Investigation of the voltage of arc ignition between vacuum interrupter contacts after the arcing

We have investigated the arcing and dielectric recovery phenomena in a vacuum interrupter (VI) theoretically and experimentally. The measurement of discharge ignition voltage after high-current arc has been made. The Monte-Carlo technique is used to study the vacuum breakdown after arcing by computer simulation. It is assumed that cathodic processes lead to emission of metal vapor into the discharge gap and electrical breakdown vacuum gap proceeds by Townsend mechanism. Because of the absence of any data for second Townsend coefficient for the copper ion, the calculation of absolute value of ignition voltage was made possible by calibrating the result by the experimental value at minimum Paschen curve.