Electromagnetic-Thermal-Flow Field Coupling Simulation of 12-kV Medium-Voltage Switchgear

Long-term heating and excessive temperature rise will significantly affect the electrical and insulation performance of electric power equipment, causing the potential security risk. In this paper, the temperature rise situation under normal operation of a 12-kV medium voltage switchgear is studied through modeling and simulation method. First, in the simulation analysis of the whole switchgear, based on the theory of eddy-current field, gas flow field, and temperature field, the temperature rise distribution of the switchgear under the condition of natural convection and forced convection is simulated and analyzed. Then, several improvement methods are taken to reduce the temperature rise that emerges in the switchgear, including using spring contact finger structure to replace flexible connection structure, and also the optimization scheme of vacuum circuit breaker (VCB) pole and current transformer (CT). Then, simulation and research of different improvement schemes are conducted based on the electromagnetic-thermal-flow field coupling method. The simulation results of whole switchgear show that the above coupling method is very useful for the calculation of temperature rise. The simulation results also show that the spring contact structure is beneficial to reduce the temperature rise of vacuum interrupter and mechanical connection part. After the modification of design, the temperature rise conditions of the VCB pole and CT are significantly improved.