EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF A LOW-VOLTAGE CIRCUIT BREAKER, BY ANALYSIS OF COMPLEX SPECTRA, INCLUDING THE SELF-REVERSED PROFILES OF COPPER RESONANCE LINES
Résumé
A low-voltage circuit-breaker operating in air is studied by optical emission spectroscopy. An important quantity of copper vapors coming from electrodes is present in the arc plasma. The existence of a central hot emissive region and a peripheral cold region is brought to the fore. Time evolution of the electron density and temperature in the emissive region were obtained from intensities and profiles of CuI and CuII lines.