Characteristic analysis and design of a novel lorentz force driving actuator for a molded case circuit breaker

Recently, the demand for a remote controllable actuator for a circuit breaker (CB) has increased because of the trend towards the automation and information technology (IT) of the power system. However, the conventional molded case CB (MCCB) - of which demand is high among CBs - is not only manually controlled, but also liable to breakdown and difficult to find broken components because of the use of the mechanical spring type actuator. To address these problems, a novel Lorentz force driving actuator (LA) is proposed in this research. The LA is suitable for both low- and high-power CBs because of its high power density and the unaffectedness of performance by the stroke. The MCCB equipped with the LA is the first remote controllable low-power CB and low in maintenance cost. The correct and rapid analysis and design method using a two-dimensional magneto-static field analysis and a dynamic analysis is proposed for the small size actuator as LA in this research.