Anode-fall Voltages of Air Arcs Between Electrodes of Copper,Silver and Tungsten at Currents up to 1500A

Abstract

A method for estimating an anode-fall voltage of an arc discharge was developed. By using this method, the anode-fall voltages were evaluated for air arcs in atmosphere burning between the electrodes of copper, silver and tungsten. The anode-fall voltages V_a of air arcs proved to be about 1.2, 4.5 and 1.2V for the copper, silver and tungsten electrodes respectively and were found to be almost independent of the ac half-wave current from 350 up to 1500A_peak. From the above results, the difference in the anode material seems to lead to the variation in the anode-fall voltage.