Author(s)

L. Spronck, P. Scarpa, C. Defays & W. Legros

Abstract

Arc-electrode interactions play an important role during current interruption in a circuit-breaker. This paper describes a method for estimating the thermal diffusivity of the electrode material on the wide range of temperatures encountered during operation. The principle of the proposed method consists in heating the tip of a thin cylindrical material sample with a powerful pulsed laser, and in measuring the temperature rise at two different locations of the sample. The correlation between the recorded signals allows one to obtain the thermal diffusivity of the metal. The proposed method doesn't depend on sensors g

Keywords