Power balance at the cathode of an electric arc burning in argon – A spectroscopic approach and a thermal model

Laboratoire de Génie Électrique de Paris, Équipe Contact Électrique, SUPELEC, CNRS UMR 8507, Université Paris VI and XI, Plateau du Moulon, 91192 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France

Corresponding author: teste@lgep.supelec.fr

Received: 27 April 2004
Revised: 23 July 2004
Accepted: 18 October 2004
Published online: 28 January 2005

Abstract

The evaluation of the power brought by an electric arc to the surface of the electrodes still remains an important problem. In this paper we propose a method allowing a macroscopic approach of the power balance at the surface of a copper cathode submitted to a non stationary electric arc in argon. This method is based on a spectroscopic measurement of the instant of apparition of copper vapour in the arc and on the use of a numerical modelling of thermal phenomena occurring in the electrode. Under some simplifying assumptions, we reach an interval of possible values for the power and the surface density brought to the electrode by the arc.