Evaluation of black-box arc model for DC circuit breaker and comparative analysis of arc characteristic parameters

Abstract

To have high reliability for interrupting, it is necessary to design a circuit breaker by performing a transient analysis on the nonlinear arc characteristic that occurs during DC interrupt based on simulation. The black box arc model expresses the interaction between an arc and a circuit and can represent the nonlinear characteristics of an arc using a differential equation based on the electrical conductivity of the arc. In general, the existing black box arc models are widely used in AC system. However, few DC arc models can be used in DC system. This paper simulates the applicability evaluation for DC circuit breakers using KEMA and Habedank black box arc models based on the actual low voltage DC circuit breaker test data sheet. When designing a DC circuit breaker, parameters of the black box arc model were set by performing Parameter Sweep for the main factors, such as interrupting time, arc voltage, and arc time constant. Based on this, the DC arc behavior was predicted, and the voltage and current waveforms of the black box arc model were compared and analyzed. As a result, the applicability of the black box arc model to the DC circuit breaker was verified, and a more suitable black box arc model was proposed to analyze the DC arc behavior.