Study of the Effect of Gassing Material on Arc Behavior in Low Voltage Circuit Breaker

A two-dimensional compressible magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) computational model has been developed to study the effect of gassing material on air arc behavior in low voltage circuit breaker. The properties of arc plasma and the electric, magnetic and radiative phenomena have been taken into account in the model. Based on the model, steady state solutions have been performed to study the effect of gassing material on the arc radius and electric field in the arc column. Then, the effect of gassing material on the transient process of arc motion also has been simulated. In addition, using the two-dimensional optical fiber measurement system, experiments have been done to measure the average velocity of arc motion with one model chamber and to verify the simulation model and prediction results. It demonstrates that the action of gassing material may yield the stronger electric field, less arc radius and higher arc motion velocity. key words: circuit breaker, arc, gassing material, MHD