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Supervisor
Lektor Joachim Holbll
www.elektro.dtu.dk/cet
Tel: (+45) 45 25 35 00
Fax: (+45) 45 88 61 11
E-mail: cet@elektro.dtu.dk
The work done in this project continues the work performed by Orn I.
Bjorgvinssonin in his MSs project in 2006. My supervisor has been lector
Joachim Holbll from Department of Electrical Engineering, which I would
like to thank for guidance, support and inspiration throughout my project.
A thanks should also be directed to engineer assistant Freddie Fahne and
operation techinan Flemming Juul Petersen from Department of Electrical
Engineering who have both contributed with great help during the labora-
tory tests.
I would also like thank my fellow studens and specially PhD student Ivan
Arana, for theoretical discussions during the project.
Morten Lerche, s031889
mortenler@gmail.com
Summary
A simulation model of the laboratory setup is designed and used to test the
vacuum breaker model and the parameters found. The simulations shows the
slower transients and the prestrikes, but the lack of detail in the simulation
model makes the results less precise than desired.
Dansk Resume
Acronym Meaning
VCB Vacuum Circuit Breaker
TRV Transient Recovery Voltage
RRDS Rate of Recovery of Dielectric Strength
RDDS Rate of Decay of Dielectric Strength
HF High Frequency
AC Alternating Current
DC Direct Current
List of Symbols
Preface vii
Summary ix
Dansk Resume xi
List of Symbols xv
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2 Methods and restrictions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3 Outline of Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2 Switching Transients 5
2.1 Closing Circuit Transient . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.2 Opening Circuit Transient . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
4 Laboratory Setup 25
4.1 The Existing Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
4.2 Improvements to the Existing Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
xviii
6 Simulations 57
6.1 Opening the Vacuum Circuit Breaker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
6.2 Closing the Vacuum Circuit Breaker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
7 Discussion 67
7.1 Voltage Circuit Breaker Model Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . 67
7.2 Opening the Vacuum Circuit Breaker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
7.3 Closing the Vacuum Circuit Breaker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
7.4 Further Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
8 Conclusion 75
References 77
Appendix 79
List of Figures 79
List of Tables 82
A Plotting results 85
Introduction
In the last part of the 19th century the demand of electric power started
increasing rapidly because of new technical inventions. The increased use
of electrical lighting, the introduction of the DC-motor and railway systems
were just some of the inventions that called for a power system. In 1882
Tomas Edison opened the worlds first power station in New York City, this
is referred to as the beginning of the electric utility industry. From this
starting point and until 1872 the electric utility industry grew at a remark-
able pace [3]. In 1885 William Stanley developed the first commercial and
practical transformer and overcame the limitation of maximum distance and
load in the exciting network. The year after the first AC distribution system
was installed in Massachusetts. Nikola Tesla presented the first ideas of a
polyphase AC system in 1888 introducing induction and synchronous mo-
tors, and the first transmission of tree-phase alternating current took place
during the international electricity exhibition in Frankfurt in 1891, trans-
mitting power at 12kV over 175km [3].
The industrialization during the 20th century made the electrical infrastruc-
ture a critical point. Interconnection of local distribution networks and the
construction of large power plants were some of the main demands created
by the industrialization. These demands have led us to the power networks
we have today, which are designed to transport energy as efficient and re-
liably, from the producer to the consumer, as possible. To deal with the
challenges of this task many network components have been developed and
some of the main components of todays power networks are overhead lines,
cables, transformers, circuit breakers and switches.
For many years lightning were the only phenomenon that could create steep
front pulses in the power system and thereby produce high overvoltages [1].
When lightning strokes terminates on or near a power line they create a
2
path between the cloud and the power line or the adjacent earth and hereby
changes the circuit conditions and creates a transient overvoltage. In order
to protect the insulation of the equipment against the lightning overvoltages
surge arresters were used, they kept the voltage on a level that was not
harmful for the protected equipment. The research in this area was stopped
until an increased number of failures were detected on the insulation of the
equipment, even at low voltage levels. It was discovered that these failures
were caused by some of the equipment that had been implemented in the
power network. One of the components that led to failure of insulation was
the breakers used in the electrical grid.
Many types of breakers have been used in the power grid during the years.
In the beginning of the 20th century oil circuit breakers were mainly used. In
1959, SF6 circuit breakers came to the marked, this type of circuit breaker
had several advantages such as long life time and high reliability [15]. The
first vacuum circuit breaker (VCB) was constructed in the 1960s. VCBs
have low maintenance costs, good durability and provide the best breaker
solution for medium voltage below 24kV [1]. But the use of VCBs resulted in
worldwide reports on transformer insulation failures possibly due to switch-
ing operations of VCBs, also transformers that had previously passed all
the standard tests and complied to all quality requirements suffered failures
[2]. It has still not been finally proved that the high frequency transients
have a negative influence on the transformer insulation. Some studies give
a description of the phenomenon that produces the high overvoltages inter-
nally in the transformer winding, which are potentially responsible for the
transformer insulation failure during the high frequency transients [10]. A
problem of the transformer insulation failure also occured in the wind parks
(WP) Middelgrunden and later at Hornsrev where almost all transformers
had to be replaced with new ones due to the insulation failure [14]. This
problem is suspected to be caused by fast switching breakers as e.g. VCBs.
VCBs are the most used breaker type in the medium voltage area, due to
its excellent breaking abilities and economic advantages. But as mentioned
the VCB also seems to cause some faults in the power network. The physi-
cal phenomena in the VCB during a switching operation are very complex,
and therefore the models of VCBs are also very complex. When performing
a switching operation a conducting plasma channel is created between the
breaker contacts, this channel is called the vacuum arc. When the arc is ex-
tinguished a transient recovery voltage appears across the terminals and this
voltage can give rise to another breakdown in the vacuum and create a new
conducting plasma channel between the breaker contacts. The arc formed by
the plasma can become unstable and create high frequency currents, which
the breaker must be able to interrupt. The advanced and unstable nature of
the conducting plasma channels does that there is no universal precise vac-
Introduction 3
uum arc model. The models that exist all take into account the stochastic
properties of the phenomena that take place in the breaking process [7].
1.1 Purpose
The purpose of this thesis is to test a VCB and to observe the physical
phenomena that occur in the VCB during the interruption process, especially
the phenomena that cause high frequency transients. Based on laboratory
tests the parameters, that are used to model the VCB, will be determined.
In order to study the laboratory setup it is desirable to make a precise
simulation model of the setup, this simulation model can be used to test
the behaviour of the VCB model and compare it with the tests made on the
VCB.
In the test setup, used in order to determine these properties of the VCB,
only one phase of the VCB is connected and measurements are performed
on this phase. In order to supply the VCB with high voltages a transformer
is used, the measurements are performed on the high voltage side on the
transformer. In order to change the network configurations, two similar ca-
bles with different length are used to connect the VCB and the transformer.
Two capacitive loads are used to load the system, these loads are both 0.5F
and the maximum load in the system is therefore 1.0F . This means that
the current running through the VCB during the tests will be rather limited.
When analysing the results of the VCB tests, the main focus will be on
determining the parameters for the VCB model. As these parameters are
mainly determined by the opening process of the VCB most analysis will be
on VCB open operations. As the parameters are mainly described by the
very fast transients created by the VCB the main work will be put in this
area.
is created using lumped circuit elements for the transformer and the cable.
This will make the results of the simulations less accurate, but lumped cir-
cuit elements are used to be able to finish the simulations within the time
limitations of the project.
Switching Transients
S R
Vmsin(t+) L
inductance in the transformers and the inductance of bus bar, cables and
transmissions lines. The resistance R represents the resistive losses of the
network. Since the network consist of linear elements only, the current flow-
ing in the network after closing the switch can be seen as the superposition
of a transient current and a steady-state current. Applying Kirchhoffs volt-
age law on the circuit in figure 2.1 gives us the nonhomogeneous differential
equation that represents the circuit after the switch has been closed [15]
dI
RI +L = V, (2.1)
dt
where V represents the sinusoidal voltage of the source and I is the current
in the circuit.
V = Vm sin(t + )
V = Vm [sin(t)cos() + cos(t)sin()] (2.2)
The angle is the phase angle at which the switch is closed. The term
sin(t+) has been rewritten in order to make the solution of the differential
equation easier. The steady state power factor of the load in figure 2.1 is
given by
R R
cos() = =p . (2.3)
|L| (R + 2 L2 )
2
Setting I(0) = 0 in figure 2.1 makes it possible to find an expression for the
current
cos() s sin()
R i(s) + L s i(s) = Vm + 2
s2 + 2 s + 2
Vm cos() s sin()
i(s) = + 2
Ls+R s2 + 2 s + 2
Vm 1 cos() s sin()
i(s) = + 2 . (2.6)
L s+ R L
s2 + 2 s + 2
In order to transform back into the time domain the equation is rewritten
to the following form
A Bs
i(s) = + , (2.7)
(s + )(s + ) (s + )(s2 + 2 )
2 2
Equation (2.7) can be transformed back into the time domain when the
following two inverse Laplace transforms are known
1 A A
L 2 2
= 2 [et
(s + )(s + ) (s + 2 )
cos( t) + sin( t)] (2.9)
1 Bs B
L 2 2
= 2 [ et
(s + )(s + ) (s + 2 )
+ sin( t) + cos( t)] (2.10)
Using equation (2.9) and (2.10), equation (2.7) can be transformed into the
time domain
1 A Bs
i(t) =L +
(s + )(s2 + 2 ) (s + )(s2 + 2 )
A
= [et cos( t) + sin( t)]
(s2 2
+ )
B
+ 2 [ et + sin( t) + cos( t)]. (2.11)
(s + 2 )
8 2.1 Closing Circuit Transient
0.2
0
Current[I]
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.2
0 20 40 60 80 100
Time[ms]
Figure 2.2: The sinusoidal voltage is switched on to the RL-circuit with a switch-
ing angle of 90 .
Vm cos()
i(t) = [et cos( t) + sin( t)]
L (s2 + 2 )
Vm sin()
+ [ et + sin( t) + cos( t)]. (2.12)
L (s2 + 2 )
Vm R
i(t) = [sin( t + ) sin( )e L t ]. (2.13)
R 2 + 2 L2
The first term is the steady-state term, it has an amplitude of Vm /|Z| and
it has a phase angle of with respect to the voltage. The second term is
R
the transient term, it includes an exponential function e L t . At t = 0 the
steady-state term and the transient term are the same but with different
sign, assuring that the current starts in zero when the breaker closes. In
figure 2.2 the transient current, the steady-state current and the resultant
current is shown for a switching angle of = 90 . As figure 2.2 shows
the transient term starts at its lowest possible value, which is equal to the
amplitude of the current. Opening the breaker at = 90 gives the
largest transient, on the other hand opening the = 0 makes the
Switching Transients 9
0.4
0.2
Current[I]
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
0 20 40 60 80 100
Time[ms]
Figure 2.3: The sinusoidal voltage is switched on to the RL-circuit with a switch-
ing angle of 0 .
transient term turn zero. This can be seen in figure 2.3. It is seen that the
transient term is zero, which causes the resultant current to be equal to the
steady state current from the moment of contact separation.
1
fT RV = . (2.14)
2 L C1
The TRV has no real influence on the switching when using a ideal switch,
but it is of high importance of the switching in real switching devices. In real
10 2.2 Opening Circuit Transient
L S
Vmsin(t+) C1 C2
As mentioned the circuit in figure 2.4 represents the setup used in this
project. In [11] the capacitance of the cable used is found to be 157.57
1012 F/m and the in this project the value of L used to represent the trans-
former is found to be 0.318H (see chapter 6). In this project a 10m and a
100m cable is used, for the 10m cable the frequency of the TRV is expected
to be
1
fT RV 10 = p = 7110Hz, (2.15)
2 0.318H 157.57 1012 F/m 10m
These TRVs are the only effect of interrupting current with ideal switches,
but as mentioned in the use of real switching devices, such as VCBs, the
TRV can cause reignitions of the conducting arc between the switching con-
tacts. These reignitions can lead to high overvoltages and HF currents in
the system. In order to describe the phenomena of reignitions in VCBs a
more detailed study of the design and principles of the VCB must be made.
This investigation is done in the following chapter.
Switching Transients 11
10
15
50 55 60 65 70 75 80
Time[ms]
Figure 2.5: The figure shows the voltage on the transformer side of a VCB under
a opening operation in a circuit with a capacitive load.
12 2.2 Opening Circuit Transient
Chapter 3
It is not flammable.
These advantages of the vacuum breaker technique have been the driving
force of VCB development [1]. Due to the fact that there is nothing to
ionize between the contacts in VCBs, the characteristics of the electric arc
in VCBs are different than the electric arc in other types of breakers. VCBs
have a very little arc and the arc extinguishes with small distance between
the breaker contacts [15].
Figure 3.1: The design principle of a VCB, showing contacts, arching chamber
and insulation, the picture is taken from [12] page 8.
Depending on the current level and on the size and shape of the contact
the vacuum arc appears in different ways [5]. At lower currents small spots
on the negative electrode (the cathode) appear. These cathode spots are in
constant movement over the cathode surface. Electrons and ions radiates
from the spots and contributes with around 50A to 150A depending on the
cathode material [15]. The plasma channel formed by the emitted electrons
and ions is called a vacuum arc, this arc connects the cathode and the an-
ode (the positive electrode). After leaving the cathode the arc spreads out
filling almost the entire volume of the vacuum chamber before hitting the
anode. The electrons and ions leave the arc and get collected all over the an-
ode and for this reason the arc is said to be in diffuse mode at lower currents.
When the current is increased the arc takes a different form, the arc be-
16 3.2 Modelling of Vacuum Circuit Breakers
Figure 3.2: A vacuum interrupter with slits in the contacts to avoid uneven ero-
sion of the contact surface, this picture is from [15] page 66.
comes focused on a small area of the anode. These spots are normally
formed around a sharp edge on the contact. Due to the high current density
in these anode spots the contact material evaporates and when the vapour
is ionised it supplies positive ions to the arc. The cathode spots becomes
grouped together, giving the arc a much more defined and columnar appear-
ance and the arc is said to be in constrict mode [5].
The model is developed and described in [7]. The parameters used, and
their effect on the VCB will be described in the following sections.
The value of the chopping level depends mainly on the type of contact ma-
terial used in the breaker but also on the level and form of the current that
is interrupted. The prediction of the actual current chopping value, consid-
ering all its dependents is very complex. But in [13] an expression of the
mean chopping level has been estimated
1
Ich = (2 f |i| )(1) , (3.1)
where
f = Power frequency.
Equation (3.1) is used to calculate the current chopping level of the VCB.
When simulating the VCB the values of and are normally consider to
be = 6.2 1016 s and = 14.2 [6].
If the current through the breaker is lower than the chopping level, then
the current is chopped immediately after contact separation. During current
chopping the current declines with a very high di/dt (very steep slope) this
produces very high overvoltages due to the inductances in the network. For
18 3.2 Modelling of Vacuum Circuit Breakers
Current Chopping 3
x 10 Current Chopping
1 5
0.5 0
Current[A]
Current[A]
0
5
0.5
10
1
15
1.5
36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 44.84 44.85 44.86 44.87 44.88 44.89 44.9 44.91 44.92
Time[ms] Time[ms]
(a) The current when the breaker opens (b) Zoomed plot at the point of arc extin-
guish
Figure 3.3: The figure shows the current during an opening of the breaker. As
seen on figure b the current chops around the value 0,005 and jumps
to zero.
3.2.2 Reignitions
A reignition of the vacuum arc is a temporary electrical breakdown of the
vacuum in the VCB. The dielectric withstand of the VCB is an important
subject in the analysis of the switching transients that occurs due to reig-
nitions in the VCB [1]. When the breaker contacts start to separate the
withstand voltage of the gap starts increasing. During the first millimetre of
separation the withstand voltage increases linearly and here after it increases
proportionally to the square of the distance between the contacts [1]. In the
model that is used in this project a linearly relation between the withstand
voltage and the time after separation is assumed [7]. This relation is seen in
equation (3.2)
U = A(t t0 ) + B, (3.2)
where
Dielectric withstand
80
TRV
Breaker withstand voltage
60
Voltage[kV] 40
20
20
40
60
80
32 33 34 35 36 37 38
Time[ms]
Figure 3.4: The figure shows 5 reignitions of the vacuum arc during contact seper-
ation. When the reignitions occur the TRV jumps to zero. The red
line shows the RDDS of the circuit breaker.
The values of A and B vary from the different VCBs. The constant A de-
scribes as mentioned the rate of rise of dielectric strength (RRDS) when the
breaker is opening. When the breaker is closing the constant A describes
the rate of decay of dielectric strength (RDDS). In [16] the value of the con-
stant A is suggested to be between 2V /S and 50V /S when B is set to
zero, which is quiet normal when determining the dielectric withstand of the
breaker. The value of the dielectric strength determined in equation (3.2) is
also following a Gaussian distribution with a standard deviation of 15% of
the dielectric mean value [7].
When the contacts separate and the current is interrupted a TRV appears
across the breaker contacts, as described in chapter 2. This TRV is deter-
mined by the configuration of the network on both sides of the breaker. If
the value of the TRV exceeds the dielectric withstand of the gap between the
contacts, the arc will be re-established and the breaker will conduct current
again. This causes a high frequency (HF) current to be superimposed on the
power frequency current. This HF current will be extinguished at current
zero and the race between the TRV and the dielectric withstand will begin
again. The relation between the reignitions and the dielectric withstand is
illustrated in figure 3.4 and in figure 3.5 both the restrikes and the HF cur-
rent is shown.
20 3.2 Modelling of Vacuum Circuit Breakers
20
40
0.5
Current[A]
0.5
34.65 34.7 34.75 34.8 34.85 34.9 34.95
Time[ms]
Figure 3.5: The figure shows 3 reignitions of the vacuum arc during contact sep-
aration. The figure also shows the high frequency currents caused by
the arc.
The HF currents that occur after a reignition of the arc are mainly deter-
mined by the stray parameters of the VCB. The HF current will be super-
imposed on the power frequency current and if the HF current has a larger
magnitude than the power frequency current it can cause the current to pass
zeros. Most VCBs have the ability to quench the HF current at a zero cross-
ing, and thereby extinguish the vacuum arc [7]. The VCB cannot extinguish
these HF currents if the di/dt value of the current is too high. Since the
magnitude of the currents is damped quite quickly the di/dt of the current
is also decreasing. When di/dt is small enough the VCB quenches the HF
current at one of its zero crossings. Figure 3.5 shows how a HF current is
created when the vacuum arc is established and how the arc is extinguished
when di/dt of the HF current becomes small enough. The critical value of
di/dt represents the quenching capability of the VCB. A method of deter-
mining the quenching capability of a VCB is to model it as a linear function
Vacuum Circuit Breakers 21
di/dt = Cc (t t0 ) + Dd , (3.3)
where
Cc , Dd = Breaker constants.
Equation (3.3) gives the mean value of the quenching capability and once
again it follows a gaussian distribution where the standard deviation is 15%
of the mean value. The suggested values of the constant Cc is between
0.034A/s2 and 1A/s2 . Some authors describes the HF quenching capa-
bility di/dt to be constant, Cc = 0 and suggested values of Dd to be between
100A/s and 600A/s [16].
The two last areas have been discussed in the previous sections, but the
arching time has not been introduced yet. The time between contact sepa-
ration and first arc extinguishing is called the arching time, in other words
the arching time is the time between contact separation and the time of cur-
rent chopping. If the arcing time is short then the dielectric strength of the
gap will not have time to reach a high value before the arc is extinguished
and the probability of reignitions is higher. In VCB with high RRDS the
possibly of restrikes will be smaller since the breaker regains its dielectric
withstand faster than breakers with low RRDS.
After some reignitions the VCB does not have a high enough HF quenching
capability to break the HF current at a zero crossing in the last reignition,
this is seen in figure 3.7. Due to this the power frequency takes over and
22 3.2 Modelling of Vacuum Circuit Breakers
0.3
0.2
0.1
Current[A]
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
34.4 34.6 34.8 35 35.2 35.4
Time[ms]
Figure 3.6: The figure shows the HF currents caused by 5 reignitions. The last
current cannot be quenched at a zero crossing and therefore the arc
is maintained until the next zero crossing of the current.
50
100
32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48
1
Current[A]
0.5
0.5
1
32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48
Time[ms]
3.2.5 Prestrikes
Prestrikes are like reignitions a temporary breakdown of the vacuum dielec-
tric. Prestrikes occur during the closing operation of the breaker. Prestrikes
normally occur during energizing of capacitive loads and are caused by the
same phenomena that cause reignitions during opening operations.
When the VCB contacts starts to move towards each other the dielectric
strength of the gap starts to decrease. As soon as the dielectric withstand
of the VCB becomes smaller than the voltage over the breaker an arc will
ignite and current will flow through this arc. This current consists of a HF
current and a current at power frequency. The arc will be extinguished at a
zero crossing, when di/dt of the HF current becomes lower than the quench-
ing capability of the VCB [1]. The interruption of the HF current causes a
TRV to build up over the breaker. When this voltage reaches the dielectric
strength of the gab another prestrike will occur and the TRV will go to zero
again. Figure 3.8 shows how prestrikes create a HF current and how these
currents are quenched, causing the arc to be extinguished.
Prestrikes
40
TRV
Voltage[kV]
20
40
34.55 34.6 34.65 34.7 34.75 34.8
0.4
Current[A]
0.2
0.2
0.4
34.55 34.6 34.65 34.7 34.75 34.8
Time[ms]
Figure 3.8: The figure shows 4 reignitions of the vacuum arc during contact sep-
aration. The figure also shows the high frequency currents caused by
the arc.
Chapter 4
Laboratory Setup
LeCroy Ch1
Ch2
Position
Oscilloscope Ch3
Ch4 Meter
Switch unit
Voltage Voltage
Probe Probe
Cable VCB
HTT Transformer
Load
Vario-transformer
Measurement signal
Control Signal
Figure 4.1: The laboratory setup including high voltage components and the con-
trol and measurement system
The 3 phases from the vario-transformer are connected to the low voltage
side of the HTT transformer. From the high voltage side of the HTT trans-
former only one phase is connected to one side of the Siemens VCB via the
100m or 10m NKT cable. The other side of the breaker is loaded with the
capacitive load. In figure 4.1 the high voltage setup is shown. Figure 4.1
also shows the control and measurement system. The main element in this
system is a LabVIEW program that is used to control the VCB and to mea-
sure the voltage, current and the position of the VCB moving contact. The
full control and measurement system consist of:
A more detailed description of the high voltage components and the control
and measurement components, will be given in the following two sections.
In the project two identical cables with different length are used in order to
create various network characteristic. The cables are 1-conductor PEX-CU
17.5kV cables from NKT, the copper conductor has a diameter of 25mm
and the insulation used is polyethylene. Some tests have been made on the
cables in order to determine its losses [11], the main results of these tests
are shown in table 4.1. As seen in table 4.1 the losses in the cable increases
50Hz 1kHz 500kHz 1M Hz
R[/m] 727.00 106 727.00 106 738.17 106 770.11 106
L[H/m] 239.79 109 239.79 109 239.79 109 239.79 109
C[F/m] 157.57 1012 157.57 1012 157.57 1012 157.57 1012
G[S/m] 14.85 1012 297.01 1012 148.51 109 297.01 109
when the frequency exceeds 1kHz. The two cables are used to connect the
HTT transformer and the VCB.
The VCB used in this project is a 12kV Siemens 3AH1 115-2 vacuum
circuit breaker. The breaker has a rated short circuit current of 31.5kV
and a rated normal current of 1250A. In the tests done for this project
the current will not come close to the rated current. The breaker is a 3
phase VCB with a distance of 210mm between the centre of the 3 sets of
28 4.1 The Existing Setup
breaker contacts. The distance between the two VCB contacts in each phase
is in open position 9mm [12]. The operating drive of the VCB is using a
stored-energy mechanism, an opening spring and a closing spring. The clos-
ing spring can be charged either electrically, by a motor, or mechanically,
using a handle. It can also be unlatched either electrically by means of the
remote control or mechanically using the local CLOSE pushbutton [12].
When the closing spring unlatches the opening spring automatically charges.
The loads chosen for the setup is a 0.5F and a 1.0F load. The rea-
son for this is that the loads should represent a cable network under no-load
conditions, where a very small current flows in the network [11]. The loads
are installed on the frame of the VCB in order to avoid long connections
that can cause undesired transients.
In order to control the vario-transformer and the VCB the LabVIEW pro-
gram sends a signal to the Hewlett-Packard 34970A data acquisition/switch
unit via the GPIB interface. The switch unit is equipped with a I/O card
which switches 26V on 4 different channels. This unit is used to control
two relays that sends a 170V dc signal to the VCB, these signal energizes
the two coils which are used for opening and closing the VCB. When the
springs for opening or closing the breaker is unlatches they automatically
latches again using a motor supplied with 230V ac. The Hewlett Pacard
34970A data acquisition/switch unit is also used to send control signals to
the vario-transformer in order to increase or decrease the ratio of the trans-
former or to bring the secondary side voltage to zero. The fact that it is
possible to increase and decrease the ratio of the vario-transformer enables
the user to control the voltage level in the system.
Laboratory Setup 29
scope.
To measure the distance between the contacts in the VCB a position meter
is used. The position meter is connected to a fibreglass rod which is fastened
to the moving contact of the VCB [11]. When the contact moves, it moves
the fibreglass rod and thereby changes the output from the position meter.
The position meter, is in fact just a variable resistance, and is supplied by a
9V battery, which means that the output from the position meter is between
0V and 9V . The output is connected to channel 4 on the oscilloscope.
Figure 4.3: The two pictures show how the probes are fastened to the setup.
Before this was done the probes were connected loosely to the setup
by the hooks on the tip of the probes.
x 10HTTP1L100C1x05Dt16V5,75kOUT.lvm
4
x 10HTTP1L100C1x05Dt16V5,75kOUT.lvm
4
Voltage on trans. side of the VCB [V]
1 1
0.8
0.5
0.6
0.4
0
0.2
0.5 0
0.2
1
0.4
0.6
1.5
0.8
2 1
0 10 20 30 40 50 0 10 20 30 40 50
Time[ms] Time[ms]
(a) Before improving the setup (b) After improving the setup
Figure 4.4: The plots show the voltage measured on the transformer side probe,
before and after fastening the probe. At around 30ms oscillations can
be seen on figure a.
Figure 4.5: The picture shows the Rogowski current transducer. In order to
improve the current-to-noise ratio the current measurement is led
through the Rogowski coil 4 times as seen on the picture
37% of the initial voltage, which means that after 10 seconds the capacitor
should be discharged, therefore a 10M resistance is chosen as discharge
resistance.
The main purpose of the tests is to determine the paremeters that are used
to describe the VCB in the simulation model. All the measurements made
in this project have been made on one phase. The tests have been per-
formed with two different setups, one using the 10m cable to connect the
HTT transformer and the VCB and one using the 100m cable. This is done
in order to observe how the VCB reacts on different configurations of the
network it is operating in.
At both cable lengths tests were made at different voltage levels. The volt-
ages levels were chosen based on the knowledge that the HTT transformer
has a nominal voltage of 5.75kV on the secondary side. This voltage level
was chosen to be the base of the measurements and test series were made
on voltage levels of 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, 100% and 120% of the 5.75kV .
The reason why the system was tested at different voltage levels was to see
how the voltage level effects the generated transients. In order to calculate
the current chopping level of the breaker, the tests at the low voltage levels
are very useful, since they do not create any significant transients. Dur-
ing the work with the current chopping level it was chosen to make use of
the extra load capacitor in order to increase the current in the system. As
this project mainly concentrates with the very fast transients caused by the
breaking operation the measurement time has been set to 10ms. During
this 10ms, 50000 data measurements are taken, which means that the time
between each measurement, t, is 0.2s. This gives a good and precise
picture of the fast transients. When analysing the chopping current of the
VCB tests with a measuring time of 50ms is used, since the amplitude of
the current is a parameter in the chopping current calculations and cannot
be read on the 10ms measuremets. A few more measurements, with a mea-
surement time of 50ms, were made to illustrate the breaking process and
measure the opening and closing time of the VCB.
34
In order to observe the effect the arching time has on the VCB and the
TRV it was decided to make several tests on each voltage levels to observe
most possible breaking angles and thereby different arching times. Since it is
not possible to control the breaking angle or the breaking time of the VCB,
random tests were made and for every test the angle was registered. The
voltage sine curve was divide in 8 sections and the testing was continued
until a breaking angle in each section was obtained. The breaking angle was
read on the voltage measurements, this means that with a breaking angle of
0 , the VCB opens when the power frequency voltage curve is at the rising
zero crossing. A breaking of 90 would mean that the VCB opens when the
voltage is at its maximum. When the breaker closes, the angle at which it
starts conducting current is called the closing angle and is found in the same
way as the breaking angle.
To distinguish between the different test series it was decided to give each
file containing the measurements a name referring to the test setup. An
example of the file name could be:
HT T P 1L100C1x05Dt2 7V 5, 75kIN 1
L100 : The length of the cable between the HTT transformer and the
VCB is 100m.
The HTT transformer and number of phases connected are included in the
filename, even though they are not changed throughout the project. This is
done so that it is easy to make more tests with different setups and compare
the new tests with the ones made in this project in future work on the VCB.
HTTP1L100C1x05Dt16V6,9kIN1.lvm HTTP1L100C1x05Dt16V6,9kIN1.lvm
Distance between VCB contacts[mm] 9 40
8 30
7 20
Current[A]
6 10
5 0
4 10
3 20
2 30
1 40
0 10 20 30 40 50 0 10 20 30 40 50
Time[ms] Time[ms]
x 10
4 HTTP1L100C1x05Dt16V6,9kIN1.lvm x 10
4 HTTP1L100C1x05Dt16V6,9kIN1.lvm
1.5 1.5
1 1
Trans. side voltage[V]
Load side voltage[V]
0.5 0.5
0 0
0.5 0.5
1 1
0 10 20 30 40 50 0 10 20 30 40 50
Time[ms] Time[ms]
(c) The load side voltage (d) The transformer side voltage
Figure 5.1: Closing the VCB at voltage level 6.9kV , the setup is using the 100m
cable and the load with a capacitance of 0.5F . The time between
the measurements t is 1 106 s, and the closing angle is 0
load side of the VCB and the voltage on the transformer side of the VCB. In
figure 5.1 the 4 measurements from a closing process of the VCB are shown.
As figure 5.1a shows, the moving VCB contact starts to move towards the
fixed VCB contact after around 20ms. The picture shows a distance between
the contacts is only 7.8mm and not 9mm, this is due to a small calibration
error in the position meter. After around 30ms the distance between the
contacts is 0mm and the VCB starts conducting current, as seen in figure
5.1b. Figure 5.1c and 5.1d show the voltage on both sides of the VCB, the
voltage on the load side is zero until the contacts are together and after that
it follows the transformer side voltage since the VCB forms a short circuit
between the two voltage probes. This measurement is taken at aclosing angle
of about 0 . As mentioned this angle can easiest be seen on the transformer
side voltage curve, where a small switching transient appears in the area of
36 5.1 Preparatory tests
HTTP1L100C1x05Dt16V5,75kIN3.lvm HTTP1L100C1x05Dt16V5,75kOUT3.lvm
Distance between VCB contacts[mm]
X: 27.6
8 7 Y: 7.594
X: 20.39
7 Y: 7.688
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2 2
X: 19.89
Y: 1.219
1 X: 32 1
0 10 20 30 Y: 1.312 40 50 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Time[ms] Time[ms]
Figure 5.2: The figure shows two plots of the distance between the VCB contacts,
when the VCB is opening and closing.
the rising zero crossing or around 0 . As this shows the measurement of the
angle is not very precise and the closing and opening angles decribed will be
approximate values.
The values used for the calculations are more exact than the values seen on
the data markers on the figures. The exact values of the data markers can
be exported to a file in MATLAB and the values from this file are used to
make the calculations, this method was used throughout the project. The
results of the closing and opening time corresponds to the values calculated
in previous projects. As seen of figure 5.2b some vibrations occurs when the
moving breaker contact reach the open position. These vibrations are caused
by the mechanical impact the contact gets when reaching the open position
Laboratory Tests and Results 37
and it stabilise after some time. The used breaker model does not offer an
option to change the opening and the closing time of the VCB. Instead the
model uses a fixed time of 0.55ms as both the opening time and the closing
time of the VCB.
The TRV is calculated by using the voltage measurement from the load
side of the VCB and the voltage measurement from the transformer side of
the VCB, like this
T RV = VLoad VT rans . (5.1)
38 5.2 Transient Recovery Voltage
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4000 4000
2000 2000
0 0
TRV[V]
TRV[V]
2000 2000
4000 4000
6000 6000
8000 8000
3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6
Time[ms] Time[ms]
(a) Test with 10m cable (b) Test with 100m cable
Figure 5.3: The TRV across the breaker contacts using a 10m and a 100m cable.
The breaking angle is in both cases 0 .
HTTP1L10C1x05Dt27V5,75kOUT6.lvm
3000
X: 4.181
Y: 3000
2000
X: 4.291
1000 Y: 1625 X: 4.406
Y: 375
0
TRV[V]
1000
2000
X: 5.24
Y: 3000
3000 X: 4.242
Y: 3625 X: 4.355
Y: 3000
4000
X: 4.121
Y: 5125
5000
6000
3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5
Time[ms]
Figure 5.4: The measurements for calculating the frequency of the TRV when
using a 10m cable in the test. The breaking angle is again 0 .
the amplitude, the frequency and the damping time of all the measurements.
The two tables show that the frequency is independent of the breaking angle
and the average value of the frequencies are:
fT RV 10 = 8708, 92Hz
fT RV 100 = 2953, 87Hz.
The results show that when changing from a 100m cable to a 10m cable, the
frequency of the TRV becomes almost 3 times higher. This is a result of the
difference in capacitance and inductance in the two cables. As the cables
used are of same type, the 100m cable has a capacitance and inductance
that is 10 times higher than in the 10m cable, the specific parameters of the
cable can be seen in table 4.1.
some of the results from the tests using the 10m cable have been taken out
and sorted by the breaking angle.
From table 5.1 the relation between the breaking angle and the ampli-
Test nr. 12 4 3 9 2 8 7 10
Brk. angle[ ] 0 22.5 45 90 180 202.5 225 247.5
Amplitude[V ] -5500 -5375 -4875 0 5250 4500 4250 1625
Table 5.1: The table shows the relation between the breaking angle and the am-
plitude of the TRV. The results are from the tests made at 5.75kV
using the 10m cable.
tude can be seen. When the VCB breaks the voltage close at a maximum
value of the voltage, 90 and 270 , the amplitude of the TRV is low and
when the VCB breaks the voltage close to a zero crossing, 0 and 180 , the
amplitude is high. The reason for this is that the VCB conducts a capac-
itive current, causing the current to lag the voltage with 90 . This means
that when the VCB breaks at a high voltage the current that is interrupted
is low and will cause low amplitudes of the TRV. In the best case, if the
interruption happens at a current zero crossing, no TRV will be generated.
When the voltage is around zero at the time of interruption, the current will
be interrupted around its maximum and cause a TRV with high amplitude.
The tables B.1 and B.2 also show that for breaking angles from 90 to 270
the TRV will start by rising, resulting in a positive first amplitude. Simi-
larly for breaking angles from 270 to 90 the TRV will start by falling, the
reason for this relation is the direction of the current, which will be opposite
in the two intervals. Table B.1 and B.2 show that there is a clear connection
between breaking angles that are 180 apart. They have the same amplitude
but with different sign, this is because measurements that are 180 apart are
on the same place of both the voltage and current curve, except from the
fact that one is on the negative part and one is on the positive part. This
similarity has been observed throughout the project.
The tests have shown that the setup with the short cable gave larger TRV
amplitudes. As the short cables also have a larger frequency the rate of rise
of the TRV will be higher when using the short cable. This will lead to more
reignitions, since a circuit where the TRV has a high rate of rise will reach
the dielectric withstand level of the VCB faster than in a setup where the
rate of rise of the TRV is lower.
The tables B.1 and B.2 also show the time it takes for the TRV to be
completely damped. The TRV generated when using the short cable needs
less than half the time to be damped than the TRV generated when using
Laboratory Tests and Results 41
the long cable. The mean value of the damping time is 0.97ms when using
the 10m cable and 2.3ms when using the 100m cable.
As seen in figure 5.5a there is a high spike on the current around 20ms,
this current spike is a result of the HF currents, which occur after arc ex-
tinguises. In order to read the amplitude of the current and the current
chopping level a zoomed plot of the current around the breaking time is
needed. In figure 5.5b a plot zoomed around the power frequency current
is shown. As seen the zoomed plot is very blurred and it is hard to make a
precise measurement of the current chopping level and the current magni-
tude.
HTTP1L100C1x05Dt16V5,75kOUT1.lvm HTTP1L100C1x05Dt16V5,75kOUT1.lvm
100 5
80 4
60 3
40 2
Current[A]
Current[A]
20 1
0 0
20 1
40 2
60 3
80 4
100 5
0 10 20 30 40 50 0 10 20 30 40 50
Time[ms] Time[ms]
Figure 5.5: The plots shows the current through the VCB at 5, 75kV using a
100m cable. The interruption is made at a breaking angle of 180 .
The results from table C.1 indicate that the current is under the current
chopping level of the breaker, which means that the VCB breaks the current
as soon as the contacts separate. Therefore another test series with the extra
capacitor, increasing the load to 1.0F , was made. These tests can also be
seen in the full appendix C on the CD. The constant has been calculated
again using the new measurements and the results can be seen in table C.2
the values of are still very different from the expected value and they still
vary a lot. And since it has not been possible to find a reasonable value of
no attempts at finding has been made. The plots of the measurements
and the calculations of the constant strongly indicates that the current
level in the tests is lower than the current chopping level of the VCB. This
corresponds with the fact that the normal current chopping level for VCBs
usually varies between 3A and 8A. In order to find the parameters of and
for the breaker, different types of loads must be used in order to conduct
a current that is larger than the current chopping level. But since only the
small capacitive loads were available standard values of and will be used
in the simulation model:
= 6.2 1016 s
= 14.2.
Laboratory Tests and Results 43
HTTP1L100C1x05Dt16V1,15kOUT6.lvm
0.4
0.3
0.2
Current[A]
0.1
0.1
0.2
0.3
0 10 20 30 40 50
Time[ms]
Figure 5.6: The plots shows the current through the VCB at 1, 15kV using a
100m cable. The interruption is made at a breaking angle of 45 .
5.4 Reignitions
To find the dielectric withstand of the VCB, the reignitions that occur when
opening the breaker have been studied. After the vacuum arc has been ex-
tinguished, the race between the TRV and the dielectric withstand of the
VCB begins. When the TRV exceeds the dielectric withstand of the VCB a
breakdown of the vacuum occurs and creates a conducting path between the
two VCB contacts. When the conducting path is created the TRV jumps
back to zero and does not start to rise again before the arc is extinguished.
In figure 5.7 it is seen how reignitions appears after contact seperation.
HTTP1L100C1x05Dt27V5,75kOUT4.lvm HTTP1L10C1x05Dt27V5,75kOUT7.lvm
5000 5000
4000 4000
3000 3000
2000 2000
TRV[V]
TRV[V]
1000 1000
0 0
1000 1000
2000 2000
3000 3000
2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 3 3.1 3.2 3.75 3.8 3.85 3.9 3.95 4 4.05 4.1 4.15
Time[ms] Time[ms]
Figure 5.7: The plots shows the voltage across the breaker contacts during an
opening of the VCB. Both tests have a breaking angle of 225 .
HTTP1L100C1x05Dt27V5,75kOUT4.lvm HTTP1L100C1x05Dt27V5,75kOUT4.lvm
5000
4000
4000
3000
3000
2000
2000
TRV[V]
TRV[V]
1000 1000
0
0
1000
1000
2000
2000
3000
2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 3 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 2.8 2.85 2.9 2.95 3 3.05
Time[ms] Time[ms]
(a) The full measurement (b) Zoomed plot, showing the reignitions
HTTP1L100C1x05Dt27V5,75kOUT4.lvm HTTP1L100C1x05Dt27V5,75kOUT4.lvm
4000 4000
3000 3000
X: 2.885
Y: 2250
2000 2000
TRV[V]
TRV[V]
1000 1000
2000 2000
2.8 2.85 2.9 2.95 3 3.05 2.8 2.85 2.9 2.95 3 3.05
Time[ms] Time[ms]
(c) Dielectric withstand curve (d) Points for calculating the RRDS
Figure 5.8: The figure illustrates how the RRDS is calculated from the laboratory
measurements.
Cable length
Voltage level 10m 100m
4.6kV 38.24V /S 18,52V /S
5.75kV 39.39V /S 21,94V /S
6.9kV 36.02V /S 24,50V /S
Average RRDS 37.88V /S 21.65V /S
Table 5.2: The table shows the average RRDS, for the 6 analysed test series and
the average value of the RRDS found for the two cable lengths.
at voltage level 4.6kV and is probably due to the fact that less reignitions
occurs at this voltage level and thereby makes the results vulnerable to mea-
surement mistakes. In the tests using the 10m cable the results are more
close to the average value and only a few results are very different from the
46 5.4 Reignitions
average values.
With basis in these consideration the value of the RRDS that is used in
the simulations, has been chosen. It is decided to choose the value of the
RRDS that was calculated in the tests where the 10m cable is used. This
decision was made because of the lack of stability in the results from the
100m cable tests. Specially the fact that the value of the RRDS increases
when the voltage level (number of reignitions) increases indicate that there
is a lot of inaccuracy in the calculations, and therefore the results using the
10m cable, which creates a lot of reignitions, are used. The value of the
RRDS that will be used when simulating the VCB will therefore be the av-
erage of the value found in the 10m cable tests and the value of B will be
zero:
A = 37.88V /s
B = 0.
This means that the dielectric withstand of the VCB when it is fully open
(after 7.23ms) will be:
1000s
Vopen = 37.88V /S 7.23ms = 273.87kV.
ms
This means that the withstand of the vacuum between the breaker contacts
is:
273.87kV
Vvacuum = = 30.43kV /mm.
9mm
As seen from the calculations the dielectric withstand of vacuum in the VCB
is approximately 10 times larger that the withstand in air.
Test nr. 6 5 3 9 1 8 7 10
Brk. angle[ ] 0 22.5 45 90 180 202.5 225 270
Reignitions 20 18 15 0 15 15 10 1
Table 5.3: The table shows the relation between the breaking angle and the num-
ber of reignitions of the vacuum arc. The results are from the tests
made at 5.75kV using the 10m cable.
is low and close to zero and when the VCB breaks the voltage close to a zero
crossing, 0 and 180 , the number of reignitions is quiet high. The reason for
this is that the current is capacitive and therefore zero at voltage maximum
and maximum at voltage zero. It is clear that the number of reignitions
must be zero if the VCB opens at a current zero crossing since no current is
interrupted and no vacuum arc is formed. During a current maximum a large
current will be interrupted this creates a TRV with high amplitude which
leads to many reignitions. Tabel 5.3 shows that the number of reignitions
is almost the same at the positive part and the negative part of the curve,
this can again be related to the TRV which had the same amplitude at the
positive part and the negative part.
As figure 5.9 shows, the magnitude of each HF current is small at the first
reignition and rises from reignition to reignition. In this case the magnitude
starts at around 10A on the first HF current and at the second HF current
the magnitude is around 30A ending at a magnitude of around 80A for the
last HF current. This phenomenon is also observed in all the measurements.
48 5.5 High Frequency Quenching Capability
HTTP1L100C1x05Dt27V5,75kOUT8.lvm
2000
0
TRV[V]
2000
4000
6000
2700 2750 2800 2850 2900 2950 3000
100
Current[A]
50
50
100
2700 2750 2800 2850 2900 2950 3000
Time[us]
Figure 5.9: The plot shows how the reignitions of the VCB create a HF current
that is superimposed on the power frequency current. The test is from
the system with 100m cable and the breaking angle is 292.5 .
The frequency of the HF currents is around 400kHz, which means that the
wavelength is only 2.2s. With this short wavelenght and a t of 0.2s the
plots of the HF currents do not get as precise as desired. The plots are good
enough to determine the HF current quenching capability, but in order to
get a more precise result the measuring time, when examining HF currents,
should be set down in comming projects.
When the 10m cable is used in the measurement the shape of the HF cur-
rents become very different from the ones observed in figure 5.9. The HF
currents that appear in the system using a 10m cable can be seen in figure
5.10. The HF currents seem to be quenched instantly after they appear and
can just be seen as small spikes on the current curve, which occur when the
TRV jumps to zero. Some of the HF currents are quenched even before they
reach their first maximum, and therefore it is not possible to see the increase
in magnitude in the HF currents.
Since the HF currents from the tests with the 10m cable have a very short
life time and are often quenched even before the first maximum is reached, it
is not possible to use them when calculating the HF quenching capability of
Laboratory Tests and Results 49
HTTP1L10C1x05Dt27V5,75kOUT7.lvm
5000
TRV[V] 0
5000
3850 3900 3950 4000 4050
50
Current[A]
50
3850 3900 3950 4000 4050
Time[us]
Figure 5.10: The plot shows how the reignitions of the VCB create a HF current
that is superimposed on the power frequency current. The test is
from the system with 10m cable and the breaking angle is 225 .
the VCB. Before determining the HF quenching capability of the VCB many
considerations on the approach were made. The two main considerations
were how to determine the constant Cc that appears in equation (3.3) and
the second was how to set the opening time of the VCB, t0 . The value of Cc
can be described as the change in di/dt with respect to time. The value is
therefore found by finding the slopes of the HF current between a maximum
and a minimum point and describe the slopes as a function of time. The
time used to find Cc is in equation (3.3) given as t t0 . The time t0 should
be the opening time of the breaker, but since this time is not known it, was
decided to set t0 as the time when the HF current starts appearing. When
calculating the value of RRDS the time t0 was set to zero, but in this case
the beginning time of the HF current was chosen, since this time have to be
used anyway when finding the value of Dd . The value of the constant Cc
can now be calculated from the measurements of the HF currents. In figure
5.11, 2 plots are seen, plot 5.11a shows 3 occurrences of HF currents during
a breaking operation and plot 5.11b is a zoomed plot showing the values used
to calculate the HF quenching capability of the VCB. As described the value
of Cc is found by making a linear regression, using the di/dt, found between
the data markers, and the difference between the time of a the zero crossing
and the start time of the HF current. The value of Dd is found simply by
50 5.5 High Frequency Quenching Capability
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100 HTTP1L100C1x05Dt27V5,75kOUT8.lvm
25
80
20
X: 2785
60 X: 2787
Y: 14.06 X: 2790
15 Y: 12.5X: 2793
X: 2795
Y: 12.5
Y: 10.94
Y: 10.94
X: 2801
X: 2803
40 10 Y: 7.812
Y: 7.812 X: 2808
X: 2811
X: 2813
Y: 6.25
Y: 6.25
Y: 6.25
Current[A]
Current[A]
X: 2816
20 5 X: 2798 X: 2806
Y: 1.562
Y: 7.812 Y: 7.812
X: 2783
Y: 1.562
0
0
X: 2815
5 X: 2807 Y: 7.812
X: 2802Y: 9.375
20 X: 2794
X: 2797
Y: 10.94
10 Y: 12.5
Y: 12.5 X: 2809
X: 2787 X: 2804Y: 7.812
X: 2812
40 X: 2784
Y: 15.62 X: 2799Y: 9.375 Y: 9.375
15 Y: 17.19 X: 2792 Y: 10.94
X: 2789
Y: 12.5
Y: 14.06
60 20
80 25
(a) Plot showing the reignitions (b) Zomed plot showing the first reignition
Figure 5.11: The plots shows the data markers used to calculate HF current
quenching capacity of the VCB.
finding the slope between the first two data markers seen on figure 5.11b.
In the full appendix E on the CD the measurements and the data used for
calculation of the HF quenching capability of the VCB are found. The results
of the calculations is seen in table E.1, in the printed version, and as seen
the calculations of Cc and Dd are made separately for each reignition. The
results in the table are only results from HF currents that have a appearance
time, which is long enough to give a realistic result (more that 1 period).
The average value of Cc and Dd can be seen in table 5.4. As table 5.4, shows
equation (3.3) the value was set to be constant. Using this approach the
value of di/dt can be seen as the slope between the last two data pointers
in figure 5.11b, the example from the figure gives
7.8125 1.562 A
Dd = = 11.718 .
2814.8 2815.6 s
This approach leads to the results seen in table E.2 in appendix E. The
average of the results is shown in table 5.5. As the table shows the results
calculated with this approach is again not close to the expected values pre-
A A
sented in chapter 3, (100 s - 600 s ). Since none of the two approaches gives
results close to the expected values of the HF quenching capability param-
eters, it could indicate that the quenching capability of the VCB cannot be
calculated when the current through the VCB is very low. Because of the
results the values of the HF current quenching constants, Cc and Dd are set
to the suggested values in [1]
A
Cc = 0 S
s2
A
Dd = 350 .
s
5.6.1 Prestrikes
This conducting vacuum arc formed by the breakdown will cause the volt-
age between the breaker contacts to go to zero. In figure 5.12 a plot of the
voltage across the VCB channels and the current during 3 prestrikes of the
breaker is seen. As seen in figure 5.12 the prestrike creates an oscillating
HF current. This current is interrupted at one of its current zeros, when
di/dt is low enough and the voltage over the VCB channels reappears. The
arc appears again the next time the voltage over the contacts reaches the
52 5.6 Closing the circuit
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Voltage[V]
0
5000
10000
6180 6190 6200 6210 6220 6230 6240 6250 6260
200
Current[A]
100
100
200
6180 6190 6200 6210 6220 6230 6240 6250 6260
Time[us]
Figure 5.12: The plot shows the voltage across the breaker channels and the cur-
rent through the breaker when during 3 prestrikes. The test is made
with 100m cable and at a closing angle of 22.5 .
Prestrikes are also observed in the system using a 10m cable and in the
same way as the reignitions, the prestrikes created in this setup seems to
have a much shorter lifetime. In figure 5.13, 4 prestrikes from measurements
with the 10m cable are seen. In the same way as when the 100m cable is
used the prestrike forces the voltage across the contact to go to zero. After
the restrikes in figure 5.13 the voltage is going more smoothly back to the
previous voltage level than when using the 100m cable. Just after it reaches
the previous voltage level another restrike is created whereas in the case
with 100m cable the voltage across the cannels kept were steady for a while
before another restrike was created.
In the VCB model used in the simulations the rate of decay of dielectric
withstand (RDDS) is set to have the same value as the RRDS. In the de-
scription of the VCB model [7] prestrikes are not treated, and therefore it
was decided to examine the RDDS to see if it has the same value as the
RRDS. In appendix F the RDDS in the VCB have been calculated. On the
CD the fulle appendix F is found, this contains the pictures and data used
in the calculation, the result of the calculations is seen in appendix F in the
report. The calculations have only been done at voltage level 5.75kV for the
system using the 10m cable, due to the experiences made when calculating
Laboratory Tests and Results 53
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10000
Voltage[V]
5000
5000
5500 5510 5520 5530 5540 5550
100
Current[A]
50
50
100
5500 5510 5520 5530 5540 5550
Time[us]
Figure 5.13: The plot shows the voltage across the breaker channels and the cur-
rent through the breaker when during 4 prestrikes. The test is made
with 10m cable and at a breaking angle of 202.5 .
the RRDS. Table F.1 show the results of the calculations. As the results
show the average value of the RDDS is found to be 147.1V /s, this value is
almost 4 times higher than the result of the RRDS which was found to be
37.88V /s.
This result points out a weakness of the used VCB model and shows a need
of a VCB model where the RDDS is investigated and treated as a individual
parameter.
The results in table F.1 also show how the closing angle affects the num-
ber of prestrikes. This can be seen more clearly from table 5.6 where some
results from table F.1 have been picked out and arranged according to the
closing angle. As seen from table 5.6 the closing angle has the opposite effect
Test nr. 9 8 7 3 4 5 10 6
Clos. angle[ ] 0 67.5 90 112.5 180 202.5 270 316
Prestrikes 0 3 6 4 2 4 6 2
Table 5.6: The table shows the relation between the opening angle and the number
of prestrikes of the vacuum arc. The results are from the tests made
at 5.75kV using the 10m cable.
on the number of prestrikes than the breaking angle has on the number of
54 5.6 Closing the circuit
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8
6
0
2 10
Current[A]
Current[A]
0
20
2
4 30
40
8
10
0 10 20 30 40 50
50
Time[ms] 0 10 20 30 40 50
Time[ms]
Figure 5.14: The plots shows the current through the breaker when closing the
circuit at 0 and at 270 , both measurements are made with 10m
cable.
reignitions. Table 5.6 shows that when closing the breaker at low voltage
and high current the number of prestrikes is low and when closing the VCB
at high voltage and low current the number of prestrikes is high.
As figure 5.14 shows the current after the closing operation consist of the
exponential transient term and the steady state term, as explained in chap-
ter 2. But as seen in figure 5.14, a higher frequency term is also affecting the
current just after contact separation. This term is caused by the same phe-
nomena that causes the TRV and the oscillating term will have a constant
frequency dependent of the inductances and capacitances in the system. The
frequency of the oscillating transient caused by the closing operation can be
found by using equation 2.14, which is also used to find the frequency of
the TRV. The inductance of the system is the same as in the opening case,
but now the load capacitance (0.5F ) becomes the dominant capacitance.
Laboratory Tests and Results 55
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8
0
6
20
4
40
2
Current[A]
Current[A]
60
0
80
2
X: 13.47 100
Y: 1.953
4
X: 10.36 120
Y: 4.297
6 X: 34.52
140 Y: 125
8 X: 31.63
Y: 143.8
160
10
0 10 20 30 40 50
180
Time[ms] 0 10 20 30 40 50
Time[ms]
Figure 5.15: The plots shows the current through the breaker when closing the
circuit at 0 and at 290 . Data measurements are set in order to
calculate the frequency of the oscillating transient.
This means that the frequency of the oscillating transient should be almost
simular for the two cable lengths. In this case we will say that the load ca-
pacitance is the only capacitance in the system and the frequency is therefore
expected to be
1
fopen = = 399.14Hz. (5.2)
2 0.318H 0.5F
In figure 5.15 data markers have been placed on the current curves and
from the value of the data markers the frequency of the oscillating transient
can be found. The frequency is only found in these two measurements, as
the results from section 5.2 showed that the frequency of the oscillations is
constant. The 2 frequencies is found to
1
fopen10 = = 390.63Hz
12.84ms 10.28ms
1
fopen100 = = 311.53Hz.
34.66ms 31.45ms
The results shows that the frequency, for both cable lengths, is almost the
same as the calculated frequency 399.14Hz. For the system using the 100m
cable the frequency is more inaccurate. This is because the capacitance of
the cable is larger in this system and thereby has a larger influence on the
system.
56 5.6 Closing the circuit
Chapter 6
Simulations
Figure 6.1: Setup of the system representing the laboratory setup when using the
10m cable.
The ideal voltage generator in the left side of the circuit represents the net
voltage supplying the vario-transformer, the vario-transformer and the cable
leading from the vario transformer to the HTT transformer. The inductance
of 0.318H represents the HTT transformer, the value of the inductance is
found by looking at the nominal load of the transformer. The impedance of
the transformer is calculated to be
Vm2 10kV 2
Z = ex = 0.1 = 100 (6.1)
Sm 100kV A
Z = 2 f L L = 0.318 (6.2)
The capacitance of 1575.7pF represents the 10m cable, the value of the
capacitance is found according to table 4.1. The box called BRK is the
model of the VCB where the values found in chapter 5 are inserted in order
to represent the VCB used in this project. The box over the VCB called
T imedBreakerLogicClosed@t0 is the control of the VCB, the box enables
the user to open or close the VCB at a specific time. The capacitance of
0.5F and the resistance of 10M is the load and the discharging resistance.
The signals Eload , Etrans and Iout correspond to the voltage and current
measurements from the laboratory setup and the small boxes over the system
handles the plotting of the simulation results. The measurement Ea is the
voltage across the VCB contacts.
It was tried to change the time of contact separation, to see if the arch-
ing time had any influence on the chopping level in the simulation model. It
was discovered that if the VCB opens at current maximum or minimum the
chopping level is set to zero. Therefore the time of contact separation was
set to 0.49ms, the results of running the simulations with the new opening
time of the VCB is seen in figure 6.3. As figure 6.3 shows the VCB has a
current chopping level of 0.0005A for this current, and a oscillating TRV
is created when the current is interrupted, when the oscillation is damped,
the voltage between the VCB contacts follows the transformer side voltage
as expected, with opposite sign due to the orientation of the measurement
of Ea . The damping time of the oscillation is around 10ms, in the tests
with the 10m cable the damping time was only 1ms. The reason for this
difference is probably the lack of detail in the simulation model.
Simulations 59
TRV[kV]
0
10
20
52 54 56 58 60 62 64 66 68
4
x 10
5
Current[A]
10
15
52 54 56 58 60 62 64 66 68
Time[ms]
Figure 6.2: Simulation of opening the VCB with the constants found and de-
scribed in chapter 5. The breaker opens at angle of 180 , but current
is not interrupted before 270 . The simulation uses the parameters
for the 10m cable.
10
20
52 54 56 58 60 62 64 66 68
4
x 10
5
Current[A]
10
15
52 54 56 58 60 62 64 66 68
Time[ms]
Figure 6.3: This simulation shows the TRV created by an opening operation, the
current is interrupted just before 270 . The simulation is for the
system using 10m cable
60 6.1 Opening the Vacuum Circuit Breaker
It was expected to see some reignitions of the vacuum arc, but this is not
seen in the simulation model. The reason why no reignitions occur is that
the TRV never exceeds the dielectric withstand of the VCB. As mentioned
before the lack of detail in the simulation models of the different components
results in a TRV that is not the same as the measured TRV. Therefore it
was decided to use the pi-equivalent circuit model for the cable, to try and
improve the model. This model includes also the inductance and the resis-
tance of the cable from table 4.1. The setup of the new simulation model is
seen in figure 6.4.
Figure 6.4: Setup of the system representing the laboratory setup when using the
pi-equivalent circuit model and the parameters for the 10m cable.
Using the pi-equivalent circuit to model the cable does not make any changes
to the simulation results, the result is still the same as in figure 6.3, with
a damping time of around 10ms. In figure 6.5 a graph of the TRV under
the opening process is shown together with the dielectric withstand of the
VCB. The parameters used to describe the dielectric withstand is set to
A = 37.88V /s and B = 0 according to the calculations from section 5.4. It
can be seen from figure 6.5, that the problem of the simulations is found in
the shape of the TRV created by the breaking operation. To try and force a
reignition of the VCB, the opening time of the VCB was moved very close to
the time of current chopping, but the amplitude of the TRV does not get a
value that is high enough to make the TRV exceed the dielectric withstand
of the VCB. The difference between the tests and the simulation model is
that, as soon as the VCBs contact seperate in the real tests the current is
chopped and the TRV starts rising. This causes reignitions of the vacuum
arc. In the simulation the current is not chopped at the time of seperation
and the dielectric withstand becomes too high for reignitions to occur.
The simulation model of the VCB is a closed model and its source code
cannot be seen. Therefore it is not possible to investigate the problem of
the current chopping level further. The results of the simulations suggest
that the VCB model always sets the current chopping level under the cur-
rent level. This would explain why the current is not chopped immediately
Simulations 61
15
TRV[kV]
10
5
53.8 53.9 54 54.1 54.2 54.3 54.4 54.5 54.6
Time[ms]
Figure 6.5: The simulation shows the TRV and the dielectric withstand of the
VCB. As seen the time of seperation has been moved to 54ms (270 )
to try and force reignitions.
after contact seperation. In order to analyse the problem, the VCB model
should be tested at a higher current level.
Another step of improving the simulation model would be to use the PSCAD
cable model to describe the cable and to transform an already made Simulink
model of the HTT transformer to a PSCAD model in order to get a more
precise model of the system. These opportunities were investigated, but
they were found to be too time consuming to be included in this project.
The VCB model should also be tested at other current levels to see if the
problem with the chopping level is a fault in the model or a result of the low
current level of the VCB.
Instead it was decided to continue using the circuit in figure 6.4 and only
analyse the frequency of the TRV and effect of breaking angle during the
opening operation. As mentioned, figure 6.3 shows the simulated TRV in
the system using a 10m cable. In figure 6.6 the result of a simulation, using
the parameters for the 100m cable is seen. The simulation opens the VCB
contacts after 49ms. Again it is seen that the current does not get chopped
at contact seperation but a vacuum arc conducts the current and it is not
extinguished before the current chopping level, set by the simulation model,
is reached at 55ms. Figure 6.6 shows that the damping problem in the
simulation model becomes more significant when simulating the 100m ca-
62 6.1 Opening the Vacuum Circuit Breaker
TRV[kV]
0
10
20
52 54 56 58 60 62 64 66 68
4
x 10
5
Current[A]
10
15
52 54 56 58 60 62 64 66 68
Time[ms]
Figure 6.6: Simulation of opening the VCB in the system with 100m cable, the
current is interrupted at 270 .
ble. The TRV created by the breaking process continues to oscillate without
any damping, where the test result showed that the oscillation in this setup
would be completely damped after around 2.3ms. These simulation results
again show the need for a better simulation model of the circuit components.
4 X: 54.92
X: 54.48 Y: 1.332
Y: 1.245
1
3
2
0.5
TRV[kV]
TRV[kV]
1
0 0
1
0.5
2
3
1
4
5 1.5
54 54.5 55 55.5 56 54 54.5 55 55.5 56
Time[ms] Time[ms]
Figure 6.7: The two plots shows the TRV generated in the system using 10m and
100m cable. For both simulations the breaking angle is 270 .
4 4
3 3
2 2
TRV[kV]
TRV[kV]
1 1
0 0
1 1
2 2
3 3
4 4
5 5
44 44.5 45 45.5 46 54 54.5 55 55.5 56
Time[ms] Time[ms]
(a) VCB contacts separates at 40ms (b) VCB contacts separates at 50ms
Figure 6.8: The simulation shows the TRV when the VCB is set to open at 39ms
and 49ms which results in breaking angles of almost 90 and almost
270 .
3
x 10 Simulation of VCB closing
Simulation of VCB closing 3
0.015
2
0.01
1
0.005
Current[A]
Current[A]
0
0
1
0.005
X: 55.9 2
Y: 0.009806
0.01 X: 51.23
X: 58.37 Y: 0.003063 X: 53.74
Y: 0.008888 Y: 0.002395
3
0.015
52 54 56 58 60 62 64 66 68
4
Time[ms] 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58
Time[ms]
Figure 6.9: The two plots shows simulations of closing the VCB with both cable
lenghts. The data markers are used to find the frequency of the oscil-
lating transients. The closing angle of the VCB is 270 for plot a and
180 for plot b.
with different sign. This is similar to the results obtained in the laboratory
tests, where breaking angles that are 180 apart have the same amplitude
but with different sign.
When closing the VCB model, the slow transients, described in chapter
2, the fast oscillating transients, described in section 5.6.2 and prestrikes
of the vacuum arc, that were seen in section 5.6.2, can be seen from the
simulation results. In this section the frequency of the oscillating transients
will be calculated and an analyse of the prestrikes will be made. During the
simulations of the closing operation it was discovered that the prestrikes in
the VCB only occurs when the pi-equivalent model of the cable was used.
This emphasises the importance of the level of detail in the simulation model.
Voltage[kV]
10 Breaker withstand voltage
5
55.2 55.3 55.4 55.5 55.6 55.7 55.8
3
x 10
5
Current[A]
10
55.2 55.3 55.4 55.5 55.6 55.7 55.8
Time[ms]
Figure 6.10: The plot shows the voltage between the VCB contacts and the cur-
rent through the VCB just before the VCB contacts meet. As the
plot shows, prestrikes of the VCB occur.
1
fT RV 10 = = 411.35Hz
58.372msb 55.941ms
1
fT RV 100 = = 399.2Hz
53.74ms 51.235ms
As these results show the two frequencies are both very close the expected
frequency of 400Hz. The calculations shows that the frequencies are not
the same for both cable lenghs, this is as mentioned earlier because the
capacitance and inductance in the system changes a bit when changing the
cable. But since the load capacitance 0.5F is the dominant capacitance
in the system, the change of cable will not have a very large effect on the
frequency of the oscillations.
8
2.5
7
2 6
Voltage[kV]
Voltage[kV]
5
1.5
4
1
3
0.5 2
1
0
0
0.5 1
50.6 50.7 50.8 50.9 51 51.1 51.2 51.3 51.4 55 55.1 55.2 55.3 55.4 55.5 55.6 55.7 55.8
Time[ms] Time[ms]
Figure 6.11: The two plots shows simulations of closing the VCB at different
times, iin the system using the 10m cable. As seen the two different
closing angles causes a different number of prestrikes.
tions are quenched very fast and the voltage between the contacts are led
smoothly back to the previous level. This process repeats it self when more
prestrikes occur.
The voltage plot on figure 6.10 also shows how the dielectric withstand
of the VCB decays and as expected the prestrikes occur when the voltage
between the VCB contacts exceeds the dielectric withstand. The RDDS can
be calculated from the plot and is found to be A = 37.88V /s, the same
value as the inserted value of RRDS. The VCB contacts start moving to-
gether at 55ms and are fully together at 55.55ms, this gives a closing time
of the VCB of 0.55ms. This time is not adjusteble in the model and can
therefore not be set to the value found in the laboratory tests.
Discussion
The results obtained in the project will be discussed and compared in this
chapter. First a description of the measurements and calculations, made in
order to find the VCB model parameters will be given. Then a description
and comparison of the calculated, measured and simulated results when
opening and closing the VCB is given. Finally a description of the further
work needed, in order to determine the model parameters of the VCB and
the further work on the simulation model, will be given.
The chopping current was the first parameter of the VCB model that was
treated. The current chopping phenomena were hard to observe at high
voltage levels because of the high current transients created at these levels.
At lower voltage levels the chopping effect was seen quiet clearly and an at-
tempt on calculating the current chopping level of the VCB was made. But
since the laboratory setup conducts a current which is under the current
chopping level of the breaker the value of the parameters and could not
be determined for this breaker. The parameters of and were therefore
chosen to standard values, which should give a current chopping level of
3A-8A in the simulation model.
An analyse of the reignitions of the vacuum arc was made in order to de-
termine the dielectric withstand of the VCB. As expected the circuit con-
figuration changed the number of restrikes of the vacuum arc, when using
the 100m cable few reignitions were created and when using the 10m cable
68 7.2 Opening the Vacuum Circuit Breaker
many reignitions were created. The analyse of the reignitions showed that
the VCB has a RRDS of 37.88V /s. This value corresponds to the suggested
value range of RRDS when testing VCBs. The value of the RRDS gives a
maximum dielectric withstand of the vacuum between the VCB contacts
of 30.43kV /mm. In [8] the dielectric withstand of vacuum is stated to be
between 20kVrms /mm and 30kVrms /mm. The rms value in this project is
21.52kVrms /mm, therefore found value of the RRDS of the VCB seems to
be acceptable.
The HF quenching capability of the VCB was also examined and two meth-
ods of determening the simulation parameters were used. The methods gave
very different and varying results. When the HF quenching capability is con-
sidered to be constant its values should lay between 100A/s and 600A/s,
which indicate that the result found in this project is wrong. The differ-
ence between the calculated value and the expected value, is most likely to
be caused by the current level in the system, and it is expected that tests
conducting larger currents will give better results of the HF quenching ca-
pability of the VCB. Due to this, the value of the HF quenching capability
was set to be 350A/s in the simulation model.
The prestrikes during a closing operation of the VCB were also observed
and the RDDS of the VCB was calculated. The value of RDDS is calcu-
lated in the same way as the value of RRDS and the RDDS of the VCB was
found to be 147.1V /s. However it is not possible to set the RDDS in the
simulation model, the value of the RDDS will be set to the the value of the
RRDS, 37.88V /s.
When inserting the found and decided parameters in the VCB model and
inserting the model in the simulation model of the laboratory setup it was
expected to observe the phenomena, that is described by the VCB theory
and is also seen from the test results.
TRV[kV]
0
5
54 54.5 55 55.5 56 56.5
2
3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6
Time[ms]
Figure 7.1: Comparison of the simulated and the measured results of at VCB
opening, when the breaking angle is 270 and the 10m cable is used.
the simulations. When using the 100m cable the frequency of the TRV have
been calculated to 2953, 87Hz for the measurements and 2272Hz for the
simulations. As the results shows the simulated value is almost equal to
the value calculated, whereas the measured result is a bit different. This
difference between the measured result and the simulated/calculated result
comes from the lack of detail in the simulation/calculation model. In order
to improve this a more detailed model of both transformer and cable, should
be used in further work with the simulation model.
As figure 7.1 shows the simulation does not apply the right damping to
the system, the measured damping time of the TRV, using the 10m cable,
is 1ms whereas the simulation gives a damping time of 10ms. This is also
caused by the lack of detail in the simulation model. The damping problem
of the simulation model gets worse when switching from the 10m cable to
the 100m cable, where almost no damping is applied to the TRV.
with the used values of and , where a current chopping level of 3A-8A
is expected. Since it is not possible to see the source code of the simulation
model a investigation of the problem could not be made. But the results
suggest that the current chopping level in the VCB model is always set to
be under the current level.
As explained in the report the rate of rise of the TRV is a very important
parameter in the generation of reignitions of the vacuum arc. Therefore it
is important that the simulation model gives a correct TRV according to
the laboratory measurement, when studying reignitions. When the prob-
lems with the current chopping level is solved the simulation model might
be good enough to make a study of reignitions of the vacuum arc. But in
order to get the best results, the problems with the simulation of the TRV
should be solved, this is done by using more accurate models of the trans-
foremr and the cable. PSCAD has a cable model that could be applied in
the simulation setup, a detailed model of the HTT transformer is already
made in Simulink, this model should be transformed to a PSCAD model
and used in the simulation.
When closing the VCB some fast oscillations occure due to the capacitances
and the inductances of the system. The frequency of these oscillations is
found in the same way as the frequency of the TRV. But when the circuit
is closing the dominant capacitance of the system becomes the load and
the frequency of the oscillations have been calculated considering the load
capaticance to be the only capacitance of the system. The frequency of the
oscillations have been calculated to 399.14Hz for both cable lenghts. When
examining the system using the 10m cable a frequency of 390.63Hz is found
from the measurements and a frequency of 411.35Hz is found in the simu-
lations. And when using the 100m cable a frequency of 311.53Hz is found
from the measurements and a frequency of 399.2Hz is found in the simula-
tions. As seen the measured frequencies and the simulated frequencies are
very similar, only the measurement using the 100m cable is a bit different.
The reason for this is that the capacitance and inductance of the 100m cable
Discussion 71
Voltage[kV]
5
5
55 55.2 55.4 55.6 55.8 56
5
5.2 5.25 5.3 5.35 5.4
Time[ms]
affects the system and the load capacitance is not as dominating as when
the 10m cable is used.
The opening time of the VCB and the RDDS are not variable parameters in
the VCB model, this means that the simulation of restrikes is not as precise
as desired. The simulation has a fixed closing time of 0.55ms where the ac-
tual closing of the VCB was measured to be 12ms. The RDDS of the VCB
model is set to have the same value as the RRDS, and in this case 37.88V /s
where the RDDS measured on the VCB was found to be 147.1V /s. This
means that the voltage in the simulations, does not reach the right level
when recovering after a prestrike, since the slope of the dielectric withstand
72 7.4 Further Work
is too low.
The prestrikes of the VCB can only be simulated in the simulation model
that is using the pi-equivalent model of the cable. This fact shows the im-
portance of a precise simulation model and it suggestes to improve the model
of the transformer and the cable as already described.
The fact that it is possible to simulate the prestrikes in the VCB model,
support the theory that the current chopping level is the reason why the
restrikes of the VCB cannot be simulated.
The simulation model also requires some further work in order to fully rep-
resent the laboratory setup. In this project the laboratory setup has been
represented by lumped circuit element, in order to improve the model this
should be improved. The HTT transformer has already been modelled in
Simulink in a previous project, so in order to improve the model used in this
Discussion 73
The above improvements should make it possible to fully test the VCB
model. These tests will determine if the model is fulfilling its purpose or
if changes in the model are required. Changes to the VCB model could be
introducing the RDDS, the opening time and the closing time as variable
parameters.
74 7.4 Further Work
Chapter 8
Conclusion
This project has investigated the generation of high voltage transients from
a vacuum circuit breaker (VCB). The investigation has concerned with the-
oretical research, expermential tests and simulations studies.
The result of the tests showed that a transient recovery voltage (TRV) is
created when the VCB is opened. The frequency of the TRV was found to
be dependent of the network setup and when using a 100m cable the fre-
quency was found to be 2953, 87Hz where the 10m cable gave a frequency
of 8708, 92Hz. It was shown that the amplitude of the TRV is dependent
of the VCB breaking angle. The rate of rise and the amplitude of the TRV
were found to have a big influence on the behaviour of the VCB during
current interruption. The two parameters play a big role in the creation
of restrikes in the VCB, the reignitions in the VCB are created whenever
the dielectric strength is exceeded by the TRV. The rate of rise of dielectric
strength (RRDS) during an opening operation was found to be 37.88V /s.
The parameters for determening the current chopping level could not be
found, as the current in the test setup was under the current chopping level
of the VCB. An attempt of finding the HF quenching capability of the VCB
was made, but the result was very varying, which is also expected to be
because of the low currents level in the tests. The parameters of the current
chopping and the HF quenching capability were therefore set to standart
values in the simulations.
76
Measurements were also taken during closing operations of the VCB, these
measurements showed an exponential current transient and a faster oscil-
lating transient, as expected. The frequency of the fast oscillating transient
was expected to be 399.14Hz for both cable lenghts and was found to be
390.63Hz when the 10m cable was used and 311.53Hz when 100m cable is
used. On the measurement of the closing operation, prestrikes of the vacuum
arc was observed and the RDDS of the VCB was calculated to be 147.1V /s.
In order determine the parameters for modelling the current chopping level
and the HF quenching capability, new tests at higher current level should
be made. In order to get more precise simulation results an improvement of
the simulation model is also required.
Bibliography
[7] Rao Kondala and Gajjar Gopal. Development and application of vac-
uum circuit breaker model in electromagnetic transient simulation.
IEEE Power India Confrence, 2006.
[13] Rene Peter Paul Smeets. ow-current behaviour and current chopping
of vacuum arcs. Proefschrift, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, 1987.
[15] Lou van der Sluis. Transients in Power Systems. John Wiley and Sons,
inc, 1th edition, 2002.
[16] S.M. Wong, L.A. Snider, and E.W.C. Lo. Overvoltages and reigni-
tion behaviour of vacuum circuit breaker. International Conference on
Power System Transients, 2003.
List of Figures
5.1 Closing the VCB at voltage level 6.9kV , the setup is using
the 100m cable and the load with a capacitance of 0.5F .
The time between the measurements t is 1 106 s, and the
closing angle is 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
5.2 The figure shows two plots of the distance between the VCB
contacts, when the VCB is opening and closing. . . . . . . . . 36
5.3 The TRV across the breaker contacts using a 10m and a 100m
cable. The breaking angle is in both cases 0 . . . . . . . . . . 38
5.4 The measurements for calculating the frequency of the TRV
when using a 10m cable in the test. The breaking angle is
again 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
5.5 The plots shows the current through the VCB at 5, 75kV
using a 100m cable. The interruption is made at a breaking
angle of 180 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
5.6 The plots shows the current through the VCB at 1, 15kV
using a 100m cable. The interruption is made at a breaking
angle of 45 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
5.7 The plots shows the voltage across the breaker contacts during
an opening of the VCB. Both tests have a breaking angle of
225 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
5.8 The figure illustrates how the RRDS is calculated from the
laboratory measurements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
LIST OF FIGURES 81
5.9 The plot shows how the reignitions of the VCB create a HF
current that is superimposed on the power frequency current.
The test is from the system with 100m cable and the breaking
angle is 292.5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
5.10 The plot shows how the reignitions of the VCB create a HF
current that is superimposed on the power frequency current.
The test is from the system with 10m cable and the breaking
angle is 225 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
5.11 The plots shows the data markers used to calculate HF cur-
rent quenching capacity of the VCB. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
5.12 The plot shows the voltage across the breaker channels and
the current through the breaker when during 3 prestrikes.
The test is made with 100m cable and at a closing angle of
22.5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
5.13 The plot shows the voltage across the breaker channels and
the current through the breaker when during 4 prestrikes.
The test is made with 10m cable and at a breaking angle of
202.5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
5.14 The plots shows the current through the breaker when closing
the circuit at 0 and at 270 , both measurements are made
with 10m cable. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
5.15 The plots shows the current through the breaker when closing
the circuit at 0 and at 290 . Data measurements are set in
order to calculate the frequency of the oscillating transient. . 55
6.6 Simulation of opening the VCB in the system with 100m ca-
ble, the current is interrupted at 270 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
6.7 The two plots shows the TRV generated in the system using
10m and 100m cable. For both simulations the breaking angle
is 270 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
6.8 The simulation shows the TRV when the VCB is set to open
at 39ms and 49ms which results in breaking angles of almost
90 and almost 270 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
6.9 The two plots shows simulations of closing the VCB with
both cable lenghts. The data markers are used to find the
frequency of the oscillating transients. The closing angle of
the VCB is 270 for plot a and 180 for plot b. . . . . . . . . 64
6.10 The plot shows the voltage between the VCB contacts and
the current through the VCB just before the VCB contacts
meet. As the plot shows, prestrikes of the VCB occur. . . . . 65
6.11 The two plots shows simulations of closing the VCB at dif-
ferent times, iin the system using the 10m cable. As seen
the two different closing angles causes a different number of
prestrikes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
5.1 The table shows the relation between the breaking angle and
the amplitude of the TRV. The results are from the tests made
at 5.75kV using the 10m cable. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
5.2 The table shows the average RRDS, for the 6 analysed test
series and the average value of the RRDS found for the two
cable lengths. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
5.3 The table shows the relation between the breaking angle and
the number of reignitions of the vacuum arc. The results are
from the tests made at 5.75kV using the 10m cable. . . . . . 47
5.4 The average results of the calculations of C and D . . . . . . 50
5.5 The average results of D when considering di/dt to be con-
stant. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
5.6 The table shows the relation between the opening angle and
the number of prestrikes of the vacuum arc. The results are
from the tests made at 5.75kV using the 10m cable. . . . . . 53
B.1 Results of the long TRV. The calculations have been made
for the test where the 10m cable is used and at a voltage level
of 5,75kV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
B.2 Results of the long TRV. The calculations have been made
for the test where the 100m cable is used and at a voltage
level of 5,75kV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
D.1 The table shows the calculation of the RRDS for the system
using with 100m cable and have a voltage level of 4.6kV . . . 94
D.2 The table shows the calculation of the RRDS for the system
using with 100m cable and have a voltage level of 5.75kV . . . 94
D.3 The table shows the calculation of the RRDS for the system
using with 100m cable and have a voltage level of 6.9kV . . . 95
D.4 The table shows the calculation of the RRDS for the system
using with 10m cable and have a voltage level of 4.6kV . . . . 95
D.5 The table shows the calculation of the RRDS for the system
using with 100m cable and have a voltage level of 5.75kV . . . 96
D.6 The table shows the calculation of the RRDS for the system
using with 100m cable and have a voltage level of 6.9kV . . . 96
Plotting results
The measurements in the LabVIEW program are stored in a .lvm file, this
file concists of six columns. The data stored in each column is
MATLAB is used to take the data out of the columns, process it and plot it
in the desired way. Later in this appendix an example of how the results are
plotted is shown, this file is also found on the CD. The concept of the MAT-
LAB file is that it loads a directory containing a number of measurement
results files, .lvm files. The .m file then processes all the measurement files
and saves a picture of the plotted results. The .m file is modified in order
to get the desired plot, these modifications can be a zoom of the x axis,
plotting the difference between the load side- and transformer side voltage
in order to plot the TRV, etc.
In order to use the matlab file P lot res.m to plot the measured results
it is important that the file is placed in the right directory. The file must be
in the same directory as the folders containing the .lvm files. The file plot.m
86
has two parameters that the user must change to get the wanted plots. The
first one is step time, delta t, this number has to be set in order to get the
right time on the x-axis. Delta t is calculated by the labview program when
the measurements are taken and can also be seen in the filename of the .lvm
file. The second parameter that can be changed by the user is the directory
name. The name must be the name of the directory containing the .lvm
files with the data for which a plot is wanted.
If you have any problem plotting the results or have questions on how to
modify the Matlab file you can send me an email and ill try and help you.
The code of the matlab file P lot res.m is seen here
1 clc ;
2 clear a l l ;
3
4
5 %Values t h a t has t o be s e t by t h e u s e r
6 %
7 d e l t a t =2e 7; %The s t e p time D e l t a t
8 cd ChoopingCurrent ; % Name o f t h e d i r e c t o r y with t h e ...
results
9 %
10
11 %Loads a l l t h e measurements f i l e s from t h e d i r e c t o r y
12 d=dir ( ./*. lvm ) ;
13
14
15
16 %G e n e r a t e s a f o r l o o p t h a t run through a l l t h e f i l e s
17 f o r k=1: length ( d ) ;
18 fname=d ( k ) . name ;
19
20 %Loads t h e measurement r e s u l t s t o a matrix
21 x = csvread ( fname , 1 , 0 ) ;
22
23 %Loads t h e v o l t a g e from t h e p o s s i t i o n meter
24 v o l t a g e p o s=x ( : , 2 ) ;
25 %Converts t h e v o l t a g e t o t h e d i s t a n c e between t h e b r e a k e r ...
contacts
26 d i s t =(9 v o l t a g e p o s ) 9 / 9 ;
27
28 %Loads t h e v o l t a g e o f t h e l o a d s i d e o f t h e b r e a k e r
29 v o l t a g e l o a d s i d e=x ( : , 5 ) ;
30
31 %Loads t h e v o l t a g e o f t h e t r a n s f o r m e r s i d e o f t h e b r e a k e r
32 v o l t a g e t r a n s s i d e=x ( : , 3 ) ;
33
34 %Loads t h e t r o u g h t h e b r e a k e r
35 c u r r e n t=x ( : , 6 ) ;
Plotting results 87
36
37 %Loads and s e t s t h e time a c o r d i n g t o t h e s t e p time
38 time=d e l t a t x ( : , 1 ) 1 0 3 ;
39
40
41 %Opens a new f i g u r e
42 F=f i g u r e ;
43 %S e t s t h e f i l e n a m e o f t h e p l o t t o t h e name o f t h e measurement ...
f i l e followed
44 %by R e s u l t
45 f i l e n a m e =[ fname ( 1 : length ( fname ) 4) Breakerpos ] ;
46 T i t l e=fname ;
47 %P l o t s t h e d i s t a n c e between t h e b r e a k e r c o n t a c t s a s a f u n c t i o n ...
o f time
48 plot ( time , d i s t ) ;
49 %S e t s t h e xa x i s t o t h e l e n g t h o f t h e time v e c t o r
50 xlim ( [ 0 time ( end ) ] )
51 %Adding a t i t l e t o t h e f i g u r e
52 t i t l e ( T i t l e , FontWeight , bold , Fontsize , 1 6 ) ;
53 %Adds l a b e l s t o t h e a x i s
54 xlabel ( Time [ ms ] , FontWeight , bold , Fontsize , 1 6 ) ;
55 ylabel ( Distance between VCB contacts [ mm ] , FontWeight , bold , ...
Fontsize , 1 6 ) ;
56 %Saves t h e p l o t a s a png f i l e under t h e f i l e name
57 print (F , - dpng , f i l e n a m e ) ;
58 s a v e a s ( gcf , [ fname ( 1 : length ( fname ) 4) Breakerpos . fig ] )
59
60
61 %New f i g u r e f o r p l o t t i n g t h e t r a n s f o r m e r s i d e v o l t a g e
62 F=f i g u r e ;
63 %P l o t s t h e l o a d s i d e v o l t a g e a s a f u n c t i o n o f time
64 plot ( time , v o l t a g e t r a n s s i d e ) ;
65 %S e t s t h e f i l e n a m e o f t h e p l o t t o t h e name o f t h e measurement ...
f i l e followed
66 %by R e s u l t
67 f i l e n a m e =[ fname ( 1 : length ( fname ) 4) Voltagetransside ] ;
68 T i t l e=fname ;
69 %S e t s t h e xa x i s t o t h e l e n g t h o f t h e time v e c t o r
70 xlim ( [ 0 time ( end ) ] )
71 %Adding a t i t l e t o t h e f i g u r e
72 t i t l e ( T i t l e , FontWeight , bold , Fontsize , 1 6 ) ;
73 %Adds l a b e l s t o t h e a x i s
74 xlabel ( Time [ ms ] , FontWeight , bold , Fontsize , 1 6 ) ;
75 ylabel ( Trans . side voltage [V] , FontWeight , bold , Fontsize ...
,16) ;
76 %Saves t h e p l o t a s a png f i l e under t h e f i l e name
77 print (F , - dpng , f i l e n a m e ) ;
78 s a v e a s ( gcf , [ fname ( 1 : length ( fname ) 4) Voltagetransside . fig ] )
79
80 %New f i g u r e f o r p l o t t i n g t h e l o a d s i d e v o l t a g e
81 F=f i g u r e ;
82 %P l o t s t h e l o a d s i d e v o l t a g e a s a f u n c t i o n o f time
83 plot ( time , v o l t a g e l o a d s i d e ) ;
88
The pictures contaning the data points used for the calculations is found
on the cd. The PDF file named F ull Appendix.pdf contains the pictures
showing the data and the results of the calculation. The appendix seen in
the printed version only shows tabels contaning the calculation results. To
get the full appendix, just send me an email and i will send the file.
90
Table B.1: Results of the long TRV. The calculations have been made for the test
where the 10m cable is used and at a voltage level of 5,75kV
Table B.2: Results of the long TRV. The calculations have been made for the test
where the 100m cable is used and at a voltage level of 5,75kV
Appendix C
Results of Current Chopping
Calculations
The pictures contaning the data points used for the calculations is found
on the cd. The PDF file named F ull Appendix.pdf contains the pictures
showing the data and the results of the calculation. The appendix seen in
the printed version only shows tables contaning the calculation results.
92
Table C.1: Measurements and results of the current chopping analysis. The data
is based on measurements with a load of 0.5F , 100m cable and a
voltage level of 1.15kV
Table C.2: Measurements and results of the current chopping analysis. The data
is based on measurements with a load of 1.0F , 100m cable and a
voltage level of 1.15kV
Appendix D
Results of the Rate of Rise of
Dielectric Strength Calculations
The pictures contaning the data points used for the calculations is found
on the cd. The PDF file named F ull Appendix.pdf contains the pictures
showing the data and the results of the calculation. The appendix seen in
the printed version only shows tables contaning the calculation results.
94
Table D.1: The table shows the calculation of the RRDS for the system using
with 100m cable and have a voltage level of 4.6kV .
Table D.2: The table shows the calculation of the RRDS for the system using
with 100m cable and have a voltage level of 5.75kV .
Results of the Rate of Rise of Dielectric Strength Calculations 95
Table D.3: The table shows the calculation of the RRDS for the system using
with 100m cable and have a voltage level of 6.9kV .
Table D.4: The table shows the calculation of the RRDS for the system using
with 10m cable and have a voltage level of 4.6kV .
96
Table D.5: The table shows the calculation of the RRDS for the system using
with 100m cable and have a voltage level of 5.75kV .
Table D.6: The table shows the calculation of the RRDS for the system using
with 100m cable and have a voltage level of 6.9kV .
Appendix E
Results of HF Current
Quenching Capability
Calculations
The pictures contaning the data points used for the calculations is found
on the cd. The PDF file named F ull Appendix.pdf contains the pictures
showing the data and the results of the calculation. The appendix seen in
the printed version only shows tables contaning the calculation results.
98
Arc number
Arc 1 Arc 1 Arc 2 Arc 2 Arc 3 Arc 3
A A A A A A
Test nr. C[ s2] D[ s ] C[ s2] D[ s ] C[ s 2] D [ s ]
1 -0.294 9.375 -0.668 33.2 -0.705 62.5
2 -0.489 31.25 -1.436 50.78 -3.272 103.516
3 -0.52524 27.34375
4 -0.48529 36.45
5 -1.684 29.296 -2.182 52.734
6 -0.316 5.580 -1.774 85.937
7 -0.705 21.484 -0.673 14.5 1.898 51.563
8 -0.429 15.626
9 -0.437 17.188 51.563 -2.174 125
10 -0.114 9.766 -0.588 19.531 -1.512 35.938
11 -0.87 117.188 -0.609 85.938
12 -0.74513 85.938 -1.597 42.969
Average -0.59125 25.67046 -1.19084 48.57241 -1.9121 75.70312
Table E.1: The results of the parameters C and D when expressing the HF current
quenching capability as a linear function. All tests are made at voltage
level 5.75kV in the system using the 100m cable.
Arc number
Arc 1 Arc 2 Arc 3
A A A
Test nr. D[ s ] D[ s ] D[ s ]
1 7.812 28.125 60.937
2 19.531 15.625 107.142
3 11.718
4 11.718
5 24.553 33.854
6 6.696 29.017
7 12.695 26.041 30.273
8 11.718 29.513
9 12.695 93.75 47.991
10 6.696 12.276 32.366
11 21.875 45.312
12 13.021 26.785
Average 13.255 34.03 55.742
Table E.2: The results of D when considering the HF current quenching capability
to be constant. Again all tests are made with 100m cable and at
voltage level 5.75kV
Appendix F
Results of Rate of Decay of
Dielectric Srength
The pictures contaning the data points used for the calculations is found
on the cd. The PDF file named F ull Appendix.pdf contains the pictures
showing the data and the results of the calculation. The appendix seen in
the printed version only shows tables contaning the calculation results.
100
Table F.1: The results of the Rate of decay of Dielectric Strength, the calculations
are made on test results from the system using the 10m cable and
voltage level 5.75kV
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