Time evolution of arc plasma geometric morphology in vacuum current breaker

The time evolution of the arc plasma morphology in vacuum current breaker (VCB) was experimentally measured with a high speed charge-coupled-device (CCD) camera, empirically approximated, and numerically analyzed in binary image morphological processing algorithm. First, the image threshold was phenomenally defined on the basis of the image intensity digitized with software Contour of MATLAB. Next, the time-dependent 2-D shapes and areas of the noises-filtered CCD images, enclosed by the external contours of both the arc plasma and the high energy plasma, and rapidly varying in the arc-initiation, arc-burning, arc-extinguishing anddielectric-recovery stages, were quantitatively investigated. Finally, the time-dependent variations in the difference of the two areas were evaluated. The results show that the arc plasma morphology describes well the main features in the steady state arc-burning and dielectric-recovery. We suggest that the results be of some technological interest in design and diagnosis of high voltage VCB. © 2015, Science Press. All right reserved.