CHAPTER 8 : ARC SUPPRESSION

Arc suppression is the reduction of sparks formed when current carrying contacts are separated. The sparks is a luminous discharge of highly energized electrons and ions, and is an electrical arc. In other explanation arc suppression is required to keep contacts in the device from burning up.

In industrial, arc suppression used to devices such as electromechanical power switches, relays and contactors. 

There are two effectiveness using arc suppression :

1. Visual inspection of the arc.
2. Graphical representation of measurement obtained by an oscilloscope.

There are 5 benefits from arc suppression :

1. Minimizes contact damage from arcing and therefore reduced maintenance, repair, and replacement frequency.
2. Increased contact reliability
3. reduced heat generation resulting in less heat management measures such as venting and fans.
4. Reduce ozone and pollutant emissions.
5. Reduced Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) from arcs a common sources of radiated EMI.

From the figure above, we can analyze , contact A and contact B with and without arc suppression. 

References :

Petruzella, D. Frank (1996). Industrial Electronics. New York : McGraw-Hill