Parameter Determination for Modeling System Transients—Part VI: Circuit Breakers

A detailed dynamic arc model may be used to roughly evaluate the interrupting capacity of a breaker and its influence on the deformation of the interrupted current. In some cases the correct computation of the actual arcing time is of crucial importance for assessing the first current-zero crossing of the breaker. Arc models in conjunction with surrounding network details are also used to understand complex arc instability problems. This paper recalls gas circuit breaker models and presents data requirement for such models. The document includes some illustrative examples and typical data.