<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>A fast vacuum circuit breaker (FVCB), driven by an electromagnetic repulsion mechanism, has an extremely short opening time, and in coordination with the controlled switching technology contributes to breaking a short circuit current with the minimum arcing time. The objective of the paper is to determine the arc evolution behaviour of fast vacuum circuit breakers with a minimum arcing time. A 40.5 kV vacuum interrupter (VI) was used, which was equipped with a pair of CuCr50 (Cr 50 wt%) axial magnetic field (AMF) contacts. The diameters of the contact were <italic>Φ</italic>50mm, <italic>Φ</italic>58 mm and <italic>Φ</italic>65 mm respectively. The arc evolution behaviour in the drawn arc experiment was photographed by a high-speed camera through a glass envelope of the VI. The experiment results showed that an initial intense arc tended to evolve into a diffuse arc when the arcing time is larger than a critical arc diffusion time under a certain opening velocity. The critical arc diffusion time for the vacuum arc is defined as arc evolving from the instant of contact separation to an appearance of separated cathode spots. For a <italic>Φ</italic>50 mm cup-type AMF contact, the critical arc diffusion time decreases from 0.7 ms to 0.46 ms, with the increase of the opening velocity from 2.52 m/s to 4.65 m/s. What’s more, for a <italic>Φ</italic>58 mm cup-type AMF contact, the critical arc diffusion time decreases from 1.0 ms to 0.58 ms with the increase of the opening velocity from 2.52 m/s to 4.65 m/s. For a <italic>Φ</italic>65 mm cup-type AMF contact, the critical arc diffusion time decreases from 1.30 ms to 0.64 ms with the increase of the opening velocity from 2.52 m/s to 4.65 m/s. The critical arc diffusion time increases with the increase of the diameter of the contact under the same opening velocity.</p>
</abstract>

A fast vacuum circuit breaker (FVCB), driven by an electromagnetic repulsion mechanism, has an extremely short opening time, and in coordination with the controlled switching technology contributes to breaking a short circuit current with the minimum arcing time. The objective of the paper is to determine the arc evolution behaviour of fast vacuum circuit breakers with a minimum arcing time. A 40.5 kV vacuum interrupter (VI) was used, which was equipped with a pair of CuCr50 (Cr 50 wt%) axial magnetic field (AMF) contacts. The diameters of the contact were Φ50mm, Φ58 mm and Φ65 mm respectively. The arc evolution behaviour in the drawn arc experiment was photographed by a high-speed camera through a glass envelope of the VI. The experiment results showed that an initial intense arc tended to evolve into a diffuse arc when the arcing time is larger than a critical arc diffusion time under a certain opening velocity. The critical arc diffusion time for the vacuum arc is defined as arc evolving from the instant of contact separation to an appearance of separated cathode spots. For a Φ50 mm cup-type AMF contact, the critical arc diffusion time decreases from 0.7 ms to 0.46 ms, with the increase of the opening velocity from 2.52 m/s to 4.65 m/s. What’s more, for a Φ58 mm cup-type AMF contact, the critical arc diffusion time decreases from 1.0 ms to 0.58 ms with the increase of the opening velocity from 2.52 m/s to 4.65 m/s. For a Φ65 mm cup-type AMF contact, the critical arc diffusion time decreases from 1.30 ms to 0.64 ms with the increase of the opening velocity from 2.52 m/s to 4.65 m/s. The critical arc diffusion time increases with the increase of the diameter of the contact under the same opening velocity.

Study on Arc Evolution Behaviour of Breaking Short Circuit Current for a Fast Vacuum Circuit Breaker

State Key Laboratory of Electrical Insulation and Power Equipment

B&H Electrical Engineering

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

A fast vacuum circuit breaker (FVCB), driven by an electromagnetic repulsion mechanism, has an extremely short opening time, and in coordination with the...

Study on Arc Evolution Behaviour of Breaking Short Circuit Current for a Fast Vacuum Circuit Breaker

Publié en ligne: 17 oct. 2022

Pages: 27 - 35

Reçu: 01 juin 2021

Accepté: 01 août 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/bhee-2021-0003

Mots clés
Arc evolution behaviour, critical arc diffusion time, electromagnetic repulsion mechanism, fast vacuum circuit breaker, short-circuit current breaking, minimum arcing time

© 2022 Jianhua Wang et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Study on Arc Evolution Behaviour of Breaking Short Circuit Current for a Fast Vacuum Circuit Breaker

Publié en ligne: 17 oct. 2022

Pages: 27 - 35

Reçu: 01 juin 2021

Accepté: 01 août 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/bhee-2021-0003

Mots clésArc evolution behaviour, critical arc diffusion time, electromagnetic repulsion mechanism, fast vacuum circuit breaker, short-circuit current breaking, minimum arcing time

© 2022 Jianhua Wang et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Mots clés
Arc evolution behaviour, critical arc diffusion time, electromagnetic repulsion mechanism, fast vacuum circuit breaker, short-circuit current breaking, minimum arcing time