The Effect of Field Emission Characteristic on Partial Arc Caused by Pollutant and Water

Abstract

A flat plate model are employed to investigate the development mechanism of the initial electrons along the insulation surface in this paper, and the field emission properties of pollutant (NaCl) and water (H2O) adsorbed on the copper electrode are studied. The voltage when partial arc occurs is computed and a flat plate experiment is carried out to validate the computing results. Results indicate that pollutant and water have an important impact on the field emission, where pollutant is more significant than water. Meanwhile, the pollutant and water can increase the probability to form the partial arc.