Arc Movement Inside an AC/DC Circuit Breaker Working With a Novel Method of Arc Guiding: Part I—Experiments, Examination, and Analysis

Within this project, the mode of operation of the circuit breaker and its new innovative method of arc guiding were analyzed and verified. The solution refers to a switching device that is able to deal with both ac switching loads and bidirectional dc switching loads. It is primarily intended for use in UIC-capable switching units for voltages up to 3 kV and currents up to 800 A. The concept uses a combination of permanent and electromagnetic blowout fields. This completely new and innovative approach is intended to permit activation of the blast coils by the arcs themselves to generate the electromagnetic blowout fields without need for additional electrical switching contacts. The combining of a newly developed optical data acquisition system together with the conventional recording of electrical parameters made the verification of the working hypothesis of the switching process possible. A numerical model is used for the simulation of the later stage of the extinguishing process, where the arc is driven toward the arcing chamber by the superposed magnetic fields of permanent magnets and blast coils, until it is extinguished due to elongation and cooling by the arc splitter stack. The results of the measurement data analysis and theoretical modeling and simulation of the extinguishing process led to the identification of critical operational areas and resulted in a successful optimization of the contactor.