Factors related to speed and voltage capability of a new high-speed circuit breaker

Author

Benard, D.J. ; Nolden, P.T. ; Mallonen, E.A.

Author_Institution

Rockwell Sci. Center, Thousand Oaks, CA, USA

fYear

1999

fDate

4-6 Oct. 1999

Firstpage

121

Lastpage

127

Abstract

A new concept for a current-limiting fast circuit breaker was investigated to determine design factors that either significantly limited or enhanced performance capability. Positive factors included location of the arcing contacts adjacent to the corners of a square-shaped magnetic core and application of hydrocarbon additives to the splitter plate structure to suppress arc retrogression. Case venting and use of silver alloy contact pads, as opposed to more refractory metals, were found to be deleterious. Clearing times as low as 0.6 ms were obtained in test circuits with an L/R time constant of 0.9 ms.

Keywords

circuit breakers; circuit-breaking arcs; magnetic cores; 0.6 ms; L/R time constant; arc retrogression; arcing contacts; case venting; clearing times; contact pads; current-limiting device; design factors; high-speed circuit breaker; hydrocarbon additives; performance capability; splitter plate structure; square-shaped magnetic core; voltage capability; Circuit breakers; Circuit faults; Circuit testing; Contacts; Delay effects; Design automation; Fault currents; Ionization; Magnetic cores; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Electrical Contacts, 1999. Proceedings of the Forty-Fifth IEEE Holm Conference on

Conference_Location

Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Print_ISBN

0-7803-5549-0

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/HOLM.1999.795936

Filename

795936