Cathode erosion rate in high-pressure arcs: influence of swirling gas flow

Author

Nemchinsky, Valerian

Author_Institution

Francis Marion Univ., Florence, SC, USA

Volume

30

Issue

6

fYear

2002

fDate

12/1/2002 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

2113

Lastpage

2116

Abstract

Cathode erosion in a 400-A arc burning in oxygen at 4-atm pressure was measured at different gas dynamic conditions near the cathode. The flow pattern near the cathode was changed by varying the swirl of the gas entering the discharge chamber. Experiments showed that the erosion rate depends on the swirl in a very strong way. Model calculations of velocity distribution showed that the gas velocity near the cathode increases as the swirl intensifies. According to our model, it leads to an increase of the net evaporation rate (evaporation rate minus rate of previously evaporated particles returning back to the cathode).

Keywords

arcs (electric); cathodes; high-pressure effects; plasma flow; plasma pressure; plasma-wall interactions; swirling flow; 4 atm; 400 A; O; arc burning; cathode erosion rate; discharge chamber; electrode erosion; flow pattern; gas dynamic conditions; gas flow; gas rotation; gas velocity; gasdynamic calculations; gasdynamic conditions; high-pressure arcs; net evaporation rate; swirl dependence; swirl intensification; swirling gas flow; Cathodes; Fluid flow; Fluid flow measurement; IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science; Ionization; Plasma applications; Plasma temperature; Pressure measurement; Temperature dependence; Vacuum arcs;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Plasma Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0093-3813

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TPS.2002.807328

Filename

1178833