Numerical Prediction on the Thermal Interrupting Capability of HV S_F6 Gas Circuit Breakers

The design technology for HV SF6 gas circuit breakers is very demanding.A numerical method for prediction of the thermal interruption capability of SF6 gas circuit breakers is established based on the two-dimensional magneto-hydrodynamic(MHD) model and a commercial CFD(computational fluid dynamics) software,FLUENT.Nozzle ablation effect is considered by introducing an independent mass conservation equation for the ablated material to the overall conservation equations of mass,momentum,and energy.The ohmic heating and the radiation of the electric arc are considered in the model by adding relevant source terms.To predict the thermal interruption capability,the arc conductance 200 ns before current zero is used as an indicator.The CFD model is applied for the high current arcing phase,and Mayr arc model is used near the current zero period.The arc conductance at 200 ns before current zero(G200) for various arcing periods are computed by the present method.It shows that there exist a limit of the G200.For those whose arcing periods are within the arcing window,the related G200 are below the limit,therefore result a successful current interruption,and vice versa.The validation of the developed computer simulation tool is therefore verified.The numerical prediction by the simulation tool is verified by the direct interrupting test of 550 kV gas circuit breaker(GCB).The developed computer simulation tool was applied in the design of a 550 kV GCB.Significant benefits have been achieved in terms of both the cost saving and shorten of the development cycle.