A3.

24

Study Committee A3
High Voltage Equipment
TOOLS FOR THE SIMULATION OF PRESSURE RISE DUE TO
INTERNAL ARC IN MV AND HV SWITCHGEAR
N. Uzelac, Convenor (US) M. Glinkowski, Secretary, (US), L. del Rio (ES), J. Douchin (FR), E. Dullni (DE), S. Feitoza Costa (BR), E. Fjeld (FI), M.
Glinkovski (US), K. Hong-Kyu (KR), M. Kriegel (CH), J. Lopez-Roldan (AU), R. Pater (CA), G. Pietsch (DE), T. Reiher (DE), G. Schoonenberg (NL), S.
Singh (FR), R. Smeets (NL), T. Uchii (JP), L. Van der Sluis (NL), P. Vinson (FR), Y. Daisuke (JP)

Motivation / targets of work:

• To provide methods for pressure rise calculations, show evidence for
reliability range and allow benchmarking
• To reduce internal arc tests for environmental reasons by improving
the hit rate of the design
• To verify design modifications by simulations
• To replace SF6 in GIS for testing by air with proper consideration of
the differences

2000

Tests and calculating pressure in Air and SF6 1600

max temperature (C)

SF6 1s arc

1200

• Arc compartment:
air 0.5 s arc
SF6 0.5 s arc
800

The mechanical stress of the fault air 1 s arc

400

arc compartment is higher when

0 300 600 900 1200 1500 1800 2100
time after arc initiation (ms)

filled with air instead of SF6 due to Air SF6

the faster and higher pressure rise 0.5
Case A 22 0.5

0.45
Case E 24

0.45 P1 calculated
P1 calculated

in air.
0.4
0.4 P1 measured
P1 measured 0.35
0.35
pressure [MPa]

0.3
pressure [MPa]

0.3
0.25

• Intermediate compartment:
0.25
0.2
0.2
0.15
0.15
0.1
0.1

With air, the exhaust gas gives a

0.05
0.05
0
0 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 time [s]

lower peak pressure in the adjacent

time [s]

compartment than with SF6; 0.5

Case B 27
1.8
Case F 03

0.45 P1 calculated 1.6

P1 calculated

hence the mechanical stress is also

0.4 P2 calculated
1.4
P1 measured
P1 measured
0.35 1.2
P2 measured
pressure [MPa]
pressure [MPa]

0.3 1

smaller.
0.25 0.8
0.2
0.6
0.15
0.4
0.1

• Indicators:
0.2
0.05
0
0 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 time [s]
time [s]

Air and SF6 give the same direction

and flow distribution of the gas Case D 14 Case G 13
0.4 0.4

P1 calculated 0.35 P1 calculated

0.35
P2 calculated P2 calculated

exhaust in the installation room. 0.3 P1 measured 0.3 P1 measured

P2 measured P2 measured
pressure [MPa]

0.25
pressure [MPa]

0.25

The probability of indicator ignition

0.2 0.2

0.15 0.15

0.1 0.1

might be comparable. 0.05

0
0.05

0
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1 0.12 0.14 0.16 0.18 0.2 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4
time [s]
time [s]

Case 01
3

P1 calculated
2.5
P1 measured
2
pressure [MPa]

1.5

0.5

0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
time [s]

http://www.cigre.org
 A3.24

Study Committee A3
High Voltage Equipment
TOOLS FOR THE SIMULATION OF PRESSURE RISE DUE TO
INTERNAL ARC IN MV AND HV SWITCHGEAR
N. Uzelac, Convenor (US) M. Glinkowski, Secretary, (US), L. del Rio (ES), J. Douchin (FR), E. Dullni (DE), S. Feitoza Costa (BR), E. Fjeld (FI), M.
Glinkovski (US), K. Hong-Kyu (KR), M. Kriegel (CH), J. Lopez-Roldan (AU), R. Pater (CA), G. Pietsch (DE), T. Reiher (DE), G. Schoonenberg (NL), S.
Singh (FR), R. Smeets (NL), T. Uchii (JP), L. Van der Sluis (NL), P. Vinson (FR), Y. Daisuke (JP)

Arc Compartment Exhaust Compartment Installation Room

V1 V2 V3 Simplified model equations

p1 A12 p2 A23 p3
m m 23 Q1 = k p ⋅ Wel
T1 12 T2 T3
∆m2 = ∆m12 − ∆m23
Q1
∆m12 = α12 ⋅ A12 ⋅ ρ12 ⋅ w12 ⋅ ∆t
∆Q1 − ∆m12 (c p1 − cv1 ) T1
∆T1 =
Calculation methods: m1cv1

p1 =
(κ 1 − 1)
⋅ m1 ⋅ c v1 ⋅ T1
• Simplified analytical model: V1
 Used to calculate unifom ΔP using ideal gas equation in V1, V2 and V3
 The agreement between test results and calculation for the arc
compartment is within ± 10 % ( when Kp taken from the test)
 Some limitations exist. Both analytical models don’t calculate spatial
differences in pressure inside the volumes

• Enhanched analytical model:

 Used to calculate uniform ΔP inside volumes, with some added
approximations to improve the simplified model.
 Heat transfer factor kp decreasing with gas density
 Air, SF6 and metal vapour mixtures included
 Temperature dependent gas properties included

• CFD models:
 Used to calculate pressure distribution and gas flow in odd shapes Source:
TÜV Rheinland /
Berlin-Brandenburg
Schutzseminar 2002

geometry and very large rooms

 Requires expertise, computer power and time

• FEA models:
• Allow to evaluate the mechanical stress on the enclosure
• Calculation of deformation of enclosure by FEA stress analysis; for
welded and bolted enclosures

• Burnthrough of enclosures:
• Publication research
Burn Through time function of the enclosure thickness for aluminium enclosure at 50 kA
800

700

600

• Calculation of burnthrough by FEM program

Time to burn-through [ms]

500

400

300
(7) (6)
I=50 kA (Bernard's Formula)
Exp 50 kA
200 (4) (5)
100

(1),(2),(3)
0
4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Enclosure Thickness [mm]

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