Sheath expansion and plasma dynamics in the presence of electrode evaporation: Application to a vacuum circuit breaker

Journal Article · Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 2009 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3204969· OSTI ID:21361797

Sarrailh, P ^[1]; Garrigues, L; Hagelaar, G J. M.; Boeuf, J P ^[1]; Sandolache, G; Rowe, S ^[2]

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1. UPS, INPT, LAPLACE (Laboratoire Plasma et Conversion d'Energie), Universite de Toulouse, 118 route de Narbonne, F-31062 Toulouse Cedex 9 (France)
2. Schneider Electric, Centre de Recherche 38 TEC, 38050 Grenoble Cedex 09 (France)

During the postarc dielectric recovery phase in a vacuum circuit breaker, a cathode sheath forms and expels the plasma from the electrode gap. The success or failure of current breaking depends on how efficiently the plasma is expelled from the electrode gap. The sheath expansion in the postarc phase can be compared to sheath expansion in plasma immersion ion implantation except that collisions between charged particles and atoms generated by electrode evaporation may become important in a vacuum circuit breaker. In this paper, we show that electrode evaporation plays a significant role in the dynamics of the sheath expansion in this context not only because charged particle transport is no longer collisionless but also because the neutral flow due to evaporation and temperature gradients may push the plasma toward one of the electrodes. Using a hybrid model of the nonequilibrium postarc plasma and cathode sheath coupled with a direct simulation Monte Carlo method to describe collisions between heavy species, we present a parametric study of the sheath and plasma dynamics and of the time needed for the sheath to expel the plasma from the gap for different values of plasma density and electrode temperatures at the beginning of the postarc phase. This work constitutes a preliminary step toward understanding and quantifying the risk of current breaking failure of a vacuum arc.

• OSTI ID: 21361797
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 106, Issue 5; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3204969; (c) 2009 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
CATHODES
CHARGED PARTICLES
CHARGED-PARTICLE TRANSPORT
CIRCUIT BREAKERS
DIELECTRIC MATERIALS
EVAPORATION
ION IMPLANTATION
MONTE CARLO METHOD
PARAMETRIC ANALYSIS
PLASMA
PLASMA DENSITY
TEMPERATURE GRADIENTS
CALCULATION METHODS
ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT
ELECTRODES
EQUIPMENT
EQUIPMENT PROTECTION DEVICES
MATERIALS
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
RADIATION TRANSPORT