Analysis and synthesis of an electromagnet used for circuit breaker operation

A particular type of electromagnet, used for circuit breaker operation, is described. The transient state is simulated in order to determine the coil current and the response time of the electromagnet. The simulation is based upon a step by step integration of the electrical circuits' equations and the armature movement. The circuit parameters are determined by interpolation on the "characteristic matrix" of the system which is previously computed with the FLUX2D package. A simulation of the transient state is performed using a grid of static computations. A preliminary optimization approach is performed in order to obtain an acceptable reliability and a minimum breaking time.