Measurement of internal pressure of vacuum tubes by micro-discharge and emission current

Autor: Jiang Xiuchen, Song Huansheng, Zhao Ziyu, Liu Chongfang, Dan Shuheng, Luo Li-wen, Ma Naixiang
Rok vydání: 2008
Předmět:
Zdroj: 2008 23rd International Symposium on Discharges and Electrical Insulation in Vacuum.
Popis: The traditional methods for measuring internal pressure P of vacuum tubes of breakers are the magnetron and power frequency voltage withstand test. A magnet coil is needed by magnetron and only very bad tubes can be picked out by voltage withstand test. In this paper, a new method - inception voltage Vd of micro-discharge / inception voltage Ve of emission current, i.e. Vd/Ve method, is presented. It is found that by means of the relationship Vd/Ve~P, internal pressure P can be measured accurately although vacuum gap d vary from 0.2 mm~0.3 mm. By this new method, internal pressure of vacuum tubes can be measured without using magnetic coil, but with following process: firstly, when contacts is under closed situation, by screwing the nut to stretch compression spring, vacuum gap 0.2 mm~0.3 mm is obtained, secondly power frequency voltage is applied to the gap and gas adsorption layers are polished by micro-discharge current, finally the Vd and Ve of the vacuum tube is measured. Theoretical study show that the bigger the Vd/Ve is, the smaller the P is. So by measuring the value of Vd/Ve, the value of P can be obtained. The relationships of Vd,Ve,Vd/Ve with P were measured in laboratory, the test results show that the measuring ranges of P can be 100 Pa ~10-3 Pa by this new method.
Databáze: OpenAIRE