High Voltage Inductor Design for Synthetic Testing of a Supercritical CO2 Circuit Breaker

SF
6
is one of the most widely used dielectric gases in the power industry, employed mainly for arc interruption in high-voltage circuit breakers and as a dielectric medium in gas-insulated substations. The extensive usage of SF
6
has become a matter of concern due to its high global warming potential and environmental effects. Supercritical CO
2
has been proven to have good dielectric strength and can emerge as a good candidate for replacing SF
6
in high-voltage circuit breakers. A prototype of a supercritical CO
2
-based 72 kV, 20 kA circuit breaker is currently being developed, and it is going to be tested using a synthetic test circuit. The high current side of a synthetic test circuit is a 60 Hz series resonant circuit, which consists of a high voltage inductor. To achieve the desired inductance, COMSOL Multiphysics software was employed, and the structure of the inductor was designed using AutoCAD. Comparison between the actual inductance and simulation results demonstrated close alignment, validating the effectiveness of the proposed methodology. This research contributes to the advancement of environmentally friendly alternatives in high-voltage applications.