APPLICATION OF A CFD ARC SIMULATION TOOL IN THE

DEVELOPMENT PROCESS OF HIGH-VOLTAGE CIRCUIT-BREAKERS

Mr. Frank Reichert1, Mr. Jan Weisker1, Mr. Ashish Gaikwad2

1
Siemens AG, EM HP CB R&D EN, Nonnendammallee 104, 13629 Berlin, Germany
frank.reichert@siemens.com
2
Siemens Ltd., RC-IN E T HP CB RP, E-76, Waluj MIDC Area, Aurangabad 431 136, India
ashish.gaikwad@siemens.com

INTRODUCTION Furthermore the CFD arc simulation tool gives

information on the switching capacity for the
High-voltage circuit-breakers are exposed to
different switching cases. Such information can
several loads during operation. Fig. 1 shows
be used in the development process of high-
selected loads and the resulting stresses
voltage circuit-breakers.
connected with high-voltage circuit-breakers [1].
In the paper the basics of the modelling approach
and several case examples for the applicability of
the CFD arc simulation tool in the development
process are highlighted in the example of a SF6
self-blast circuit-breaker.

MODELLING
Functionality of SF6 self-blast circuit-breakers
In case of SF6 self-blast circuit-breakers the gas
pressure needed for the flow of the arc
extinguishing medium is created by the thermal
energy of the arc itself. This is realized by a
Fig. 1: Loads, stresses and expected complex variation of the interrupter unit geometry
simulation results connected with high- during the switching-off process [2], see Fig. 2.
voltage circuit-breakers
The load by a continuous current leads due to
the Ohmic heating of the current paths to a
temperature rise and thus to a thermal stress. A
short-circuit current leads to thermal stresses too
and to mechanical stresses due to the high
electromagnetic forces. From a voltage load
results dielectrical stresses. Mechanical stresses
can be also generated by terminal loades or
seismic activities. Corresponding to their site of
operation SF6 high-voltage circuit-breakers have
to handle different switching cases which lead to
dielectrical, mechanical and thermal stresses. In
this connection a CFD (Computational Fluid Fig. 2: Illustration of variation of interrupter unit
Dynamics) arc simulation tool was developed geometry during switching-off process
which is applied in the numerical simulation of
the flow processes inside the interrupter unit of In the closed position the current flows over the
high-voltage circuit-breakers during the main contacts (1). During the switching-off
switching-off process of short-circuit currents, process the movable parts of the interrupter unit
see Fig. 1. The CFD arc simulation tool gives are moved downwards. By the opening of the
information on the gas behaviour as the pressure main contacts the current commutates to the
build-up inside the interrupter unit and e.g. the arcing contacts (2). Subsequently, the switching
distribution of temperature and density. arc is ignited by the separation of the arcing
contacts. Simultaneously, the cylinder (3) moves
into the socket (4) which leads to the
compression of the quenching gas inside the
compression volume (5). The quenching gas
flows through the heating volume (6) into the
arcing volume (7) and quenches the switching
arc. This behaviour of the gas flow is valid at the
switching-off process of low-current arcs and
during no-load switching-off processes. At the
switching-off process of fault currents the
conditions change. In that case the strong Ohmic
heating by the arc and the ablation of the
insulating nozzle (8) lead to a high pressure
build-up in the arcing volume forcing a hot gas
flow into the heating volume. Thus the pressure
increases inside the heating volume very strongly
and valve 1 (9) closes supporting the pressure
build-up furthermore. When the arcing contact
enables the opening of the upper nozzle outlet
the gas from the heating volume flows back into
the arcing volume and the switching arc is
quenched in the last current zero. To enable
such a switching-off process a pressure
equalization is realized by a second valve (10).
With an analysis of the illustrated switching-off
process, the overall physical system describing
the complex flow processes inside the interrupter
unit have been developed. The overall physical
system is based on the combination and
interaction of several sub systems as e.g. sub
system switching mechanics, sub system ow
geometry, sub system gas ow and sub system
switching arc including the sub system recovery.
For the separated sub systems sub models have
been developed. The combination of those sub
models leads to the creation of a modular
simulation model (see Fig. 3), which enables the
numerical simulation and thus the description of
the uid mechanical processes inside the
interrupter unit of SF6 self-blast circuit-breakers
during the switching-off process.
Fig. 3: Structure of modular simulation model
Acc. to Fig. 3 the CFD arc simulation tool is
based on the CFD program ANSYS/FLUENT
with its features for the solution of the flow
equations. For the simulation of the solution
domain changing from the closed position to the
opening position ANSYS/FLUENT provides two
features: non-conformal mesh and layering. The
non-conformal mesh is used to simulate the
motion of the sliding parts as e.g. the diffuser
(11) and the parts of the arcing volume. The
layering is used to simulate the motion of the
valves and the changing of the compression
volume.
Via user defined functions the sub models for the
switching mechanics and the switching arc are
hooked to ANSYS/FLUENT. The modelling
approach for the consideration of the switching
mechanics and the switching arc is highlighted in
the next two sections.
Consideration of switching mechanics
Concerning the switching mechanics the drive
operation as well as the valve operation has to
be considered in the modelling.
Drive operation
The drive operation can be described by two
different models
Interpolation model
Dynamic model
In case of interpolation model a velocity course
achieved from measurements is provided to the
CFD program at the beginning of the simulation.
During the simulation the flow geometry variation
is controlled by a velocity value which is
delivered from an interpolation algorithm
depending on simulation time.
In case of dynamic model the velocity value for
the control of the flow geometry variation is
delivered by an analytical model for the switching
mechanics. Fig. 4 shows a scheme of the
switching mechanics. Acc. to Fig. 4 the breaking
spring has to bring up the force FF in order to
actuate the switching mechanics. It counteracts
the system inertia, the pressure force Fp resulting
from the compression process in the
compression volume and from the effect of
switching arc, the friction force FR and a force
component due to the hydraulic damper FD. In
spite of the complexity of the mechanical system
the degree of freedom is only one (angle
depends only on angle ). The Lagrange theory
proves beneficial in the description of the
dynamic behaviour suchlike systems as the
mathematical model consists of only one
differential equation too corresponding to the
number of degree of freedom.

Fig. 4: Scheme of switching mechanics
Using the Lagrange theory the explicit equation
of motion for the angle can be derived as
follows
t t t t
FF Fp FR FD . (1)
T mass, energy and momentum equations. For the
In eq. (1) the term T summarises the parts
concerning the kinetic energy. The term FF
corresponds to the spring force, Fp to the
pressure force, FR to the friction force and FD to
the damper force. Eq. (1) is integrated during the
simulation of the switching-off process and the
velocity of the interrupter unit is calculated. Using
this velocity value the discretisation of the
simulation model is updated from time step to
time step. Note that via the term for the pressure
force Fp the flow simulation and the simulation of
the mechanical system are linked.
Valve operation
Fig. 5 shows the scheme concerning the
modelling of the valve operation.
Fig. 5: Scheme for modelling of valve plate
motion
The modelling approach is based on the
integration of the equation of motion for the valve
plate. Acc. to
mx Fi (2)
i electrical conductivity.
the valve plate velocity can be calculated in every
time step during the simulation. In eq. (2) m is the
mass of valve plate. In the sum of the forces the
pressure force on the valve plate and additionally
in case of valve 2 the spring force on the valve
plate are considered. Using the calculated valve
plate velocity the valve plate is moved and the
mesh in front of and behind it is updated in every
time step in a continuous way, see Fig. 6.
Fig. 6: Mesh variation near valve 1
Consideration of switching arc
Arc model
The arc model can be integrated in the flow
simulation by additional source terms in the
calculation of these source terms four different
modules are used, see Fig. 7.
Fig. 7: Link of conservation equations and sub
models via source terms, vectorial and
scalar quantities
The source term P in the energy equation for
the consideration of the Joule effect is evaluated
in the electric module solving the potential scalar
equation in cylindrical coordinates acc. to eq. (3)
1 V V
r 0. (3)
r r r z z
With E V and J E the source term P
can be calculated as follows
j 2z jr2
P , (4)
where E corresponds to the electric field vector,
J to the vector of current density and to the
In addition the vector of current density is the
input to the magnetic module in which the self-
induced magnetic eld due to the current ow is
calculated by a mixed formulation. In this mixed
formulation the vector potential formulation is
used in the computational domain with
appropriate values for the components of the
vector potential Az and Ar at the boundaries of
the computational domain. These are obtained
using a Biot & Savart formulation. Details on the
mixed formulation can be found in [3]. From the
knowledge of the vector potential values, the self-
induced magnetic eld can be calculated as
Az Ar Fig. 8: Clari cation of quantities in the ablation
B . (5) model
r z
Using the self-induced magnetic eld the Lorentz Real gas model
force components are deduced from the following
equations: In order to consider real gas effects as
Fz jr B , (6) dissociation and ionisation the user defined real
gas model from ANSYS/FLUENT is used.
Fr j zB , (7)
Model for the evaluation of switching capacity at
where Fz and Fr represent the respective source
terminal fault
terms in the momentum equations, see Fig. 7.
The model for the evaluation of switching
The energy transfer in the switching arc by capacity at terminal fault is based on the analysis
radiation is considered by the source term in the of the dielectric criterion acc. to eq. (10) [6]
energy equation S R which is evaluated in the E geom
radiation module. Corresponding to the magnetic k . (10)
E crit
module a mixed formulation based on the
combination of the P1 and DO model is used to For the estimation of k a coupled simulation is
simulate the radiative transfer. Details on the carried out, see Fig. 9. Using the results from the
mixed formulation for the radiative transfer can hot gas flow simulation the critical electric field
be found in [4]. In addition to the source term S R Ecrit is calculated as a function of pressure and
temperature.
the radiation module provides the norm of the
radiative ux qw arriving at the nozzle wall as an
input to the ablation module.
The ablation module reflects the heating and
ablation of nozzle material. In this module the
ablated mass (source term Sm in the mass
equation) is calculated by eq. (8) and the energy
impact (source term SE in the energy equation)
by eq. (9). The ablated material is treated as Fig. 9: Structure of the model for the evaluation
being pure SF6 [5]: of the dielectric stress
4 For the calculation of the geometric electric field
A cell q w ,cell S Tvap
Sm , (8) Egeom an electric field simulation is carried out in
Vcell h eff
parallel. For this purpose the transient recovery
p abs voltage is applied between the contacts after
Se S m h(p abs , Tvap ) , (9) current zero.
Model for the evaluation of switching capacity at
where qw,cell is the norm of radiative ux on the short-line fault
boundary cell (see Fig. 8), Tvap the vapour
To evaluate the switching capacity at short-line
temperature of PTFE, heff the effective speci c
fault a model for the thermal re-ignition is used,
ablation enthalpy of PTFE, S the Stefan
see Fig. 10. After each time step in the post arc
Boltzmann constant, Acell the area of the phase simulation the model for the thermal re-
boundary cell (see Fig. 8), Vcell the volume of the ignition calculates the post arc current depending
boundary cell (see Fig. 8), the ablation factor, on the contact gap resistance and transient
h the enthalpy of SF6 , pabs the absolute pressure recovery voltage.
and the density.
 reaches only about 40% resulting in a very slight
backward movement (see blue curves in Fig. 11).
Reduction of the transient pressure rise at a
rupture disc
The CFD arc simulation tool can be used in the
process concerning the rupture disc qualification.

Fig. 10: Flowchart for the simulation in the post

arc phase
Using the current value of the post arc current
the source term in the energy equation P is
modified for the simulation in the next time step.

CASE EXAMPLES FOR THE APPLICATION IN

THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
Detection of a mechanical failure in the
interrupter unit
By the utilization of the CFD arc simulation tool it
is possible to locate mechanical failures in the
interrupter unit. Fig. 11 shows an experimental
rotation angle (black curve, measured at O4 in
Fig. 4) which characterizes an unwanted
backward movement of the moving contact Fig. 12: Pressure build-up at the rupture disc
during the switching-off process. and contour plot of temp. at current zero
The transient pressure build-up at the rupture
disc caused by a switching-off process of short-
circuit currents must not exceed the opening
pressure of the rupture disc. From the
comparison of the pressure courses in Fig. 12 it
can be seen that the pressure has been reduced
by about 20% by a modification of the geometry
of the interrupter unit. The comparison of the
contour plots of temperature in Fig. 12 shows
that in case of design 2 the hot gas cannot flow
directly into the cover. Thus the inflow of hot gas
into the cover is reduced and with it the pressure
build-up at the rupture disc.
Fig. 11: Course of rotation angle and pressure
Estimation of minimal arcing time
force
A first estimation of the minimal arcing time with
The cause for the depicted strong backward
respect to the switching-off process at terminal
movement of the moving contact could be
fault can be performed using the CFD arc
detected by several CFD arc simulations in form
simulation tool including the model for the
of a blocked plate of valve 2 (see No. 10 in
evaluation of switching capacity at terminal fault.
Fig. 2). By the blocked valve plate a very strong
Fig. 13 shows for two different arcing times the
pressure increase in the compression volume is
contour plot of the dielectric criterion k at the time
generated resulting in an excessive pressure
when the transient recovery voltage reaches its
force which decelerates the drive and causes the
maximum value. The completely red region of the
strong backward movement (see red curves in
dielectric criterion ( k 1 ) between pin tip and
Fig. 11). In the CFD arc simulation with a
tube contact in case of the smaller arcing time
moveable plate of valve 2 the pressure force
tarc,1 clarifies a non-successful switching-off
process (Failed).
Fig. 13: Preset current courses and contour plot
of dielectric criterion k
At the arcing time tarc,2 there is no completely red
region between pin tip and tube contact
characterising a successful switching-off process
(Passed).
Optimization of interrupter unit geometry
Using the CFD arc simulation tool including the
model for the evaluation of switching capacity at
short-line fault the interrupter unit geometry can
be optimised with respect to the switching-off
process at short-line fault. The comparison of the
courses for the post arc current in Fig. 14 clarifies
the different behaviour of the regarded designs
concerning the switching capacity at short-line
fault.
Fig. 14: Simulated courses of post arc current
In case of design 1 (original geometry of heating
volume) the heating by the post arc current
overcomes the cooling of the leftover plasma
resulting in a continuously rising post arc current.
Such a trend for the post arc currents
characterizes a non-successful switching-off
process (Failed). In case of design 2 (modified
geometry of heating volume) the post arc current
is so small that the resulting heating cannot
prevent the further cooling of the leftover plasma.
Thus there is a turn in the course of the post arc
current which corresponds to a successful
switching-off process (Passed).
CONCLUSIONS
The presented CFD arc simulation tool enables
the simulation of the switching-off process in
high-voltage circuit-breakers considering the
drive and valve operation, the solution domain
variation and the switching arc including the
recovery after current zero. The achieved
simulation results can be used to visualize the
complex physical relationships inside the
interrupter unit leading to a better understanding.
The applicability of the tool in the development
process was demonstrated by means of several
case examples.
REFERENCES
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Calculations as Verification Tools for
Design and Performance Assessment of
High-Voltage Equipment, Electra (2007),
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Voltage Self-Blast Interrupters by Gas Flow
and Electric Field Computations, IEEE
Transactions on Power Delivery, VOL. 18,
NO. 4 (2003), pp. 1228 1234
[3] Freton, P et al., Magnetic eld approaches
in DC thermal plasma modelling, J. Phys.
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[4] Reichert F et al., Modelling and simulation
of radiative energy transfer in high-voltage
circuit breakers, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys.,
45, 375201, 2012
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high-voltage circuit-breakers, 18th Int.
Conf. on Gas Discharges and their Appl.
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