded by means of a fast two-channel detection set-up that provides sufficient space resolution to follow the vacuum arc development in experiments done at 1-2 kA arc currents. The analysis of the radiation signals made possible to point some features of the arc evolution within the interelectrode gap such as asymmetric discharge initiation, arc movement from one viewed region to another, as well as the presence of sharp peaks in the emitted light that cannot be explained by the arc dynamics.