Experimental Study on the Generation of Arc Beads from Conductors by Arc Discharge

Abstract

Arc beads generated from metal conductors by arc discharges have a risk of causing fires when contacting the combustibles. In this work, the process of arc bead generation from conductors due to arc discharge was investigated experimentally. The copper conductors with four different diameters (1.5, 2.5, 4, 6 mm²) were chosen to produce arc beads by the arc discharges with currents from 60 to 220 A. It was observed that the arc bead was generated when its gravity overcame the surface tension between the arc bead and the conductor. The diameter of the arc bead was found to increase with the conductor diameter, and an expression was established to describe this relationship. It was also found that the minimum discharge time required for the arc bead formation was negatively correlated with the discharge current, but positively correlated with the conductor diameter. The findings of this work help assess the ignition risk caused by arc beads