The influence from the residual magnetic field on the plasma dissipation in the post-arc phase in a vacuum interrupter

Axial magnetic field (AMF) contact structures are often adopted for promoting interruption ability in the vacuum interrupters. After current-zero, there still exists residual magnetic field in the contact gap result from the eddy current. As a consequence, the plasma dissipation process which recovers the dielectric strength of the vacuum interrupter, was influenced immediately in the post-arc phase. The objective of this paper is to investigate the influence from the residual magnetic field on the plasma dissipation in the post-arc phase. A full kinetic 1D3V PIC model was built. From the results, it was found that the influence from the axial magnetic field component B_z on the plasma dissipation could be neglected. While the transverse magnetic field component B_t could trap the residual plasma and decelerate the plasma dissipation process.