Design and Simulation of 4-Parameters TRV Synthetic Testing Circuit for High Voltage Circuit Breakers

Development in electrical power transmission system requires the use of circuit breakers with increasing breaking capacity. At present circuit breakers are to be installed on 245kV to 760 kV power systems with short circuit ratings up to 63kA. To test high voltage CBs, direct testing using the power system or short circuit alternators is not feasible. The testing of high voltage CBs of larger capacity requires very large capacity of testing station. To increase testing plant power is neither an economical nor a very practical solution. Therefore indirect methods of testing are used for testing of large CBs. Synthetic testing is an alternative equivalent method for testing of high voltage circuit breakers and is accepted by the standards. Parallel current injection synthetic testing is the most widely used method for testing of CBs. This paper presents transient recovery voltage (TRV) rating concepts, and design and simulation of 4-parameters TRV synthetic testing circuits are done by using PSIM simulator. Design considerations of the parallel current injection synthetic testing circuit (Weil-Dobke) circuit is focused and two 4-parameters TRV circuits are simulated. Simulation results are shown for a 245kV circuit breaker.