Research on the Simulation of Vacuum Arc under Low Current Interruption

For the vacuum arc, the parameters of the interelectrode plasma have influences on the electrode process. It is necessary to obtain the parameters and characteristics of the plasma by simulating the plasma among the electrodes. In this paper, based on the analysis of the existing vacuum arc model, combined with the characteristics of vacuum arc fault under different interrupting conditions, the effects of the mean charge number and the ion kinetic energy on the vacuum arc are considered. Moreover, the vacuum arc magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model is derived and boundary conditions are determined. And using Fluent software as the computing platform and VC++ self-programming method, the basic characteristics of the vacuum arc MHD model under 200A low current interruption are simulated for control the arc behavior.