Typical Motion and Extinction Characteristics of the Secondary Arcs Associated with Half-Wavelength Transmission Lines

Secondary arc discharge is a complicated physical phenomenon and one of the key fundamental issues associated with ultra high voltage (UHV) half-wavelength transmission lines (HWTL). With the establishment of a physical simulation platform for the HWTLs, experiments were carried out regarding the motion and extinction characteristics of secondary arcs. The cathode arc root and the anode arc root were found to show an obvious polarity effect while the arc column was moving in a spiral, due to their different motion mechanisms. The extinction behavior was also recorded and experiments were designed with different compensation conditions. Results show that the arcing time can be greatly reduced if there exists an electrical compensation network. The research provides fundamentals for understanding the physics involved, especially the motion and extinction mechanisms of the secondary arcs.