A Comparative Study on the Methods of Multiple Arcs Driven by One Power Supply

The method of generating multiple arcs is of great significance for improving the efficiency of material processing or organic gas synthesizing. At present, multiple power sources are usually required when multiple arcs are generated, which significantly increases the application cost. Therefore, this article focuses on the comparative study of the method of driving multiple arcs with a single power supply and designs three circuits: multiple pairs of electrodes in series, multiple pairs of electrodes in parallel(series capacitors in branch), and multiple pairs of electrodes in parallel(series capacitors or inductances in branch). All the circuits have realized the function of starting and maintaining the stability of multiple arcs. The article analyzes the breakdown characteristics and the voltage or current characteristics of the arc and draws the following conclusions: when multiple pairs of electrodes are connected in series, multiple arc starting is closely related to the output voltage of the power supply, that is, the more electrode pairs, the higher the required open-circuit voltage; when multiple pairs of electrodes are connected in parallel(series capacitors in branch), multiple arc starting is closely related to the output current of the power supply, that is, the more the electrode pairs, the greater the required output current; when multiple pairs of electrodes are connected in parallel(series capacitors or inductances in branch), the magnetic saturation effect of the inductor in the circuit causes a sudden change in the voltage and current of each element, which affects the stability and power distribution of each arc. So, this article compares and studies three methods of generating multiple arcs from a single power supply, which can effectively reduce application costs and provide technical support for arc applications in material processing and organic gas synthesizing.