Impact of the Metal Evaporation Rate in Vacuum Interrupters on Vapor Expansion and Deposition in Vacuum

Authors

  • A. E. Geisler Siemens Corporate Technology
  • N. Wenzel Siemens Corporate Technology

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14311/ppt.2019.2.165

Keywords:

vacuum interrupter, DSMC method, vapour deposition, insulator coating, vacuum arc

Abstract

The emission of contact material into vacuum after switching operation of a vacuum interrupter is crucial for the metallisation of the ceramic surfaces. This work focuses on the simulation of various regimes of metal vapour pressure using an extended version of an existing DSMC code that now allows the visualisation of the interaction types and locations during the vapour expansion. The model was applied to a typical vacuum interrupter geometry at different current levels between 3 A and 100 kA. The simulations show that in the low current case the likelihood for a particle hitting a ceramic surface can be more than a factor of 5 higher than in the high current case. An explanation of this observation will be given by analysing the interaction history of the respective particles.

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Published

2019-09-10

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 2 (2019)

Section

Articles

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