Experiments on Dielectric Recovery of Switching Arcs

摘要

An experimental facility to investigate the extinction of switching arcs in various gases was built. The temporal evolution of the arc diameter, density, temperature, and withstand voltage were studied during extinction of high-current arc discharges in argon, nitrogen, air and carbon-dioxide gases. The gas column in the early afterglow during the recovery phase can be described as a variable resistance and later as a dielectric gas. The value of the resistance depends on recombination processes and is mainly determined by gas pressure and gas composition. The breakdown strength in the late afterglow depends on gas-temperature (or neutral density) decay and on the remaining degree of ionization.