Title: Computational magnetohydrodynamics in the simulation of gas circuit breakers

Authors: J. Ostrowski; R. Bianchetti; I. Erceg-Baros; B. Galletti; R. Gati; D. Pusch; M. Schwinne; B. Wüthrich

Addresses: ABB Switzerland Ltd., Corporate Research, Segelhofstr. 1 K, P.O. Box CH-5405, Baden 5 Dättwil, Switzerland ' ABB Switzerland Ltd., Corporate Research, Segelhofstr. 1 K, P.O. Box CH-5405, Baden 5 Dättwil, Switzerland ' ABB Switzerland Ltd., Corporate Research, Segelhofstr. 1 K, P.O. Box CH-5405, Baden 5 Dättwil, Switzerland ' ABB Switzerland Ltd., Corporate Research, Segelhofstr. 1 K, P.O. Box CH-5405, Baden 5 Dättwil, Switzerland ' ABB Switzerland Ltd., Corporate Research, Segelhofstr. 1 K, P.O. Box CH-5405, Baden 5 Dättwil, Switzerland ' ABB Switzerland Ltd., Corporate Research, Segelhofstr. 1 K, P.O. Box CH-5405, Baden 5 Dättwil, Switzerland ' ABB Switzerland Ltd., Corporate Research, Segelhofstr. 1 K, P.O. Box CH-5405, Baden 5 Dättwil, Switzerland ' ABB Switzerland Ltd., Corporate Research, Segelhofstr. 1 K, P.O. Box CH-5405, Baden 5 Dättwil, Switzerland

Abstract: This paper summarises recent simulation approaches to compute the flow and field conditions in gas circuit breakers during the high current phase. The gas circuit breakers under consideration are low voltage circuit breakers that operate in air, as well as SF₆ filled high voltage circuit breakers and generator circuit breakers. We give a general introduction into gas circuit breakers and explain the numerical methods that are used for simulation. Finally, some simulation results are presented for each type of circuit breaker.

Keywords: gas circuit breakers; magnetohydrodynamics; finite element method; FEM; finite volume method; FVM; radiation transport; discrete ordinate method; simulation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCSE.2014.064528

International Journal of Computational Science and Engineering, 2014 Vol.9 No.5/6, pp.433 - 444

Received: 16 Jan 2012
Accepted: 12 Jul 2012
Published online: 22 Sep 2014 *

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