INVESTIGATION OF THE RECOVERY BEHAVIOUR OF A SMALL SWITCHING GAP AFTER CURRENT INTERRUPTION

The recovery behaviour of switching arcs in a small gap was investigated experimentally. Therefore a simple mechanical model switch without an arcing chamber was designed. For the investigation the current carring contacts are separated. After various arcing times, the current is interrupted by an electronic switch. At a fixed contact distance, the switching gap was tested with variable voltages to investigate the dielectric strength. Based on these results the recovery behaviour was studied using the Weibull distribution function.