Dielectric recovery of short gaps following current interruption: with particular application in sulphur hexaflouride

Results of measurements of the dielectric recovery characteristics of free-burning SF₆ arc columns are reported for step interruption of quasi-direct current. It is shown that the temperature decay of the recovering column and the dielectric recovery voltage envelope may be calculated with sufficient accuracy using a simple arc model in which the only cooling during the arc channel decay is thermal conduction. It is hypothesized that the initial delay often observed in the rise of the dielectric recovery of free burning are may be attributed to arc column phenomena rather than electrode phenomena as was previously the case