Study of electric arc behavior by radiated field analysis for HVDC airborne application

This paper presents in details a study, in order to detect an electrical serial arc, on a DC network, by using an electric antenna. An electric signature, linked to the arc phenomenon and independent of the circuit impedance, is identified as a good marker for the detection. An electric antenna is proposed, in order to detect this signature: the detection principle is explained and studied by both experiments and simulation, and an optimized design is proposed. The chosen antenna is tested by creating a serial arc on an airborne terminal block. At last, perspectives are given in order to assess the detection performances and robustness.