‘The Fundamentals of Electric Arcs 3 can be altered by the application of a voltage across the electrodes. It can be ‘observed that an increase in the electrode’s potential produces an increased concentration of electron near the anode and of postive molecular ions near the cathode; thus creating what is known as space charges at the electrode boundaries. ‘The space charges lead to an increase in the electric field at the electrodes, ‘which will result in a decrease of the field in the space between the electrodes. ‘The drops of potential at the electrodes are known as the anode fall of poten- tial, or anode drop, and as the cathode fall of potential, or cathode drop. It was mentioned previously, that whenever the current reaches its satura- tion value the voltage applied across the electrodes and hence the electric field, ray be substantially increased without causing any noticeable increase in the discharge current. However as the electric field strength increases, so does the velocity of the charge carriers. and since an increase in velocity represents an increase in kinetic energy it is logical to expect that when these accelerated ‘charges collide with neutral particles new electrons will be expelled from these particles, thus, creating the condition known as shock ionization, In the event that the kinetic energy is not sufficient for fully ionizing a par- ticle itis possible that it will be enough to re-arrange the original grouping of the electrons by moving them from their normal orbits to orbits situated at a {greater distance trom the atom nucleus. mis state 18 described as the excited condition of the atoms; once this conditions is reached a smaller amount of ‘energy will be required in order to expel the shifted electron from this excited ‘awoui aud w produce complete iunization, 1is apparent den, that with a lesser energy level of the ionizing agent, successive impacts can initiate the process of shock ionization, ‘The current in the region of the non-celf-sustaining discharge ceases a soon as the extemal source is removed; However when the voltage reaches a certain critical level the current increases very rapidly and a spark results n the stablishing of a self-sustained discharge in the form of either a glow discharge or the electric are. Tn many cases, such as for example between parallel plane electrodes, the ‘transition from a non-self sustaining to a self-sustaining discharge leads to an immediate complete puncture or flashover which, provided that the voltage source is sufficiently high, will result in a continuonsly burning arc being es- tablished. In the event that a capacitor is discharged across the electrodes, the resulting discharge takes the form of a momentary spark. In other cases. where the electric field strenzth decreases rapidly as the distance between the electrodes increases, the discharge takes the form of a partial flashover. In this case the diclectric strength of the gas space is ex- ceeded only near the electrodes and as a result a luminous discharge known as “corona” appears around the electrodes.Chapter 1 — 250 Transition g Glow Region S 200 = & 150 ° 3 1004 Glow Nischarge ARC € Regions REGION S 50 0 .00001 1K Current (Amperes) Figure 1.1 Schematic representation of the voltage-current relationship of a self sustaining electrical discharge. 1.1.2 Self Sustaining Discharges The transition from a non-self-sustaining discharge to a self-sustained dis- charge is characterized by an increase in the current passing though the gas, whereas the voltage across the electrodes remains almost constant. When the electrode potential is increased to the point where ionization occurs freely, the Positive ions produced in the gas may strike the cathode with a force that is sufficient to eject the number of electrons necessary for maintaining the dis- charge. Under these circumstances no extemal means of excitation are needed ‘and the discharge is said to be self-sustaining, During the initial stages of the self-sustaining discharge the current density is only in the order of a few micro-amperes per square centimeter, the dis- charge has not yet become luminous and consequently itis called a dark dis- charge; However as the current continues to increase a luminous glow appears across the gas region between the clectrodes, and, as illustrated in figure 1.1, the stage known as the "glow discharge" takes place and the luminous glowThe Fundamentals of Electric Ares 5 then becomes visible. The colors of the glow differ between the various glow- ing regions and vary in accordance with the surrounding gas. In air, for exam- pl, the negative or cathode glow exhibits a very light bluish color and the positive column is salmon pink, The glow discharge characteristic have proven to be very important for applications dealing with illumination. ‘The region called the normal glow region ie that in which the current ic Low and the cathode is not completely covered by the cathode glow, the cathode current density at this time is constant and is independent of the discharge cur- rent, When the current is increased so that the cathode is completely covered by the negative glow, the current density has increased and so has the cathode ‘voltage drop and this region is called the abnormal glow region. As the current increases in the abnormal glow region the cathode drop space decreases in thickness. This leads to a condition where the energy im- parted to the positive ions is increased and the number of ionizing collisions encountered by an ion in the cathode drop space is decreased. The increased nergy of the incoming positive tons increase the cathode temperature which in tum leads to a condition of thermionic emission, that subsequently results in an increase in current that is accompanied by a rapid collapse in the discharge vyollage, Duting Unis uausitioual period, de physical ckaravteristics uf te dis- charge change from those of a glow discharge to those of a fully developed are. 4.2 The Electric Arc ‘The electric arc is a self-sustained clectrical discharge that exhibits a low volt- age drop, that is capable of sustaining large currents, and that it behaves like a non-linear resistor. Though the most commonly observed arc discharge occurs across air at atmospheric conditions, the arc discharge is also observed at high and low pressures, in a vacuum environment, and in a variety of gases and ‘metal vapors. The gases and vapors, that serve as conductors for the arc, origi- dats, paally Givi die clevuwdes, aud patty fiom dhe survuuding cnvisonncnt ‘and from their reaction products. The description of the electric arc will be arbitrarily divided into two separately identifiable types of arcs. This is done only ac an attempt to provide with a simpler way to relate to future subjects dealing with specific interrupting technologies. The first arc type will be iden- tified as the high pressure arc and the second type, which is an electric arc ‘burning in a vacuum environment, will be identified as a low pressure arc. 1.2.1 High Pressure Arcs High pressure arcs are considered to be those arcs that exist at, or above at- ‘mospheric pressures. The high pressure arc appears as a bright column charac- terized by having a small highly visible, brightly buming core consisting of ionized gases that convey the electric current. The core of the are always exist6 Chapter 1 at a very high temperature and therefore the gases are largely dissociated. The temperature of the arc core under conditions of natural air cooling reach tem peratures of ahont 60002 K while when sujected to forced cacling, tempera tures in excess of 20000° K have been observed. The higher temperatures that have been observed when the arc is being cooled at firsts appears to be a con- ‘radiction. One would think that under forced cooling conditions the tempera- ture should be lower, however the higher temperature is the result of a re- duction in the arc diameter which produces an increase in the current density of the plasma and consequently leads to the observed temperature increase, By comparing the cathode region of the arc with the cathode region of the slow discharge, itis seen that the cathode of the glow discharge has a fall of potential in the range of 100 to 400 volts, it has a low current density, the thermal effects do not contribute to the characteristics of the cathode and the light emitted from the region near the cathode has the spectrum of the gas sur- rounding te discharge. in contrast the cathode of the arc has a fall of potential of only about 10 volts, a very high current density, and the light that is emitted by the arc has the spectrum of the vapor of the cathode material. Some of the most notable arc characteristics, that have a favorable influ- cence during the interrupting process, are the fact that the arc can be easily fluenced and diverted by the action of a magnetic field or by the action of a high pressure fluid flow and that the arc behaves as a non-linear ohmic resis- tance. If the arc behaves like a resistors it follows then that the energy ab- sorbed in the arc is equal to the product of the arc voltage drop and the current flowing through the arc ‘Under constant current conditions the steady state arc is in thermal equilib- ‘inm, which means that the power lasces from the arc column are halanced by ‘the power input into the arc. However due to the energy storage capability of the arc there is a time lag between the instantancous power loss and the steady state losses and therefore at any given instant the power input to the arc, plus the power stored in the arc is equal to the power loss from the arc, This. time lag condition, as it will be seen later in this chapter, is extremely significant during the time of interruption, near current zero. ‘As a result of the local thermal equilibrium it is possible to treat the con ducting column of the arc as a hot gas which satisfies the equations of conser- vation of mass, momentum and energy. To which, all the thermodynamic laws ‘and Maxwell's electromagnetic equations apply. Thi implies that the gas composition, its thermal, and its electrical conductivity are factors which are essentially temperature determined. ‘The voltage drop across an arc can be divided into three distinct regions, as illustrated in figure 1.2. For short arcs the voltage drop appearing in a rela- tively thin region immediately in front of the cathode, represents a rather large percentage of the total arc voltage, This voltage drop across the region near the‘The Fundamentals of Electric Arcs 7 ANODE CATHODE ARCLENGTH __, Higure 1.2 Voltage distribution of an arc column, Va, represents the unode voluge; ‘Vo. represents the eathode voltage, and Vp, represents the positive column voltage. cathode is typically between 10 to 25 volts and is primarily a function of the ‘cathode material. In the opposite electrode, the anode drop, 1s generally be- ‘tween 5 to 10 volts. The voltage drop across the positive column of the arc is characterized by a uniform longitudinal voltage gradient, whose magnitude, in ‘the case of an are surrounded by a gascous environment, depends primarily on the type of gas, the gas pressure, the magnitude of the arc current, and the length of the column itself. Voltage values for the positive column gradient in the range of only a few volts per centimeter to several hundred volts per cen- timeter have been observed. ‘The first extensive study of the electric arc voltage relationships, for mod- crate levels of current and voltage, was made by Hertha Ayrton [1], who de ‘eloped a formula defining the arc voltage on the basis of empitical experi- ‘mental results. The relationship still is considered to be valid, and is still ‘widely used, although within a limited range of current and voltage. The classical Ayrton equation is given as: C+Da ey = A+ Bd8 Chapter 1 are current 4-19, BH11.4, C-21.4 and D-3 ‘The values of these constants 4, B, C, and D, are empirical values, for cop= per electrodes in air. ‘The current density at the cathode ts practically independent of the arc cur- rent, but it is strongly dependent upon the electrode material. In refractory ‘materials such as carbon, tungsten, or molybdenum, that have a high boiling, point, the cathode spot is observed to be relatively fixed, the cathode operates by shermionic emission and its current density is in the order of 10 amps per com’. The “cold cathode arc” is characteristic of low boiling point materials such as copper and mercury. The cathode spot in these materials is highly mobile, it operates in, some form of field emission and its current density is in the order of 10°to 10’ amps per cm’, In those materials that have a low boiling point a considerable amount of material is melted away from the electrodes; While the material losses of refractory materials is only due to vaporization, Under identical arcing conditions the refractory material losses are considera- bly less than the losses of low boiling point materials, and consequently this constitutes an important factor that must be kept on mind when sclecting ma- terials for circuit breaker contacts. 1.2.2 Low Pressure (Vacuum) Ares ‘The low pressure or vacuum arc, like those arcs that occur at, or above atmos- pheric pressure, chare mast af the came hasic characteristics just descrihes! for ‘the electric arc, but the most significant differences are: (a) An average arc voltage of only about 40 volt which is significantly lower than the are vollages observed in high pressure arcs. (b) The positive column of the vacuum arc is solely influenced by the electrode material because the positive column is ‘composed of metal vapors that have been boiled off from the electrodes; while in the high pressure arc the positive column is made up of ionized gases from the arc’s surrounding ambient. (c) Finally, and, perhaps the most significant and fundamental difference which is the unique characteristic of a vacuum arc that allows the arc to exist in either a diffuse mode or in a coalescent or con- stricted mode. The diffuse mode is characterized by a multitude of fast moving cathode spots and by what looks like a multiple number of arcs in parallel. It should be pointed out that this isthe only time when arcs in parallel can exist without the need of balancing, or establishing inductances. The magnitude of the current being carried by cach of the cathode spots is a function of the contact materi and in most cases is only approximately 100 amperes. Higher current densities