Integrated vacuum circuit breaker model for opening and closure switchings

The complete characterization and modeling of vacuum circuit breakers is a very difficult task, even when performed by manufactures. The article proposes an integrated vacuum circuit breaker model for both opening and closure switching. To achieve this purpose, the article gathers information about the circuit breakers characteristics and makes an analysis of its behavior based on published experimental results. A tool is developed for the ATP program to simulate the circuit breaker behavior and the results are compared to some experimental measurements. This model is important to study the overvoltage phenomenon that occurs during the circuit breaker switching, which can lead to the failure of the equipment connected to the circuit breakers, according to several studies performed. This phenomenon is associated to intrinsic characteristics of the vacuum circuit breakers, as their dielectric strength recovery, current chop, beyond characteristics of the protected circuit.