Measurement and analysis of arc tracking characteristics in the high frequency band

Abstract

High voltage direct current networks are now being implemented in the new generation of civil aircrafts. If a short circuit occurs between wires of the power cable, an “arc tracking” may happen. Such an arc can sustain over a time which can reach one second or more and propagate along the cable. New kind of intelligent breakers have thus been developed based either on the time domain or the low frequency characteristics of the pulses associated with this arc. In this paper, the spectral components of the arc in the high frequency band, typically between 1 and 30 MHz are studied. A Thevenin generator equivalent to the arc is proposed allowing to determine the disturbing current and voltage spectral density at any point of the power network. Such an approach can be used to improve the efficiency of actual breakers and also to be able to predict interferences between the disturbing signals due to this arc and sensitive control-command systems.