Investigations Into Electrical Discharges in Gases (eBook)

Front Cover 1
Investigations into Electrical Discharges in Gases 4
Copyright Page 5
Table of Contents 8
PREFACE 10
FOREWORD 12
CHAPTER 1. ON DISCHARGE STRIKING IN POLYATOMIC GASES AT pd< (pd)min
I. Striking potentials in H2, N2, O2 , CO2 , and air 14
II. Verification of the applicability of the similarity law to discharge striking in mercury vapour and air 21
REFERENCES 24
CHAPTER 2. DISCHARGE STRIKING IN NON-UNIFORM FIELDS AT LOW GAS PRESSURES 25
I. Introduction 25
II. Method of measurement and apparatus 27
III. Results of measurements and discussion 33
IV. Conclusions 47
REFERENCES 48
CHAPTER 3. THE SPREAD OF PLASMA FROM A DISCHARGE 49
I. Preliminary experiments 50
II. Probe measurement in the region behind the anode 53
III. Discussion of results 57
IV. Conclusion 59
REFERENCES 60
CHAPTER 4. FORMATION OF A SELF-SUSTAINING DISCHARGE AT A NEGATIVE ELECTRODE IN A PLASMA 61
I. Introduction 61
II. Conditions for the formation of a self-sustaining discharge 62
III. Method of measurement and experimental data 63
IV. Conclusion 67
REFERENCES 68
CHAPTER 5. RECOVERY OF BREAKDOWN STRENGTH AFTER A SPARK DISCHARGE 69
I. Introduction 69
II. Method of measurement 70
II.. Results of measurements of the recovery of breakdown strength 77
VI. Measurement of gap impedance after a discharge 93
V. Discussion of results 96
VI. Conclusions 102
REFERENCES 104
CHAPTER 6. EXTINCTION OF AN AUXILIARY ARC AT HIGH RATES OF DECREASE OF THE DISCHARGE CURRENT THROUGH A MERCURY-ARC RECTIFIER 105
I. Introduction 105
II. Method of measurement 107
III. Extinction of an auxiliary arc after passing a discharge current and applying a reserve voltage 108
IV. Extinction of an arc the absence of an inverse voltage on a rectifier 113
V. The influence of various parameters on the probability of cathode spot extinction 115
VI. Spontaneous striking of the cathode spot 119
VII. The effect of different parameters on the spontaneous restriking of the auxiliary arc 121
VIII. Extinction and repeated striking of the cathode spot 123
IX. Conclusions 126
REFERENCES 128
CHAPTER 7. ON THE SPRAYING OF DROPLETS BY THE CATHODE SPOT IN A MERCURY ARC DISCHARGE 129
I. Introduction 129
II. Method of detecting mercury droplets by means of a probe 130
III. The method of impressions 138
IV. Investigation of droplets produced by a cathode spot 141
V. Conclusions 154
REFERENCES 155
CHAPTER 8. ON THE REBOUNDING OF MERCURY DROPLETS FROM HARD SURFACES 157
I. Introduction 157
II. Rebounding of droplets emitted by a cathode spot (droplet diameter 10– 4to10–2cm) 159
III. On the rebounding and disintegration of falling droplets of mercury condensate (diameter of droplets of the order of 10–1cm) 168
IV. Conclusions 175
REFERENCES 176
CHAPTER 9. ON BACKFIRING CAUSED BY MERCURY DROPLETS 178
I. Method of measurement 179
II. Conditions required for the occurence of backfiring due to droplets 183
III. Mercury vapour pressure at the point of occurence of a backfire 192
IV. On the mechanism of initiation of backfiring due to droplets 197
V. Conclusion 204
REFERENCES 205
CHAPTER 10. A METHOD OF MEASUREMENT OF MERCURY VAPOUR DENSITY 207
I. Introduction 207
II. The principle of the method 209
III. Plotting of calibration curves 211
IV. Influence of the power supply voltage 213
V. Influence of the value of the current to the small anode 215
VI. Influence of the dimensions of the small anode 217
VII. Effect of inductance and capacitance in the small anode circuit. Control of experiment 219
VIII. Calibration curves 221
IX. On "oscillographing" of vapour density in rectifiers 223
X. Oscilloscope recording of vapour density during the forward half period 226
XI. Measurement of vapour density in inert gases 229
XII. Measurement of vapour density using the arc extinction current as a function of vapour density 230
REFERENCES 233
CHAPTER 11. DYNAMIC CHANGES OF VAPOUR DENSITY IN A HIGH-VOLTAGE MERCURY-ARC RECTIFIER 234
I. Introduction 234
II. Method of measurement of mercury vapour density 235
III. Results of measurements 239
IV. Discussion of results 251
V. Conclusion 264
REFERENCES 264
CHAPTER 12. DISTRIBUTION OF CURRENT DENSITY ON THE SURFACE OF ANODES IN MERCURY-ARC RECTIFIERS 266
I. Introduction 266
II. Method of measurement 268
III. Cylindrical anode 271
IV. The flat anode 279
V. Hollow anode 284
VI. Conclusions 290
REFERENCES 291
AUTHOR INDEX 292
SUBJECT INDEX 294