IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PLASMA SCIENCE, VOL. 47, NO.

5, MAY 2019 1957

Effect of Frequency on Arc Motion in Multiple

Parallel Contacts’ System
Jianning Yin , Qian Wang, Baoliang Zhang, Penghe Zhang, and Xingwen Li , Senior Member, IEEE

Abstract— The air circuit breaker (ACB) is required to switch contact when short current appears. In order to understand
off the short current at various frequencies in the permanent the influence of frequency on the breaking characteristic of
magnet wind power generation system. The movable contact ACB, it is necessary to study the effect of frequency on arc
of ACB consists of multiple parallel contacts, and the arc will
be ignited when the short-circuit current appears. This paper motion inside the arc quenching chamber.
focuses on the effect of frequency on arc motion in multiple Both experiment and simulation are the research meth-
parallel contacts’ system. A 3-D magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) ods for revealing the arc motion processes of low-voltage
model of a multiple parallel contacts’ structure is built. In this circuit breaker in the previous studies. For experiment,
model, the anode consists of five parallel contacts. The difference Lindmayer et al. [3], Mutzke et al. [4], and Riß et al. [5] built
in voltage between the near-anode layer and the near-cathode
layer is considered. The nonlinear B–H curve of the splitter the test equipment to investigate the arc splitting process, and
plate is taken into account. The time-varying electromagnetic the arc splitting process by the splitter plate was analyzed. The
field induced by the current loop including electrodes and arc nonlinear voltage-current density characteristic describing the
column is calculated. The arc evolution process and effect of near-electrode voltage was proposed according to the results
frequency on arc motion in multiple parallel contacts’ system are of experiments. McBride et al. [6], Weaver et al. [7], and
analyzed by the arc voltage and the current density distribution.
This paper is expected to provide the theoretical references for McBride et al. [8] presented the optical-fiber array test system
the optimal design of arc quenching chamber of ACBs. based on the imaging system. The arc root motion process
and the phenomena of back commutation were studied by
Index Terms— Air circuit breaker (ACB), frequency, magneto-
hydrodynamic (MHD), multiple parallel contacts, optimal design. arc imaging system. Li et al. [9], Degui et al. [10], and
Li et al. [11] analyzed the influences of various factors to arc
I. I NTRODUCTION motion process by the 2-D optical-fiber measurement system.
They also studied the interaction between the arc and the
W ITH the development of wind power generation, a way
of clean energy utilization, offshore wind power gen-
eration has been receiving more concerns. The direct-driven
contact by charge-coupled device (CCD) [12]. For simulation,
the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model was widely applied.
permanent magnet synchronous generator has been widely Li et al. [13]–[15] built the 2-D MHD model to investigate the
applied to the offshore wind power generation due to its lower effect of ferromagnetic material, metallic vapor, and gassing
failure rate [1]. The air circuit breakers (ACBs) are used in material on air arc behavior. Lindmayer et al. [16]–[18]
outlets of generators to control and protect the equipment. revealed the mechanism of arc cooling by the 2-D MHD
However, the frequency of the output current of permanent method. Rümpler et al. [19] and Ch and Narayanan [20] ana-
magnet generator system may vary from 2 to 200 Hz [2]. lyzed the influence of movable contact motion on arc voltage
Therefore, the ACB is required to switch OFF the short current based on the 3-D MHD method. The eddy current effect of
at various frequencies. The breaking capacity of ACB mainly low-voltage circuit breaker was studied in [21] and [22]. Also,
depends on whether the arc can be extinguished. Normally, the influence of frequency on arc motion in single contact
in order to increase the short-time withstand current, the mov- system was studied in [1]. The MHD method is well-developed
able contact of ACB consists of multiple parallel contacts [1]. after years of research. Basically, the effect of most factors on
The arc is ignited between the arcing contact and static the arc motion process in miniature circuit breaker (MCB) and
molded case circuit breaker (MCCB) can be obtained by the
Manuscript received October 31, 2018; revised December 22, 2018, MHD simulation.
January 26, 2019, and February 23, 2019; accepted February 27, 2019. Date of
publication March 22, 2019; date of current version May 8, 2019. This work However, all of the above studies are for single contact
was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under system. In addition, the complex of the formation process
Grant 51507136. The review of this paper was arranged by Senior Editor of multiple arc roots and the interaction of multiple contacts
P. K. Chu. (Corresponding author: Xingwen Li.)
J. Yin and X. Li are with the State Key Laboratory of Electrical Insulation make the arc simulation of multiple parallel contacts’ system
and Power Equipment, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China a difficulty. The arc motion processes of multiple parallel
(e-mail: [email protected]). contacts’ system at various currents were analyzed in [23].
Q. Wang is with the School of Sciences, Xi’an University of Technology,
Xi’an 710048, China. However, the splitter plate is not involved, and the effect of
B. Zhang and P. Zhang are with the Institute of Measurement, China Electric frequency on the arc motion in multiple parallel contacts’
Power Research Institute Co., Ltd., Beijing 100192, China. system is still not fully understood.
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available
online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, there is no publi-
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPS.2019.2903851 cation for the effect of frequency on arc motion in multiple
0093-3813 © 2019 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
1958 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PLASMA SCIENCE, VOL. 47, NO. 5, MAY 2019

and the temperature is set to the environmental temperature

of 300 K. The arc current is imposed on the surface “Cin ,” the
electrical potential is set to 0 on the surface “Cout ,” as shown
in Fig. 1(a) [23]. In order to calculate the magnetic field, a far-
field region is built, and the zero magnetic potential is used for
it. The coupled conditions are used for the interfaces between
different materials [25].

B. Governing Equations
In this paper, the air plasma in the chamber is assumed
in a state of local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE), and the
flow is assumed to be laminar. The air plasma thermodynamic
properties and transport coefficients are functions of pressure
Fig. 1. Numerical geometry for fluid. (a) Side view. (b) Top view. and temperature [26].
With the above assumption, the arc motion process can be
parallel contacts’ system. Therefore, this paper focuses on the obtained by solving N–S equations by the following [16].
simulation analysis of the effect of frequency on arc motion 1) Mass Conservation Equation:
in multiple parallel contacts’ system. The interaction among
multiple parallel contacts and the nonlinear B–H curve of the ∂ρ →
−
+ ∇ · (ρ V ) = 0. (1)
splitter plate are considered in this paper. Meanwhile, a novel ∂t
modeling of near-electrode layer is applied to describe the
2) Momentum Conservation Equation:
voltage difference between a near-anode voltage level and a
near-cathode voltage level. The time-varying electromagnetic ∂(ρv k ) →
−
field is calculated. + ∇ · (ρv k V )
∂t
In this paper, a 3-D MHD model of a multiple parallel ∂p → −
− →
contacts’ structure is developed. The anode consists of five = ∇ · (η∇v k ) − + ( J × B )k . (2)
∂ xk
parallel contacts. In this model, the nonlinear voltage-current
density curve is used to describe the formation of the new arc 3) Energy Conservation Equation:
root and represent the near-electrode voltage. The normalized
∂(ρh) →
− λ
time is obtained. The effect of frequency on the air arc motion + ∇ · (ρh V ) = ∇ · ( ∇h) + Sh (3)
is analyzed by the arc voltage and current density. The research ∂t cp
work in this paper is expected to provide theoretical supports Sh = σ E 2 + qη − qrad (4)
to the optimal design of new type and high-performance ACBs.
where σ E 2 is the Joule heat, qrad is the radiation energy,
II. N UMERICAL M ODEL AND M ETHOD it is calculated by the net emission coefficient (NEC)
→
− →
−
method [27] in this paper. J × B is the Lorentz
A. Numerical Geometry and Boundary Conditions
force generated by the arc current and the self-induced
Fig. 1(a) shows the numerical geometry for the fluid. A 1/2 −
→
magnetic field. ρis the density, V is the velocity vector,
symmetric model is adopted. This model is a simplification v k (v x , v y , v z ) is the velocity, η is the viscosity, p is
of the ACB, and it includes the anode, cathode, splitter plate, the pressure, c p is the specific heat, σ is the electrical
and arc column domain. The material of the anode and the conductivity, E is the electrical field, qη is the viscous
cathode is copper. The splitter plate is ferromagnetic material. dissipation, λ is the thermal conductivity, and h is the
The dimensions of the model are 7×8×40 mm in the x–y–z enthalpy.
direction, and the origin of the coordinate is on the symmetry The electromagnetic field can be calculated by the Maxwell
plane (x = 0). The thickness of the anode and the cathode equations
is 1.5 mm. The geometry of anode is shown in Fig. 1(b).
→ →
− − →
−
The anode consists of five parallel contacts, and the solid is ∇ × H = Js + Je (5)
the conductor for connecting them. The dimensions of every →
−
→
− ∂B
contact are same with 2 ×1.5 ×23 mm in the x–y–z direction. ∇× E =− (6)
∂t
The dimensions of solid are 7 × 1.5 × 2 mm in the x–y–z →
−
direction, and the dimensions of cathode are 7 × 1.5 × 25 mm →
− ∂A
E =− − ∇φ (7)
in the x–y–z direction. The thickness of the splitter plate is ∂t
→
− →
−
1 mm. The distance between the anode and cathode is 5 mm. B =∇× A (8)
For the side wall and electrodes outside plane, the environ- →
− →
−
mental temperature of 300 K is applied to thermal conditions, where H is the magnetic field strength, Js is the source
→
− →
−
and no-slip conditions are specified for velocity [24]. For current density, Je is the eddy current density, A is the
the vent in Fig. 1(a), the total pressure is set to 1 atm, magnetic vector potential, and φ is the electrical potential.
YIN et al.: EFFECT OF FREQUENCY ON ARC MOTION IN MULTIPLE PARALLEL CONTACTS’ SYSTEM 1959

Fig. 2. Schematic of the near-electrode layer [28].

Fig. 4. Current density distribution sequences in the arc column region

( f = 50 Hz).
Fig. 3. Regions on the symmetry plane (x = 0) in the computational domain.

contact 3 (arcing contact) and cathode. The effect of frequency

C. Modeling of Near-Electrode Layer on the arc motion is analyzed by the current density distribu-
In order to describe the formation of the new arc root, the tion and the arc voltage.
near-electrode layer must be considered. The near-electrode
layer can be divided into space-charge sheath, ionization layer, A. Process of Arc Motion
and layer of thermal nonequilibrium as shown in Fig. 2 accord-
ing to [28] and [29]. Taking the results of 50 Hz as an example, the arc
For simplicity, the above subdivision is not performed in motion process is revealed. The arc current is set to
our model. However, the difference in voltage between the i = 3000 sin(ωt + π/12) A. The current density distribution
near-anode layer and the near-cathode layer is considered. is shown in Fig. 4.
The modeling of near-electrode layer is shown in Fig. 3. The current density is just displayed in half of the model.
The thickness between the near-anode layer and the near- We define the arc column under the contacts 1–5 as arc
cathode layer is different according to [28] and [29]. The branches 1–5, respectively, for convenience. The arc voltage
maximum of cathode sheath thickness is 0.1 mm [22], and and current through every contact are shown in Fig. 5. i 1 –i 5
the thickness of the cathode sheath is set to 0.08 mm in are the currents through the arc branches 1–5, respectively,
this paper. The electrical conductivity of the near-electrode and i 1 = i 5 and i 2 = i 4 due to the symmetry of the structure.
layer is proportional to the thickness in this model. Therefore, i is the total current, and i sp is the current through the splitter
the thickness of the near-anode layer is set to 0.12 mm plate. Current i 1 is basically equal to 0, as shown in Fig. 5,
according to the ratio of 15–10 V. The electrical conductivity because the arc is confined to the central region of the circuit
of the near-electrode layer is calculated by the following breaker.
equation: The process of arc motion can be described by the following
four stages.
y Stage (1): From t = 0 to 0.024 ms, the arc is ignited
σe = J (9)
U between contact 3 and cathode. After the ignition of the arc,
where J is the current density, y is the thickness of the the arc column expands with the increase of energy injected
near-electrode layer, U is the voltage of the near-electrode into the arc column. Therefore, the arc voltage is decreasing.
layer. U and J meet the relationship of the voltage-current The further increase of arc energy will lead to the enhancing of
density characteristic described in [25]. This characteristic not convection, which causes the air under contact 2 to be heated
only describes the formation of arc root but also approximately and ionized.
represents the near-electrode voltage. Stage (2): New arc root appears on contact 2.
At t = 0.024 ms, the electrical conductivity of air under
III. S IMULATION R ESULTS AND A NALYSIS
contact 2 is increasing, and the new arc root appears on
The arc motion processes at various frequencies (50, 100, contact 2, as shown in Fig. 4. There are two arc branches
and 200 Hz) in multiple parallel contacts’ system are simulated (arc branch 2 and arc branch 3) under the anode. Therefore,
based on the 3-D MHD method. The arc is ignited between the arc voltage is decreasing from t = 0.024 to 0.084 ms,
1960 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PLASMA SCIENCE, VOL. 47, NO. 5, MAY 2019

Fig. 5. Arc current and voltage of simulation results.

Fig. 7. Current density distribution sequences in the arc column region

( f = 200 Hz).
Stage (4): At t = 0.168 ms, all of the currents through
the splitter plate as shown in Fig. 5 and the arc column are
divided into two segments as shown in Fig. 4. In addition,
we can clearly see that the upper arc (the cathode side of
splitter plate) of the splitter plate moves faster than the lower
arc (the anode side of splitter plate). The reason is that the
higher near-cathode voltage is necessary for the formation
of the near-cathode arc root. Therefore, the upper arc should
have a longer length to satisfy the higher near-cathode voltage
before the formation of new arc root. The position of the new
cathode arc root is ahead of the new anode arc root when the
new arc root forms on the face of the splitter plate. After that,
the upper arc will move faster under the effect of the Lorentz
force.
In addition, there are two anode arc branches after the
Fig. 6. Current density distribution sequences in the arc column region formation of new arc root on contact 2, and the two arc
( f = 100 Hz). branches near anode try to reach the equilibrium point in the
whole arc evolution process. This is mainly due to the effect
and the current through the arc branch 2 is increasing. of convection.
After t = 0.084 ms, the arc column is squeezed by the splitter
plate, and the arc root continues to move. Thus, the length B. Effect of Frequency on Arc Motion
of the arc column is increased. Meanwhile, the arc voltage In order to analyze the effect of frequency on arc motion,
increases. However, the new arc root is not formed on the split- the arc motion processes are calculated at f = 100 Hz and
ter plate, and the current flowing through the splitter plate is 0. f = 200 Hz. The current density distribution sequences in the
Stage (3): The arc current flows through the splitter plate. arc column region at f = 100 Hz and f = 200 Hz are shown
In this stage, the new arc root forms on the splitter plate. in Figs.6 and 7.
After that, there are two parallel current paths—one through In order to analyze the effect of frequency, the comparison
the splitter plate and the other through the plasma around its of arc voltage and current at various frequencies are shown
left edge, which leads to the increase of cross section of the arc in Figs. 8–10.
column. In addition, the electrical conductivity of the splitter The process of arc motion is similar at various frequencies
plate is higher than the air plasma. Therefore, the arc voltage as shown in Figs.4, 6, and 7. The moment when the arc voltage
is decreasing from t = 0.12 to 0.14 ms. However, the arc peak arises is different as shown in Fig. 8. It is shown that
voltage is increasing due to the elongation of the arc column the current density of the arc column is larger with the higher
from t = 0.14 to 0.168 ms, as shown in Fig. 5. After the frequencies at the moment (0.12, 0.116, and 0.112 ms at 50,
formation of new arc root on the splitter plate, the current is 100, and 200 Hz) when the arc voltage peak arises. The reason
transferred from plasma path to the splitter plate path until is that the current is larger at the instant of arc voltage peak
t = 0.168 ms. when the frequency is higher; on the other hand, because the
YIN et al.: EFFECT OF FREQUENCY ON ARC MOTION IN MULTIPLE PARALLEL CONTACTS’ SYSTEM 1961

Fig. 8. Arc voltage at various frequencies. Fig. 10. Arc current and current flows through the splitter plate at various
frequencies.

Fig. 9. Current flows through arc branch 3 at various frequencies.

arc column is squeezed by the splitter plate, the cross section

of the arc column is almost the same at various frequencies.
The arc voltage peak is larger at higher frequency. The main
reason is that the current is larger at the same instant when
the frequency is higher, which leads to a larger Lorentz force
and velocity. Therefore, the arc column is longer when the
frequency is higher. Fig. 11. Eddy current and magnetic flux density in the splitter plate
It can be seen from Fig. 5 that the arc voltage mainly (t = 0.05 ms). (a) Eddy current density in the splitter plate. (b) Magnetic
depends on the current through the arc branch 3(i 3). Therefore, flux density in the splitter plate.
the current through the arc branch 3 at various frequencies are
compared and shown in Fig. 9. The arc voltage peak time is larger when the current is higher, which leads to the lower
reduces by 3.45% and 6.9% when f increases from 50 to current density and velocity; on the other hand, it may be
100 and 200 Hz. However, current i 3 increases by 10.9% related to the effect of eddy current in the splitter plate. The
and 31.7% when f increases from 50 to 100 and 200 Hz. effect of eddy current will be analyzed in the following.
Therefore, we can infer that the increase of current mainly
increases the cross section of the arc column and contributes C. Effect of Eddy Current
less to the increase of velocity. This phenomenon can also be The eddy current density and the magnetic flux density in
derived from Fig. 10. The current through the splitter plate the splitter plate at f = 50 Hz are shown in Fig. 11.
and the arc current are shown in Fig. 10. The eddy current density in the splitter plate is shown
In Fig. 10, the point of tangency between total current and in Fig. 11(a). The eddy current appears in the splitter plate due
i sp indicates that the arc column is completely divided into two to the time-varying magnetic field. The magnetic flux density
segments. The time (the time corresponding to the point of induced by the total current is shown in Fig. 11(b). By compar-
tangency) reduces by 3.6% and 8.3% when f increases from ing Fig. 11(a) and (b), it is found that the direction of magnetic
50 to 100 and 200 Hz. However, the total current increases flux density (deduced by the right-hand rule) induced by the
by 14.56% and 41.4% when f increases from 50 to 100 and eddy current is opposite to the direction of magnetic field
200 Hz. On the one hand, the cross section of the arc column produced by the conductive current, as shown in Fig. 11(b).
1962 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PLASMA SCIENCE, VOL. 47, NO. 5, MAY 2019

Fig. 12. Eddy current distribution in the splitter plate (xy plane) at various
frequencies (t = 0.05 ms).

Fig. 14. Current density distributions in anode at various frequencies

(t = 0.16 ms).

frequency, i.e., the normalized time expresses the hindering

effect of eddy current in the splitter plate.
The arc energy is increasing with the increase of frequency.
Higher arc energy will lead to more ablation of the splitter
plate, which may cause the short circuit between the
splitter plates. Also, the existence of iron vapor will increase
the electrical conductivity of the air plasma when temperature
Fig. 13. Normalized time and power of arc.
is below 16 000 K [30], [31], which cause the current to be
Therefore, the existence of the eddy current in the splitter plate more dispersed, and it is not conducive to the movement of
hinders the movement of arc to the splitter plate. the arc.
The eddy current distributions in the splitter plate at various It can be seen that the normalized time and arc energy
frequencies are shown in Fig. 12. It can be seen that the eddy increase linearly with the frequency.
current increases with the increase of frequency. The eddy We have also performed experiments with a commercial
current density increases by 8.6% and 25.7% when f increases MCB, using a capacitor bank circuit with the variable oper-
from 50 to 100 and 200 Hz. ating frequency. While the geometry is substantially different
In order to further analyze the influence of eddy current, from that used in the model, we observed the same trends
the normalized time of arc motion is defined as [1] of increasing peak arc voltage and normalized time with
increasing frequency.
tn = td /T (10)
where td is the time when the arc moves to the same position D. Interaction of Multiple Parallel Contacts
at various frequencies (50, 100, and 200 Hz), and T is the The interaction among multiple contacts is considered in
period of the current waveform. Normalized time tn of variable calculation. The current density distributions in anode at
frequencies in different positions are shown in Fig. 13. various frequencies are shown in Fig. 14. It is noted that the
In Fig. 13, the curve “a” represents the normalized time distribution of current density is not uniform, especially in
when the arc voltage reaches its peak, and the curve “b” contact 2, which is caused by the skin effect. It will affect
represents the normalized time when the arc column is divided the position of arc root. In addition, the temperature rise of
into two segments. In addition, the arc energy at the moment contact will increase due to the skin effect. The skin effect is
when the arc is completely divided into two segments (the stronger at higher frequency, as shown in Fig. 14.
point of tangency in Fig. 10) is also shown in Fig. 13. It is It can be seen from Fig. 14 that there is current in contact 1.
noted that the normalized time increases with the increase of The current in contact 1 is the eddy current induced by the
YIN et al.: EFFECT OF FREQUENCY ON ARC MOTION IN MULTIPLE PARALLEL CONTACTS’ SYSTEM 1963

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