An improved method of simulation of the arc voltage-current characteristic

Traditionally the electric arc is simulated by mean of a simple voltage-current characteristic identical to the one caused by two Zener diodes connected back-to-back. This paper compares the levels of harmonics injected by electric arcs simulated using this simple, idealized characteristic and a more realistic one, based on Mayr's model. It is shown that the more accurate voltage-current representation may yield significantly higher levels of harmonics.