Three-Dimensional Time-Dependent Model and Simulation of High-Current Vacuum Arc in Commercial Axial Magnetic Fields Vacuum Interrupters

With a quasi-steady 3-D MHD model, time-dependent axial magnetic field vacuum arcs (AMFVAs) characteristics in commercial vacuum interrupters for half-wave interruption of power-frequency (50 Hz) current are simulated. In a current time-dependent simulation, the influence of AMF lagged from arc current is considered in the arc model. 3-D spatial distributions of many important plasma parameters and electrical characteristics in AMFVAs can be obtained, such as ion number density, ion temperature, electron temperature, plasma pressure, current densities along different directions (
$x$
,
$y$
, and
$z$
), electric fields strength along different directions, and so on. Simulation results show that there exists a significant spiral-shaped rotational phenomena in the AMFVAs and the rotational velocity at the moments (9, 8, 7, and 6 ms) after 5 ms (the current peak value moment) is always larger than that before 5 ms (1, 2, 3, and 4 ms) because of the lagged AMF. This kind of plasma rotational phenomena also can be observed by high-speed arc photographs. In the future, the asymmetric appearance in high-current vacuum arc will be simulated based on a 3-D model.