Influence of External Transverse Magnetic Field on Post-arc Plasma Dissipation in Vacuum Interruption

The objective of this paper is to determine the influence of external transverse magnetic field (TMF) on the plasma dissipation process after current zero in vacuum interruption. A two-dimensional (2D) particle-in-cell (PlC) model was established. The results of 0~400mT TMF are studied. The results show that during the dissipation process of plasma, TMF enhances the particle collisions and produces more particles, which is not benefit to plasma dissipation. In addition, TMF increases the velocity of particles, which is benefit to the dissipation of plasma. Finally, under the influence of TMF on particle collisions and velocity, the time spent for post-arc plasma dissipation process decreases first and then increases with the increase of magnetic field.