An experimental assessment of AC contactor behavior during voltage sags

This paper presents experimental results that demonstrate the impact of voltage sags on AC contactors. Duration and amplitude are the parameters that have been normally used to classify voltage sags. This paper proves the necessity to include the point-in-wave of voltage sag initiation to explain the impact of sags on the behavior of AC contactors. The experimental setup used to obtain the results is described in detail. Several experiments are presented that describe the effects of point-in-wave on the performance of AC contactors. The outcome of the experiments show that the magnitude and duration alone do not adequately explain the behavior of AC contactors during voltage sags.