Ring-Shaped Capacitive Probes for Determination of Spatial Arc Voltage Distribution in High-Voltage Circuit Breaker Model

To deeply understand interrupting phenomena in high-voltage circuit breakers, it is important to measure the electrical characteristics of switching arcs in high-speed gas flow at current zero. A ring-shaped capacitive probe is proposed to measure a spatial arc voltage distribution. The configuration of the probe is decided by considering the effects of arc position and arc radius. The difference between arc voltage distributions is distinguished for an interrupting current of 12 and 30 kA on interrupting tests using the circuit breaker model.