Eddy-current effects in circuit breakers during arc displacement phase

This paper deals with the modeling of eddy currents generated by arc motion during opening phases of low voltage circuit breakers. Two kinds of modeling are tested. While the first one consists in determining eddy currents in splitter plates, the second one is devoted to the calculation of eddy currents in electrodes. All simulations are carried out with a T-/spl Phi/ finite-element method formulation and no new mesh at each time step is required.