Three phase arcs present some special features because their interphase relations, and are not to be simply conceived as a group of single phase arcs.
The author has observed at first the rotation of the arcs by means of a storoboscope, and then the current and voltage wave forms by an oscillograph.
Oscillograms are given for balanced arcs with similar electrodes and unbalanced arcs with electrodes different from each other in size, material and relative position.
The wave forms of three phase arcs, which are remarkably different from those of single phase a c-, are dependent upon the direction of arc rotation and are also much influenced by the degree of unbalance.
Whether the supply transformers are connected in delta or star has not shown any appreciable difference. When iron-cored inductances are inserted in each phase, the balance can be easily establishd, but when the inductance is put in one or two phases only, the arcs show marked unbalance and the current through one pole becomes decidedly rectified. Which pole happens to carry the rectified current depends upon the direction of the arc rotation.
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