Simulation on Arc Movement under Effects of Quenching Chamber Configuration and Magnetic Field for Low-Voltage Circuit Breaker

This paper is devoted to simulate the arc movement in the quenching chamber of the low-voltage circuit breaker. Based on a group of governing equations, a three-dimensional (3-D) arc model is built and solved by a modified commercial code. According to the simulated results, some phenomena such as a ‘bulge’ in front of the arc column, a tail in the rear of the arc column, arc shrinkage near the electrodes and arc movement characteristics versus different chamber configuration and external magnetic field are found, and the mechanism of the above phenomena is described in detail. Finally, in order to verify the simulation results, arc movement is investigated by hi-spec motion analyzer experimentally. key words: simulation, arc movement, low-voltage, circuit breakers, gas dynamics