Rong Mingzhe

Numerical Study on Arc Plasma Behavior During Arc Commutation Process in Direct Current Circuit Breaker

This paper focuses on the numerical investigation of arc plasma behavior during arc commutation process in a medium-voltage direct current circuit breaker (DCCB) contact system. A three-dimensional magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) model of air arc plasma in the contact system of a DCCB is developed, based on commercial software FLUENT. Coupled electromagnetic and gas dynamic interactions are considered as usual, and a thin layer of nonlinear electrical resistance elements is used to represent the voltage drop of plasma sheath and the formation of new arc root. The distributions of pressure, temperature, gas flow and current density of arc plasma in arc region are calculated. The simulation results indicate that the pressure distribution related to the contact system has a strong effect on the arc commutation process, arising from the change of electrical conductivity in the arc root region. In DCCB contact system, the pressure of arc root region will be concentrated and higher if the space above the moving contact is enclosed, which is not good for arc root commutation. However, when the region is opened, the pressure distribution would be lower and more evenly, which is favorable for the arc root commutation.

Effects of additives on the AgSnO2 contacts erosion behavior

The switching performances of several improved silver tin-oxide materials with several kinds of additives, including WO/sub 3/,Bi/sub 2/O/sub 3/,In/sub 2/O/sub 3/, were conducted in an accelerated testing machine. Based on the experimental results and the observations of the contacts surface microstructure, the effects of additives on the silver tin-oxide contacts erosion behavior are studied. It is indicated that the effects of additives on the wettability between liquid silver metal and the contact surface, the distribution and the thermal stability of additives are critical in the determination of erosion characteristics and the morphological features of the contact surface. The erosion behaviors of silver-tin oxide materials with different additives are compared, and the doping effect on surface morphology is presented.

The Influence of Medium on Low-Voltage Circuit Breaker Arcs

This paper mainly focuses on the influence of three kinds of media: air, air-10%PA (Nylon) and air-10% POM (polyoxymethylene) on low-voltage circuit breaker arcs. A three-dimensional (3-D) model of arc motion under the effect of external magnetic field is built based on magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) equations. By adopting the commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) package based on the control-volume method, the above MHD equations are solved. For the media of air-10%PA and air-10%POM, the distributions of stationary temperature and electrical potential and the transient motion processes are compared with those of air arc. The research shows that both air-10%PA and air -10% POM can cool the arc plasma and the former is more effective. Both of them can increase the stationary voltage as well. Moreover, the presence of the two mixtures can accelerate the arc motion toward the quenching area and ensures the arc quenched in time.

Numerical Analysis of the Arc Plasma in a Simplified Low-voltage Circuit Breaker Chamber with Ferromagnetic Materials

This paper is devoted to the simulation of the arc plasma in a simplified low-voltage circuit breaker chamber. Based on a group of coupled governing equations, a three-dimensional (3-D) arc plasma model is built and solved by a modified commercial code. Firstly, this paper presents a solution of the stationary state of the arc plasma and discusses the distribution of some parameters throughout the chamber. Secondly, with the ferromagnetic materials included, the balance of the stationary state is broken and a transient course is calculated. In light of the simulation results, the temperature distribution sequence, the arc motion and the plasma jet are then described and analyzed in detail.

Preliminary Study of the Feasibility of Inverse Problem Algorithms Used for Arc Magnetic Measurement Method

Non-contact magnetic measurement method is an effective way to study the air arc behavior experimentally One of the crucial techniques is to solve an inverse problem for the electromagnetic field. This study is devoted to investigating different algorithms for this kind of inverse problem preliminarily, including the preconditioned conjugate gradient method, penalty function method and genetic algorithm. The feasibility of each algorithm is analyzed. It is shown that the preconditioned conjugate gradient method is valid only for few arc segments, the estimation accuracy of the penalty function method is dependent on the initial conditions, and the convergence of genetic algorithm should be studied further for more segments in an arc current.

Transport Coefficients of High Temperature SF6 in Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium Using a Phenomenological Approach

The transport coefficients of high temperature sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) plasmas in local thermodynamic equilibrium are calculated using collision integrals derived in a phenomenological approach which could be a valuable tool in the calculation of complete data sets for complex mixtures, including interactions hardly handled in the accurate multipotential methods. A systematic comparison with transport coefficients obtained using an old data set and experimental test is performed to check the reliability of the proposed approach in evaluating transport cross sections.

Experimental Study of SO2 Removal by Pulsed DBD Along with the Application of Magnetic Field

Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) for SO2 removal from indoor air is investigated. In order to improve the removal efficiency, two novel methods are combined in this paper, namely by applying a pulsed driving voltage with nanosecond rising time and applying a magnetic field. For SO2 removal efficiency, different matches of electric field and magnetic field are discussed. And nanosecond rising edge pulsed power supply and microsecond rising edge pulsed power supply are compared. It can be concluded that a pulsed DBD with nanosecond rising edge should be adopted, and electrical field and magnetic field should be applied in an appropriate match.

Study on the partial discharge characteristics of the XLPE insulation samples during electrical treeing ageing

The partial discharge characteristics in the XLPE insulation during electrical treeing ageing are studied in this paper. The condition of electrical tree initiation is well established under ac stress. Specimens using point-plane electrode geometries in XLPE insulated samples have been investigated. Using the partial discharge detection system, which includes traditional detecting method and ultra-wideband(UWB) partial discharge detecting method, the partial discharge characteristics of XLPE insulation during treeing are studied. We can find that the characteristics of UWB partial discharge signals have a change observably in the time-domain and frequency-domain during electrical treeing. The high energy density area of the partial discharge signals of the XLPE insulation specimens moves to the higher frequency during electrical treeing. Thus, the status of XLPE insulation can be evaluated by detecting the partial discharge signals occurring in them. It is important of this research for evaluating the status of XLPE power cables in service.

Numerical Study on Atmospheric Pressure DBD in Helium: Single-breakdown and Multi-breakdown Discharges

A 1-D fluid model for homogeneous dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) in helium is presented, aimed at unraveling the spatial-temporal characteristics of two basic discharge regimes: single-breakdown and multi-breakdown discharges. Discharge currents, gap voltages, charge densities, electron temperature and electric field profiles of the two regimes make it clear that these two regimes are qualitatively different. It is found that the multi-breakdown discharge has a more homogeneous flux on dielectrics compared to the single-breakdown discharge.

Simulation and Experimental Study of Arc Column Expansion After Ignition in Low-Voltage Circuit Breakers

The dynamic process of arc pressure and corresponding arc column expansion, which is the main feature after arc ignition and has a significant effect on the breaking behaviour of low-voltage circuit breakers, is studied. By constructing a three dimensional mathematical model of air arc plasma and adopting the Control Volume Method, the parameters of arc plasma including temperature and pressure are obtained. The variations of pressure field and temperature field with time are simulated. The result indicates that there are six stages for the process of arc column expansion according to the variation of pressure in arc chamber. In the first stage, the maximal pressure locates in the region close to cathode, and in the second stage the maximal pressure shifts to the region close to the anode. In the third stage, the pressure difference between the middle of arc column and the ambient gas is very large, so the arc column begins to expand apparently. In the fourth stage, the pressure wave propagates towards both ends and the maximal pressure appears at the two ends when the pressure wave reaches both sidewalls. In the fifth stage, the pressure wave is reflected and collides in the middle of the arc chamber. In the last stage, the propagation and reflection of pressure wave will repeat several times until a steady burning state is reached. In addition, the experimental results of arc column expansion, corresponding to the arc pressure variation, are presented to verify the simulation results.