• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.354-358
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• 2013

This paper discusses the analysis of arc conductance in a gas circuit breaker (GCB) during current interruption process and the investigation method of the interruption capability. There are some limitations in the application of the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for the implementation of an arc model around the current zero, despite the fact that it gives good results for the high-current phase arc. In this study, we improved the accuracy in the analysis of the interruption performance by attempting the method using CFD and a mathematical arc model. The arc conductance at 200 ns before current zero (G-200ns) is selected as the indicator to predict the current interruption of the Short Line Fault (SLF). Finally, the proposed method is verified by applying to the actual circuit breakers which have different interruption performances.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.1961-1965
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• 2003

The flow analysis is needed to verify the physical phenomena through interruption processes for improving the capacity and the reliability of gas circuit breakers. Moreover the small current interruption performance of GCBs could be predicted by coupling the flow characteristics with the electric field one. In this paper, the unsteady flow characteristics and the traveling trajectory are depicted with a commercial CFD code, PHOENICS, programmed for moving motion of objects. In order to validate computational results, the measured pressure data in cylinder and in front of arcing contact are compared with the test results of small current interruption.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers B
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• v.50 no.8
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• pp.384-391
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• 2001

The insulation strength between contacts after current interruption to the transient recovery voltage i.e., the dielectric recovery strength should be estimated for the evaluation of the small capacitive current interruption capability. Many authors have used theoretical and semi-experimental approaches to evaluate the transient breakdown voltage after the current interruption. Moreover, an empirical equation, which is obtained from a series of tests, has been used to estimated the dielectric recovery strength. Un this paper, the theoretical method which is generated from the streamer theory has been applied to real circuit breakers in order to evaluated the interruption capability. The results of analysis have been compared with the test results and the reliability has been investigated.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers B
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• v.55 no.10
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• pp.528-533
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• 2006

To analyze the small current interruption performance for the gas circuit breakers, the gas density and electric field intensity should be calculated. In this paper, the FVFLIC method is used for the gas flow analysis and the FEM for the electric field analysis. Then, the dielectric withstanding voltage is evaluated by the empirical formulation or Streamer theory. By comparing the calculated dielectric strength with the test result, it is found that both methods show good prediction capability for the small current interruption performance. Especially, when both methods predict the same interrupting performance, the prediction is in accordance with the experimental result.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers B
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• v.50 no.7
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• pp.331-337
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• 2001

With the increasing reliability of analysis schemes and the dramatically increased calculating speed, the computer simulation has become and indispensable process to predict the interruption capacity of circuit breakers. Generally, circuit breakers have to possess both the small current and large current interruption abilities and the circuit breaker designers need to evaluate its capacities to save the time and the expense. The analysis of small current and the large current interruption performances have been considered separately because the phenomena occurring in a interrupter are quite different. To analyze the dielectric recovery after large current interruption many physical phenomena such as heat transfer, convection and arc radiation, the nozzle ablation, the ionization of high temperature SF(sub)6 gas, the electric and themagnetic forces and so forth mush be considered. However, in the analysis of small current interruption performance only the cold gas flow analysis needs to be carried out because the capacitive current is to small that the influence from the current can be neglected. In this paper, an empirical equation which is obtained from a series of tests to estimate the dielectric recovery strength has been applied to a real circuit breaker. The results of analysis have been compared with the test results and the reliability has been investigated.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers B
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.387-394
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• 2000

This paper presents a method of cold gas flow-field analysis within puffer type GCB(Gas Circuit Breaker). Using this method, the entire interruption process including opening operation of GCB can be simulated successfully. In particular, the distortion problem of the grid due to the movement of moving parts can be dealt with by the fixed grid technique. The gas parameters such as temperature, pressure, density, velocity through the entire interruption process can be calculated and visualized. It was confirmed that the time variation of pressure which was calculated from the application of the method to a model GCB agreed with the experimental one. Therefore it is possible to evaluate the small current interruption capability analytically and to design the interrupter which has excellent interruption capability using the proposed method. It is expected that the proposed method can reduce the time and cost for development of GCB very much. It also will be possible to develop the hot-gas flow-field analysis program by combining the cold-gas flow field program with the arc model and to evaluate the large current interruption capability.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2004.07c
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• pp.1772-1774
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• 2004

Because the physics occurring during an interruption process is not well known, it is not easy to analyze the characteristics of a self-blast circuit breaker neither theoretically nor experimentally. Fortunately the available computational power and the numerical method improved recently make it possible to predict an interruption process as precisely and fast as possible. Therefore many researches using computational methods have been done for the interruption process of interrupters and applied to extend the information such as thermal and dielectric reignition. In this paper, we have simulated the interruption process of SF6 self-blast circuit breakers with the arc plasma during the fault interruption of a 10 kA current. The CFD program used here is coupled with the electromagnetic field analysis, the radiation model and the effects of turbulence. Through this work, we have get further information about the thermal performance as well as the behavior of the arc. The results have been compared with the measured arc voltage.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2006.10d
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• pp.22-24
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• 2006

This paper presents the prediction method of small current interruption Performance for EHV gas circuit breakers. The FVFLIC method is used for the gas flow analysis and the FEM for the electric field analysis. Then, the dielectric withstanding voltage is evaluated by the empirical formulation or Streamer theory. By comparing the calculated dielectric strength with the test result. it is found that both methods show good prediction capability for the small current interruption performance. Especially, when both methods predict the same interrupting performance, the prediction is in accordance with the experimental result.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.67 no.9
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• pp.1159-1164
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• 2018

Vacuum circuit breakers(VCB) are widely used for current interruption of high-voltage inductive loads such as induction motors. This VCB can be chopped off before the current zero due to its high arc-extinguishing capability. One of the outstanding features of VCB is that it can cut off high frequency re-ignition current more than other circuit breakers. If the transient recovery voltage generated in the arc extinguishing is higher than the dielectric strength of the circuit breaker, a re-ignition phenomenon occurs. The surge voltage of the re-ignition is very high in magnitude and the steepness of the waveform is so severe that it can act as a high electrical stress on the winding. If the high frequency current of one phase affects the other two phases when the re-ignition occurs, it may cause a high surge voltage due to the virtual current chopping. If the magnitude of the voltage allowed in the motor winding is high or the waveform level is too severe, it may lead to insulation breakdown. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce the voltage to within a certain range. In this study, we briefly explain the various phenomena at the time of interruption, analyzed the magnitude of the dielectric strength and the transient recovery voltage at the simultaneous three-phase interruption that can give the greatest influence to the inductive load, proposed a method to reduce the impact.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1999.07a
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• pp.92-94
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• 1999

This paper describes the interruption techniques of HVDC circuit breaker which adapts inverse current injection method. A representative circuit configuration of this type of HVDC circuit breaker is presented and its operational mechanism and timing diagrams are investigated.