Electrochemical discharge Wehnelt interrupter

The publication of Wehnelt s paper on his current-interrupter in 1899 provided a new turn to the research on electrochemical discharges. For the first time a technological application was developed based on the electrochemical discharge phenomenon. In the same year, Wehnelt s invention was commercialised... 

Figure 2.5 Model of the Wehnelt interrupter. The switch is closed as long as no electrochemical discharges take place. As soon as the gas film is built, the switch is opened.

Considering the importance of this first technological application of electrochemical discharges, we will present here a simplified theory of Wehnelt s current-interrupter. A resistance R and inductance L is connected to the Wehnelt interrupter. Based on early mathematical models of the device [83,99], the Wehnelt interrupter is considered to be a resistance Rv in series with an electrical switch (Fig. 2.5). 

By introducing the normalised voltage U = U/ Um a quantity that is important for further theoretical description of electrochemical discharges, one obtains a particularly elegant relation for the Wehnelt interrupter (Fig. 2.6) ... 

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