Methods for estimation of the vacuum status in vacuum circuit breakers

Author

Merck, W. E H ; Damstra, G.C. ; Bouwmeester, C.E. ; Gruntjes, R.J.B.

Author_Institution

Eindhoven Univ. of Technol., Netherlands

Volume

6

Issue

4

fYear

1999

fDate

8/1/1999 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

400

Lastpage

404

Abstract

In this paper several methods are described for the estimation of the pressure inside vacuum interrupters which have been in operation for many years. The methods are applicable without demounting the interrupters and use only electrical measuring techniques. According to these methods the vacuum circuit breakers are subjected to synthetic circuits, switch-off limited currents, either 10 A dc or 300 A ac. With the 10 A dc method the height of arc voltage spikes are measured and represented in a histogram. The shape of the histogram is discriminative for pressures below or above 10^-2 Pa. Switching tests with currents of 200 to 400 A ac in inductive and capacitive circuits also showed different behavior for internal pressures below or above 10^-1 Pa. A three phase 200 A test device with a 10 kV recovery voltage, fed from a standard 380 V supply, showed similar results

Keywords

switchgear testing; vacuum arcs; vacuum circuit breakers; vacuum interrupters; 10 A; 10 kV; 200 to 400 A; 380 V; arc voltage spikes; capacitive circuits; electrical measuring techniques; inductive circuits; internal pressures; recovery voltage; switch-off limited currents; switching tests; synthetic circuits; vacuum circuit breakers; vacuum interrupters; vacuum status; Cathodes; Circuit breakers; Circuit testing; Current measurement; Electron tubes; Frequency measurement; Histograms; Switching circuits; Vacuum technology; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1070-9878

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/94.788733

Filename

788733