A study of multi-break HVDC gaseous circuit breaker performance by using black box arc model (original) (raw)

Parameters affecting the arcing time of HVDC circuit breakers using black box arc model

IET Generation, Transmission & Distribution, 2018

Arc interruption of high voltage direct current (HVDC) circuit breakers (CBs) is one of the main challenging factors for using HVDC grids. To evaluate the arc interrupting capability in HVDC CBs, black box arc models are used to represent the nonlinear arc conductance depending on Cassie and Mayr dynamic arc equations. Extensive simulation studies are carried out to investigate the effect of controlled and uncontrolled parameters on the CB arcing time. A real line represents a part of 500 kV electrical connection systems between Egypt and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is simulated to be a faulty load. It is found that the arcing time of the HVDC CB can be reduced by increasing the value of cooling power coefficient (p) and decreasing the value of arc time constant (τ). It is also deduced that the arcing time is reduced by the increase of the commutation capacitance value (C) and decreasing the commutation inductance (L) value and vice versa. Moreover, it is concluded that the arcing time is greatly affected by the fault location and the fault arc resistance (R f) according to fault conditions.

Development of HVDC system-level mechanical circuit breaker model

International Journal of Electrical Power & Energy Systems, 2018

The main goal of the paper is the modeling of the mechanical circuit breaker (MCB) that can replicate the breaker characteristics in real time environment. The proposed MCB with active current injection is modelled for a system level, which provides adequate representation of the circuit breakers for system analysis studies. External current-voltage characteristics of the proposed MCB models replicate the ones of the devices in the real world. It is well known that the DC circuit breaker (DCCB) needs to interrupt DC faults very quickly in order to avoid converter damages. The total current interruption time consists of fault detection time, time needed for the DC protection to provide command to the DCCB, and DCCB arc clearing time. Thus, it is necessary to demonstrate the system performance of associated protective devices through real time simulation, before these devices can be implemented and commissioned in practice. This paper presents a detailed modeling of the mechanical DCCB in real time simulation environment based on RTDS. The performance of the model is verified by the simulations based on PSCAD and meaningful conclusions are drawn.

BLACK BOX ARC MODELING OF HIGH VOLTAGE CIRCUIT BREAKER USING MATLAB/SIMULINK

iaeme

Over the years, as our knowledge of the interrupting process progressed, many techniques have been developed to test the circuit breakers and simulated arc model There are three models (Physical Model Black Box Model and Parameter Model) that describe the behavior of f arc. This paper evaluates the black-box arc model for circuitbreakers with the purpose of finding criteria for the breaking ability. A black-box model is a model that requires no knowledge from the user of the underlying physical processes. In this paper, knowledge of the physical processes is required when evaluating and developing the arc models. This paper is meant to give a detailed study of black box model with the purpose to evaluate, combine, improve and apply to already existing circuit-breakers. Cassie-Mayr arc models was evaluated. Cassie’s model gives good results for large currents, while Mayr’s model is better for currents near zero. Therefore, a combination of the Cassie and Mayr model will be used to obtain better result

Low-voltage circuit breaker arcs—simulation and measurements

Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, 2013

As one of the most important electrical components, the low-voltage circuit breaker (LVCB) has been widely used for protection in all types of low-voltage distribution systems. In particular, the low-voltage dc circuit breaker has been arousing great research interest in recent years. In this type of circuit breaker, an air arc is formed in the interrupting process which is a 3D transient arc in a complex chamber geometry with splitter plates. Controlling the arc evolution and the extinction are the most significant problems. This paper reviews published research works referring to LVCB arcs. Based on the working principle, the arcing process is divided into arc commutation, arc motion and arc splitting; we focus our attention on the modelling and measurement of these phases. In addition, previous approaches in papers of the critical physical phenomenon treatment are discussed, such as radiation, metal erosion, wall ablation and turbulence in the air arc. Recommendations for air arc modelling and measurement are presented for further investigation.

Analysis of the breakdown in single-chamber circuit breaker

2007

A hydrodynamic model for electrical arc modelling was used to develop a 420 kV 50 kA single-chamber circuit breaker. Normally, in order to estimate the gas breakdown probabilities, calculations based on gas density and the electric field are used. A second approach involves the use of energy equations to determine the re-strike possibility trough the creation of a leader channel. Leader parameters and more accurate predictions are obtained by comparing the experimental results and the leader calculations. However, these criteria assume a re-strike in pur gas, which is not true after introduction of the self blast volume.

Study on Post Arc Current and Transient Recovery Voltage in Vacuum Circuit Breaker

2011

The post arc phenomenon in Vacuum Circuit Breaker (VCB) is investigated in this paper. The describing equations of Post Arc Current (PAC) are solved together with network equations. Two methods are proposed here to compute Transient Recovery Voltage (TRV) and PAC; the sequential TRV and PAC calculation method, which is a combined numerical and analytical method and the simultaneous TRV and PAC calculation method, which is a totally numerical method where applied numerical techniques like averaging in first and second derivative are used to get the fast convergence of solutions by avoiding sharp numerical oscillations in results. In addition, the numerical part of both methods is based on Gauss-Seidel method. is much more significant than that of network parameters like capacitance of VCB and equivalent network inductance.

The peculiarities of Transient Recovery Voltage in presence of Post Arc Current in Vacuum Circuit Breakers

2010

The post arc phase is a critical part in the current interruption process of Vacuum Circuit Breakers (VCB). During this step, the dielectric strength of VCB has to be recovered. In order to improve the performance of VCB, investigation of Post Arc Current (PAC) in the presence of Transient Recovery Voltage (TRV) is presented in this paper. The equations of ion sheath length and PAC are solved together with network equations, which describe the TRV and PAC interrelation. In order to solve nonlinear ion sheath equations simultaneously with PAC and TRV equations, a Gauss-Seidel method is applied. The simulation results for PAC and TRV properly are in an acceptable accordance with the previous studies and available experimental records. The simulation results indicate that in the case of Short Circuit (SC) current interruption, there is no considerable influence between PAC and TRV. In the case of capacitive current interruption, TRV waveform in the first microseconds is highly influenced by the PAC. The results specifically demonstrate that the impact of physical parameters of VCB like diffusion time constant and initial PAC is much more significant than that of circuit parameters like capacitance of capacitor bank and equivalent network inductance. I.

Modelling and Comparison of Common Functionalities of HVDC Circuit Breakers

2018 IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting (PESGM)

The performance of AC circuit breakers (CBs) has been well analyzed and standardized, but current interruption with HVDC CBs is very different and therefore its functionalities will be different. Considering also that several fundamentally different HVDC CB technologies are emerging (IGBT-based hybrid, thyristor-based hybrid and mechanical), there is a need for a universal set of modelling requirements. This paper investigates a simulation test circuit set up and a set of PSCAD-simulated scenarios which reveal essential performance for most common HVDC CB technologies. Universal test circuit and tests will enable comparisons between technologies and set the ground for interoperability and standardization. Demonstration of low current interruption is required since it leads to longer interruption time for some DC CBs. Not all DC CBs are capable of interrupting reverse current, while others have different performance compared with positive current interruption. The study shows that various DC CBs respond differently under high current in circumstances where there is no trip signal from the protection system in which case its self-protection activates. DC CBs may respond differently with change in system parameters like different cable.

Impact of SFCL on the Four Types of HVDC Circuit Breakers by Simulation

IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity, 2016

Recently, studies on HVDC circuit breaker (CB) prototypes have shown successful test results. Nevertheless, effective and reliable solutions regarding massive fault energy during DC fault interruption have not yet been commercialized, and DC current breaking topologies on methods of achieving artificial zero should be somewhat modified. As an alternative, one feasible solution is to combine fault current limiting technologies with DC breaking topologies. In this work, we studied the application of resistive Superconducting Fault Current Limiters (SFCL) on various types of HVDC CB in order to estimate the effects of combining fault current limiters and conventional DC breakers. For the simulation works, four types of DC breaker topologies were modelled including mechanical CB using black-box arc model, passive resonance CB, inverse current injection CB and hybrid HVDC CB. In addition, a resistive SFCL were simulated and added to the DC breakers to verify its interruption characteristic and distributed energy across HVDC CB. From the simulation results, we found that the maximum fault current, interruption time and dissipated energy stress on the HVDC CB could be decreased by applying SFCL. In addition, it was observed that among four types of HVDC CB, passive resonance CB with SFCL exhibited the best observable enhancement.