Investigation of transient processes in a vacuum arc with a sharp voltage increase

Abstract

The work is devoted to the study of transient processes in a vacuum arc discharge with a sharp change in power supply parameters. For this purpose, an experimental setup was developed and assembled that allows the arc discharge to be powered using pulses shaped like a stage. The pulse contained areas with constant voltage and areas with a sharp transition to a new voltage level. The duration of such transitions was less than 10 ns. Transient processes at the front of the arc current and plasma glow were investigated. As a result of the experiments, it was revealed that the arc current practically does not differ from the short-circuit current under the same conditions. At the same time, the plasma glow after a sharp increase in current and voltage contains a series of pulses of increasing intensity with durations from 30 to 50 ns. This behavior of the arc discharge can be explained by the synchronization of the life cycles of the cathode spot cells (“ecton” processes).