Fundamental studies on vacuum circuit breaker arc quenching limits with a synthetic test circuit

The aim of this work is to demonstrate the use of a synthetic test circuit with LC resonant circuits for fundamental experimental work on CB (vacuum circuit breakers). Studies have been performed on a 36 kV-model CB at test currents of 5 and 10 kA r.m.s. aimed at separating the influence of different parameters of the transient recovery voltage such as average rate of rise and peak value on the breaking capability. Furthermore, the effect of the arcing time on the measured arc quenching limit is presented.