Temperature measurement and arc rotation observation of spiral-type contact

In this paper, the authors report the relation between the arc rotation and the temperature of contact surface. The interruption tests were performed with the vacuum chamber equipped with spiral-type contacts. The rotation of vacuum arc was observed with high speed cameras from two different directions. The temperature of the contact surface was estimated from emission intensity measured by high speed camera with the infrared band-pass filter. Local surface overheating occurs with slow-speed arc rotation, whereas surface temperature rises homogeneously with high-speed arc rotation. In addition, differences of arc behavior certainly effects on the interrupting performance.