An electric arc constriction and elongation apparatus for research of slit-constricted arcs

Mechanical constriction and elongation of air arc plasma are crucial for related wall-constricted electric arc research. In this paper, an apparatus for arc plasma column confinement was proposed. Based on this apparatus, arc constriction and elongation process and phenomena were investigated. Using the test data, volt-ampere characteristics and their variation pattern with length of the constricted arc column were acquired and analyzed. The results showed that the proposed apparatus could successfully implement the constriction and elongation of the arc column with current varying from 0.1 to 22 kA. With the constriction of the arc column, as arc changes from the free air arc to wall-constricted arc, under the same current, the arc voltage increases significantly.