Transient model of the vacuum circuit breaker-probabilistic approach

Abstract

Vacuum circuit breakers (VCBs) are known with high interruption capability and excellent dielectric strength. Moreover, VCBs can interrupt high-frequency currents. This can lead to instantaneous, multiple re-ignitions. This paper mainly attempted to simulate VCBs in MATLAB, so as to propose a new model desirably close to how the behave in real-life. Developed to simulate the transient behavior of VCBs, the new model involves several parameters such as current chopping, electrical resistance in dielectric and interruption capability. The prestrike, re-ignition, and the probabilistic nature of chopping has been investigated in this paper.