Effects of Fast Elongation on Switching Arcs Characteristics in Fast Air Switches

Ali Kadivar and Kaveh Niayesh
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Ali Kadivar: Department of Electric Power Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7034 Trondheim, Norway
Kaveh Niayesh: Department of Electric Power Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7034 Trondheim, Norway

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 18, 1-23

Abstract: This paper is devoted to investigating the effects of high-speed elongation of arcs inside ultra-fast switches ( u contact ≈ 5–80 m/s), through a 2-D time-dependent model, in Cartesian coordinates. Two air arcs in series, one between a stationary anode and a moving cathode and the other between a stationary cathode and a moving anode in the arc chamber, are considered. A variable speed experimental setup through a Thomson drive actuator is designed to support this study. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) equations system is solved for fluid velocity, pressure, temperature, and electric potential, as well as the magnetic vector potential. Electron emission mechanisms on the contact surface and induced current density due to magnetic field changes are also considered to describe the arc root formation, arc bending, lengthening, and calculating the arc current density, as well as the contact temperatures, in a better way. Data processing techniques are utilized to derive instantaneous core shape and profiles of the arc to investigate thermo-electrical characteristics during the elongation progress. The results are compared with another experimentally verified magnetohydrodynamics model of a fixed-length, free-burning arc in the air. The simulation and experimental results confirm each other.

Keywords: air arc plasma; Thomson actuator; magnetohydrodynamic simulations; fast switch (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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