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In this paper, the relationship between the external transverse magnetic field (TMF) and the ignition probability of new cathode spot in different directions is developed assuming that the ignition probability of a new cathode spot is proportional to the magnetic pressure around the old one. Furthermore, a method is established to simulate the 2-D motion of a cathode spot step-by-step. With this approach, stepwise simulations of the 2-D retrograde motion of a single Cu cathode spot are carried out in a large range of flux density of TMF ( ${B}_{\rm {em}}$ ). Simulation results indicate that, if the self-generated magnetic field ${B}_{\rm {sm}}$ exceeds the applied magnetic field ${B}_{\rm {em}}$ , i.e., ${B}_{\textrm {em}}\le {B}_{\rm {sm}}$ , there is a linear relationship between the velocity of the retrograde motion and ${B}_{\rm {em}}$ , in certain range of ${B}_{\rm {em}}$ , after which the velocity of the retrograde motion increases slowly and nonlinearly with further increase of ${B}_{\textrm {em}}$ . This phenomenon agrees well with relevant experiment results. In the linear stage, the dependence of velocity constant on the spatial step and the temporal step of the motion of cathode spot is investigated as well. Moreover, when ${B}_{\rm {em}}>{B}_{\rm {sm}}$ , the velocity of cathode spot decreases with the increase of ${B}_{\textrm {em}}$ , even the macroscopic motion is still in the retrograde direction. This effect might also contribute to the reversal of cathode spot motion from the retrograde direction to the Amperian direction at strong TMF besides the predominant effect of the deflection of arc column toward the Amperian direction.

The expansion speed of cathode spots (CSs) in the initial expansion stage of high-current triggered vacuum arc was investigated experimentally. Experiments were conducted with butt contacts in a demountable vacuum chamber. Images of CSs were photographed with a high-speed digital camera with exposure time of 2 μs. The uniform constant axial magnetic field (AMF) was supplied by an external magnetic field coil. The combined influence of contact gap of 2-10 mm and AMF of 0-70 mT on CSs expansion speed in the initial expansion stage was mainly investigated. Investigation results indicated that the variation of contact gap could influence the CSs expansion speed by changing the plasma density inside the cathode arc root in two ways: loss of arc plasma and constriction of arc column. AMF could weaken these two effects caused by the variation of contact gap. In addition, experimental results indicated that there existed a critical current for a given AMF. If the arc current peak was less than the critical current, the given AMF could inhibit the arc column constriction effectively both at contact gap of 8 and 10 mm, which could maintain the dependence that CSs expansion speed increased with contact gap; otherwise, the constriction of arc column played a major role in the influence on CSs expansion speed. In this case, the CSs expansion speed was lower at contact gap of 10 mm than that at 8 mm.

This paper analyzes how removing oxide layer on metal surface by vacuum arc could be a green substitute for the traditional acid-washing and mechanical cleaning technique widely used in the metallurgical industry, which is harmful to the environment. In this paper, the effects of vacuum arc on removing oxide layer on the surface of carbon-steel tubes, which were used as the cathode, is investigated experimentally. External coils are used to generate transverse magnetic field (TMF) driving cathode spots to rotate on tube surface. Experiments are conducted in a vacuum chamber with Ar as the protection gas under different TMF flux densities. Arc images are captured by a high-speed digital camera with an exposure time of 2 $\mu{\rm s}$ . The influence of transverse magnetic flux density on the characteristics of arc and descaling effect is mainly investigated.

In this paper, the influence of an axial magnetic field (AMF) on the expansion speed of cathode spots (CSs) in the initial expansion stage of high-current triggered vacuum arc is investigated experimentally in a demountable vacuum chamber. Butt contacts with contact plate material of oxygen-free high-thermal-conductivity Cu and CuCr25 were used in experiments. Images of CSs are photographed with a high-speed digital camera with an exposure time of 2 $\mu{\rm s}$ . The uniform constant AMF in the intercontact region is supplied by external magnetic field coil. Experimental results indicate that, in an arc stabilized by AMF, CS expansion speed also increases with the increase of $di/dt$ , which is the same as that in arc burning freely. In addition, quasi-quantitative analysis of the experimental results show that the bending and lengthening of CS motion trajectory in AMF are not sufficient to explain the decrease of CS expansion speed with AMF. Another reason might be related to the inhibitory effect of AMF on the loss of arc plasma, which could also contribute to the decrease of CS expansion speed.

In a drawn vacuum arc, the arc sequence begins with the bridge column arc formed after the rupture of the molten metal bridge. This column evolves into the transition mode, which consists of a central column with few or no cathode spots outside the column, and then develops into the fully diffuse mode. In this paper, the influence of arc ignition position on arc characteristics in the transition mode of a drawn vacuum arc was investigated experimentally in a demountable vacuum chamber. Practical cup-shaped axial magnetic field (AMF) contacts were used in the experiments. Arc characteristics were investigated with the aid of a high-speed digital camera with an exposure time of 2 μs. Experimental results indicated that the characteristics of the arc and arc voltage, particularly the peak in the arc voltage waveform, in the transition mode of a drawn vacuum arc in cup-shaped AMF contacts were closely related to the arc ignition position.

The initial expansion process in a drawn vacuum arc and the influence of axial magnetic field (AMF) were investigated experimentally in a demountable vacuum chamber. Arc characteristics were investigated with the aid of a high-speed digital camera with an exposure time of 2 μs . In a drawn vacuum arc, the arc sequence begins with the bridge column arc formed after the rupture of the molten metal bridge. This column evolves into the transition mode, which consisted of a central column with few or no cathode spots (CSs) outside the column, and then into the fully diffuse mode. Experimental results indicated that in transition mode arc, the expansion process could be characterized by the appearance of CSs outside the central column, and could be classified into two patterns, “slow” expansion and “quick” expansion according to the characteristics of the formation and motion of new CSs (conducting channels) outside the central column of arc. The influence of AMF and its distribution on the expansion process was also investigated. Investigation results indicated that AMF had two contrary effects, i.e., inhibiting effect and prompting effect, on the initial expansion stage of drawn vacuum arc. Furthermore, saddle-shaped AMF could encourage the arc transition into diffuse mode more effectively than bell-shaped AMF.

The method of magnetic field calculation and its influence on simulating the motion of cathode spots (CSs) in a vacuum arc were investigated in this paper. A method based on coordinate transformation and magnetic field superposition principle was proposed. In this method, the influence of current passing through an electrode rod and a contact plate was taken into account. Comparison was made between the proposed method and two simplified methods which were on the basis of the Biot-Savart law. Moreover, simulation results of CS motion with magnetic field calculated by different methods were shown and compared. Investigation results indicated that current passing through the contact plate and electrode rod could significantly influence the magnetic field and thus influence the simulation results of CS motion. Furthermore, it was shown that the proposed magnetic field calculation method had higher calculation accuracy with acceptable consumption of calculation time.

Experiments on a drawn vacuum arc with forced current zero, which was formed by injection of a countercurrent with a frequency of 1 kHz, were conducted in a detach able vacuum chamber. The prospective peak main current was 3.5 kA. Arc characteristics were investigated with the aid of a high-speed digital camera with an exposure time of 2 μs. In this paper, the influence of axial magnetic field (AMF) distribution and anode material on the evolution of vacuum arc in the initial expanding stage is mainly investigated. Three types of electrodes were used in the experiments. One of them was simple electrodes with butt contact plates, and the other two types were specially designed electrodes generating a conventional bell-shaped AMF profile and a saddle-shaped AMF distribution, respectively. OFHC copper and WCu10 were used as anodes for the electrodes with bell-shaped AMF. The appearance of vacuum arc in the forced current-zero stage is also investigated.

Much research has been done on the motion of low-current vacuum-arc cathode spots (CSs). The relationship between the motion velocity of CSs and the magnetic field, particularly the relationship between the direction of CS motion and the ratio of Bz/Bt, has been revealed. However, little investigation on the motion of CSs in high-current vacuum arcs has been conducted before. In this paper, the motion of CSs of high-current vacuum arcs under different axial magnetic fields was experimentally investigated. Simultaneously, calculation of the motion of CSs based on the empirical formula has been done, and comparison with experiments and analysis were given. Experiments were conducted in a detachable vacuum chamber with an arc current of 10 kA (root mean square). Images of CSs were photographed with a high-speed digital camera with an exposure time of 2 μs. With computer-aided numerical processing, the spatial distribution of the CSs was obtained, based on which the magnitude and direction of the CS motion velocity were calculated, and the CS motion trajectories around the current peak were plotted. Results indicated that the properties of the CS motion in high-current vacuum arcs are similar to those in low-current vacuum arcs.

Characteristics of the arc voltage under different profiles of axial magnetic field were investigated experimentally in a detachable vacuum chamber with five pairs of specially designed electrodes generating both bell-shaped and saddle-shaped magnetic field profile. The arc column and cathode spot images were photographed by a high speed digital camera. The dependence of the arc voltage on arcing evolution is analyzed. It is indicated that the axial magnetic field profile could affect the arc behaviors significantly, and the arc voltage is closely related to the arc light intensity.

The theoretical and experimental studies of cathode plasma jets in vacuum arc and the effect of magnetic field on them have been under way for several years. In this paper, different axial magnetic field electrodes were tested in a vacuum chamber, obvious individual cathode plasma jets were observed, and the cathode-jet inclination was also detected. Based on the numerical calculation of magnetic field in interelectrode region and the measurement of cathode-jet inclination in experimental results, it is proven that the inclination angle of composite magnetic field (the combination of the axial, the azimuthal, and the radial components) is consistent with the inclination angle of cathode plasma jets, which indicates that the cathode plasma jets in the arc column flow along the magnetic-field direction when the high-current vacuum arc is diffused or even constricted slightly. Meanwhile, it was also found that plasma jets far from the cathode surface mixed with each other and became ambiguous when the electrode gap increases to a certain distance.

The influence of the distribution of axial magnetic fields (AMFs) was investigated experimentally with three pairs of specially designed testing electrodes generating a conventional bell-shaped AMF profile and different saddle-shaped AMF distributions. The characteristics of high-current vacuum arcs (HCVAs) up to 20 kA (rms), e.g., the shape of the arc column and the distribution of cathode spots, were investigated with the aid of a high-speed digital camera with an exposure time of 2 mus. Experimental results further manifested the distinct influence of AMF distribution on the characteristics of HCVAs. Saddle-shaped AMFs could resist the constriction of HCVAs more efficiently than traditional bell-shaped AMFs. Furthermore, cathode spots in saddle-shaped AMFs distributed more uniformly than that in bell-shaped AMFs. It was found that AMFs in the central region of saddle-shaped AMFs should not be too weak. Otherwise, cathode spots would be out of control in the central region as observed in experiments. The ldquooptimalrdquo minimal AMF in the central region was estimated to be about 3-4 mT/kA.

In this paper, the initial expansion process after trigger of vacuum arc was investigated experimentally with two typical axial-magnetic-field (AMF) distributions, i.e., bell-shaped AMF generated by traditional cup-shaped AMF electrodes and saddle-shaped AMF generated by specially designed coil-type AMF electrodes. The motion of cathode spots (CSs) in the initial expansion process was investigated by high-speed digital camera with exposure time of 2 mus. Experimental results indicated that CSs expanded faster under saddle-shaped AMF than under bell-shaped AMF at 5 (rms), 10, 15, and 20 kA. Furthermore, the motion of CSs slowed down between 15 and 20 kA in the case of bell-shaped AMF, whereas CSs tended to quicken up with the increase of arc current under saddle-shaped AMF. Based on the images of CSs, it was proposed that, besides direct influence of AMF on the retrograde motion of CSs, the concentration of CSs at relatively high current and strong central AMF could also inhibit the outward motion in the initial expansion process.

The influence of lagged axial magnetic field (AMF) due to eddy current induced in contacts system on the distribution of cathode spots (CSs) in current-zero stage of vacuum arc with different current falling rates was investigated experimentally. Experiments were conducted with cup-shaped AMF contacts in a demountable vacuum chamber. The characteristic of CSs distribution of triggered vacuum arc in current-zero stage with arc current frequency of 50Hz was investigated at first with the aid of a high-speed digital camera with an exposure time of 2 microseconds. Then the characteristic of CSs distribution with faster current falling rate, which was realized by injecting a countercurrent with frequency of 500Hz or 1kHz, was investigated. Moreover, the lagged AMF flux density in current-zero stage with different current falling rates was calculated by ANSYS. Research results showed that CSs located in the center of contact plate tended to extinguish earlier than those at periphery of contact plate in fast current-zero stage due to the stronger lagged AMF in contact center.

Cathode spots (CSs) expansion speed in the initial expansion stage in high-current triggered vacuum arc was investigated experimentally. Experiments were conducted with butt contacts in a demountable vacuum chamber. Alternating current with frequency of 50Hz and peak value of 3kA∼11kA was used. Images of CSs were photographed with a high-speed digital camera with exposure time of 2 microseconds. The influence of arc current rise rate and axial magnetic field (AMF), which was supplied by external magnetic field coil, on CSs expansion speed was mainly investigated. Experimental results indicated that, in the initial expansion stage, as the arc current increased linearly, CSs expansion speed was nearly a constant, which was proportional to the current rise rate. Experimental results also showed that CSs expansion speed decreased with the increase of AMF flux density.

It has been investigated that removing oxide layer on metal surface by vacuum arc can be a “green” substitute for traditional acid-washing technique and mechanical cleaning technique widely used in metallurgical industry, which is harmful to environment. In this paper, the effect of vacuum arc on removing oxide layer on the surface of carbon-steel tube, which was used as the cathode, was investigated experimentally. External coils were used to generate transverse magnetic field driving cathode spots to rotate on tube surface. Experiments were conducted in a detachable vacuum chamber in different transverse magnetic field flux densities. Arc images were taken by a high-speed digital camera with an exposure time of 2 microseconds. The influence of magnetic flux density on the motion of cathode spots and descaling effect was analyzed.

A lot of research work has been done on the motion of low-current vacuum arc cathode spot. The relationship between cathode spot (CS) motion velocity, which contained magnitude and direction, and magnetic field was revealed, especially the relationship between direction of CS motion and the ratio of Bt/Bn. However, the motion of CSs in high-current vacuum arc has received less investigation. Thus we investigated the CSs motion of high-current vacuum arc in different axial magnetic field electrode by experiment. Experiments were conducted in a detachable vacuum chamber with arc current of 10kA (rms). Images of cathode spots were photographed by a high speed digital camera with an exposure time of 2 microseconds. With computer aided numerical processing, spatial distribution of cathode spots was obtained, based on which the magnitude and direction of CS motion velocity were calculated, and CS motion trajectory around current peak was plot. Results indicated that the properties of CSs motion in high-current vacuum arc were same to that in low-current vacuum arc.

In this paper, the motion of high-current vacuum arc cathode spots is simulated numerically. The transverse magnetic field is computed by commercial software ANSYS with the current distribution in contact plate taken into account. The initial expansion process of cathode spots in triggered vacuum arc under self-generated azimuthal magnetic field without external AMF is simulated at first as a reference. Then three kinds of external AMF distributions are applied, i.e. uniform AMF, bell-shaped AMF and saddle-shaped AMF distribution. Simulation results show that cathode spots expand faster without external applied AMF than that under AMF. Further more, the distribution of AMF has significant influence on the motion pattern and the distribution of cathode spots on cathode surface, e.g., the concentration of cathode spots in the centre region under bell-shaped AMF is more serious than that under saddle-shaped AMF. The results also show that a ring-shaped distribution of cathode spots is not a stable configuration.

The influence of the distribution of axial magnetic filed (AMF) was investigated experimentally with three pairs of specially designed testing electrodes generating conventional bell-shaped AMF profile and different saddle-shaped AMF distributions. The characteristics of high-current vacuum arc (HCVA) up to 20 kA (rms), e.g., the shape of arc column, and the distribution of cathode spots, was investigated with the aid of high-speed digital camera with exposure of 2 mus. Experimental results further manifested the distinct influence of AMF distribution on the characteristics of high-current vacuum arc. Saddle-shaped AMF could resist the constriction of high-current vacuum arc more efficiently than traditional bell-shaped AMF. Furthermore, cathode spots in saddle-shaped AMF distributed more uniformly than that in bell-shaped AMF. It was found that AMF in the central region of saddle-shaped AMF should not be too weak. Otherwise, cathode spots would be out of control in the central region as observed in experiments. The ldquooptimalrdquo minimal AMF in central region was estimated to be about 3-4 mT/kA.

The motion of cathode spots in the initial expansion process of triggered vacuum arc under bell-shaped and saddle-shaped AMF was investigated with the aid of high-speed digital camera with exposure time of 2 microseconds. Experimental results indicated that cathode spots expanded faster under saddle-shaped AMF than under bell-shaped AMF. Furthermore, the motion of cathode spots slowed down between 15 kA and 20 kA in the case of bell-shaped AMF, whereas, cathode spots tended to quicken up with the increase of arc current under saddle-shaped AMF. Based on the images of cathode spots, it was proposed that the concentration of cathode spots at relatively high current and strong central AMF could also inhibit the outward motion in the initial expansion process.