System for gas pressure measurements in the arc plasma environment

Developed measurements system for evaluation of gas pressure value in direct vicinity of switching arc plasma was described in this paper. The system is resistant to heavy duty conditions present inside the MV switch quenching chamber and its functionality was verified during large scale functional tests. In this paper results of gas pressure measurements performed for a current interrupter equipped with an arc quenching system based on combination of forced air flow and gassing material ablation were presented. Gas pressure was measured by means of developed system, for several values of capacitive load current at 12/24 kV supplying voltage.