A STUDY ON THE PARAMETERS AFFECTING THE ARC INTERRUPTING OF HIGH VOLTAGE DIRECT CURRENT CIRCUIT BREAKER

Abstract

Summary: In this thesis, arc interrupting in HVDC circuit breaker and the effects of different controlled and uncontrolled parameters on the arc interruption time are investigated and reported. The electrical arc is considered as a non-linear phenomenon; the black box arc model is used in this thesis to simulate the non-linear arc conductance depending on Mayr and Cassie dynamic arc equations. The key challenge that faces arc interrupting in HVDC circuit breaker is the absence of natural current zero crossing. Hence, there is a need to use additional circuits connected in parallel with HVDC circuit breaker to generate artificial current zero crossing during the fault clearing period, in order to help the HVDC CB to be able to interrupt the electrical arc.