Optical Investigations on Plasma Temperature Estimation in a Model Spark Gap for Surge Currents

In this experimental investigation optical emission spectroscopy is used to characterize the radiation of the plasma in a spark gap during surge. Different approaches are used, compared and discussed in order to estimate plasma temperatures. The measurements were carried out in a narrow gap arrangement based on spark gap technology. This model is tested using 8/20 µs surge currents according to the IEC 62475 with amplitudes of 5 kA and 11 kA

Spectroscopic Measurements of Arc Temperatures in a Model HV Circuit Breaker

Optical emission spectroscopy was applied to determine radial plasma temperature profiles over the arc cross section of an axially blown arc. Two gases are investigated - technical air and CO2. The diagnostics is based on optical emission spectroscopy in appropriate wavelength ranges containing atomic and ionic lines of oxygen as well as nitrogen and carbon, respectively. Radial temperature profiles are obtained from emission coefficients including pressure measurements and calculated plasma compositions

Analysis of C2 Swan Bands in Ablation-Dominated Arcs in CO2 Atmosphere

A model circuit breaker in a high-pressure chamber filled with CO2 atmosphere is used to operate a wall-stabilized arc of several kilo-amperes between tungsten-copper electrodes surrounded by polytetrafluoroethylene nozzles. Optical emission spectroscopy (OES) is carried out via quartz plates inserted into the nozzles using a combination of an imaging spectrometer either with a high-speed video camera or with an ICCD camera. Depending on the nozzle geometry and the current, continuum from C2 Swan bands was detected as absorption as well as emission pattern. After current zero, optical absorption spectroscopy (OAS) using a xenon flashlamp as broadband background radiator was applied. An absorption around 493 nm was detected and attributed to CuF molecules. The study proofs the existence of C2 in the active phase and the formation of CuF near to current zero

Emission Spectroscopy During High-Current Anode Modes in Vacuum Arc

A vacuum interrupter reaches its interruption limit once high-current anode phenomena occur. High-current anode modes lead to an increase of the anode surface temperature and an increased generation of metal vapor, which may result in a weakening of the dielectric recovery strength after current zero. In this work, different discharge modes in a vacuum arc for AC 50 Hz including diffuse, footpoint, anode spot type 1 and type 2, and anode plume are investigated. Electrodes made of CuCr7525 with diameter of 10 mm are used. The final gap length is about 20 mm. Time and space resolved optical emission spectroscopy is used to examine the temporal and spatial distribution of atomic and ionic copper lines. The distribution of atomic and ionic lines parallel and perpendicular to the anode surface is investigated. Radiator density is also determined for CuI, CuII, and CuIII near the anode surface

Determination of Cr Density in the Active Phase of a High-current Vacuum Arcs

Melting and evaporation of the anode surface strongly influence the interruption capability of vacuum circuit breakers, because they lead to injection of atomic vapour into the inter-electrode gap. Determination of the vapour density and its dynamics with respect to different anode phenomena is therefore of great importance. Results of Cr density measurements in a high-current vacuum arc by using broadband absorption spectroscopy are presented. The vapour density of atomic Cr is determined after the formation of anode spots as well as close to the current zero. Cr I resonance lines at 425.43 nm have been used for the analysis. An AC current pulse with maximum value of 7 kA and a frequency of 100 Hz is applied to a vacuum arc between two cylindrical butt electrodes made of CuCr7525 with a diameter of 10 mm. The high-current anode modes are observed by means of high-speed camera imaging. The temporal evolution of the Cr ground state density is presented and discussed

Spectroscopic Study of Arc Temperature Profiles of a Switching-off Process in a Model Chamber

A model chamber was applied to emulate a switching-off process which is very similar to those in real high-voltage circuit-breakers. The arc between moved W-Cu electrodes through a PTFE nozzle in SF6 was considered. Transparent windows in the chamber wall and a slit in the nozzle enabled an optical in-vestigation of the arc cross section several milliseconds before current zero. The side-on radiance of fluo-rine atom lines has been measured. Considering rotational symmetry of the arc the corresponding radial emission coefficients have been determined. Radial temperature profiles have been obtained with uncer-tainties below 10% considering change of window transmission and optical depth of the line radiation. The experimentally determined temperature profiles are used to validate a CFD simulation of the switch-ing-off process in the model chamber

Investigation of Vacuum Arc Anode Temperatures of Cu-Cr and Pure Cu Contacts

The present contribution reports on investigations of electrode temperatures for pure Cu electrodes and Cu–Cr electrodes of different diameters exposed to vacuum arcs with sinusoidal currents of 5-15 kA and an axial magnetic field up to 180 mT. It is found that surface temperatures of pure Cu electrodes are significantly lower than for Cu–Cr electrodes of the same diameter. This must be explained by different thermal properties of both materials. Reducing the diameter of Cu–Cr electrodes it is found that surface temperatures increase, but moreover it is shown that the enthalpy stored in the electrode bulk material may effect electrode temperatures on timescales much longer than the current pulse width, particularly if there is no effective heat dissipation after current zero

Nonperturbative Light-Front QCD

In this work the determination of low-energy bound states in Quantum Chromodynamics is recast so that it is linked to a weak-coupling problem. This allows one to approach the solution with the same techniques which solve Quantum Electrodynamics: namely, a combination of weak-coupling diagrams and many-body quantum mechanics. The key to eliminating necessarily nonperturbative effects is the use of a bare Hamiltonian in which quarks and gluons have nonzero constituent masses rather than the zero masses of the current picture. The use of constituent masses cuts off the growth of the running coupling constant and makes it possible that the running coupling never leaves the perturbative domain. For stabilization purposes an artificial potential is added to the Hamiltonian, but with a coefficient that vanishes at the physical value of the coupling constant. The weak-coupling approach potentially reconciles the simplicity of the Constituent Quark Model with the complexities of Quantum Chromodynamics. The penalty for achieving this perturbative picture is the necessity of formulating the dynamics of QCD in light-front coordinates and of dealing with the complexities of renormalization which such a formulation entails. We describe the renormalization process first using a qualitative phase space cell analysis, and we then set up a precise similarity renormalization scheme with cutoffs on constituent momenta and exhibit calculations to second order. We outline further computations that remain to be carried out. There is an initial nonperturbative but nonrelativistic calculation of the hadronic masses that determines the artificial potential, with binding energies required to be fourth order in the coupling as in QED. Next there is a calculation of the leading radiative corrections to these masses, which requires our renormalization program. Then the real struggle of finding the right extensions to perturbation theory to study the strong-coupling behavior of bound states can begin.Comment: 56 pages (REVTEX), Report OSU-NT-94-28. (figures not included, available via anaonymous ftp from pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu in subdirectory pub/infolight/qcd

Light dark matter in the NMSSM: upper bounds on direct detection cross sections

In the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, a bino-like LSP can be as light as a few GeV and satisfy WMAP constraints on the dark matter relic density in the presence of a light CP-odd Higgs scalar. We study upper bounds on the direct detection cross sections for such a light LSP in the mass range 2-20 GeV in the NMSSM, respecting all constraints from B-physics and LEP. The OPAL constraints on e^+ e^- -> \chi^0_1 \chi^0_i (i > 1) play an important role and are discussed in some detail. The resulting upper bounds on the spin-independent and spin-dependent nucleon cross sections are ~ 10^{-42} cm^{-2} and ~ 4\times 10^{-40} cm^{-2}, respectively. Hence the upper bound on the spin-independent cross section is below the DAMA and CoGeNT regions, but could be compatible with the two events observed by CDMS-II.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figure