Prediction of temperature rise of Electric Switching Device Using CFD-CAD Integrated Analysis

CFD-CAD 통합해석을 이용한 전력기기 온도상승 예측

Higher current-rating and improved thermal performance are being sought for existing medium-voltage vacuum circuit breakers(VCB) in order to meet market needs which require to be compact and downsized. In this paper, thermal performance of medium voltage vacuum circuit breaker was investigated through experiments and numerical analysis. We changed several major parameters of current-rating and heat sink affecting on thermal behaviors in the breaker and observed the results. To predict the temperature distribution in complex three-dimensional (3-D) VCB components and gas, the commercial package was used to simulate conjugate heat transfer. Although some assumptions and simplifications were introduced to simulate the model, results from the computational model were in good agreement with actual temperature rise measurements obtained from experiments.