Development of Arc Eliminator for 7.2/12 kV switchgear

Development of Arc Eliminator is introduced in this paper. The arc eliminator is a high speed earthing switch for protection of an internal arc fault. The temperature and the pressure inside of a switchgear reach maximum values in 10 to 15 ms by an internal arc fault. Therefore minimization of the arc duration is the most important factor for arc protection. In case of an internal arc fault, the arc eliminator initiates a 3-phase short circuit so that the current of an internal arc bypasses it. Then internal arc fault is extinguished in 5 ms. Results of simulations and tests to verify the performance of the arc eliminator will be presented.