Experimental Study of Arc Erosion in Gas-blasting and Free-burning Conditions in High-voltage Circuit Breakers

Authors

  • Y. Zhou Department of Electrical Engineering and Electronics, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 3GJ, U. K.
  • J. Humphries Department of Electrical Engineering and Electronics, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 3GJ, U. K.
  • J. Spencer Department of Electrical Engineering and Electronics, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 3GJ, U. K.
  • J. Yan Department of Electrical Engineering and Electronics, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 3GJ, U. K.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14311/ppt.2023.1.32

Keywords:

arc erosion, gas-blasting, free-burning, mass loss

Abstract

Arc erosion behavior depends on varieties of factors, such as the shape and material of contacts, the gas type and the pressure filled in the chamber. In this contribution, experimental research on the gas-blasting and free-burning conditions was carried out in a model circuit breaker to investigate the gas blowing effect on the mass loss of arcing contacts. SF6 was filled in the chamber and copper-tungsten was used as the contact material. Three different peak current amplitudes (5/20/35kA) were selected, and the average mass loss of plug contact was measured after five consecutive arcing tests. The erosion physical process between arc root and contact material is extremely complex. The mass loss was estimated with four different indexes, which include integral of current squared, thermal stress, transferred electric charge and arc energy. It has been found that the arc energy can be used to represent the degree of arc erosion to relate the gas-blasting and free-burning conditions.

References

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Published

2023-08-08

Issue

Vol. 10 No. 1 (2023)

Section

Articles

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Copyright (c) 2023 Y. Zhou, J. Humphries, J. Spencer, J. Yan

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