Novel high‐frequency‐based diagnostic approach for main contact assessment of high‐voltage circuit breakers

Abstract

Maintenance and repair of circuit breakers (CBs) due to their protective role in the power systems is the centre of attention and assessing their condition is tremendously important. The interruption chamber of the CBs including main contacts is highly subjected to erosion over time due to friction, and excessive heat produced by an arc during the interruption of the currents. This study presents a new high-frequency (HF) non-intrusive diagnostic technique for the deterioration of contacts used in high-voltage CBs. The most striking result to emerge from the investigations is that the resonance frequency highly relies on the condition of contacts. The proposed approach is implemented in Computer Simulation Technology Studio Suite software and compared with the measured data obtained through the static resistance measurement. In addition, a HF model based on the transmission line theory has been developed for the interruption chamber of CBs. The comparison of the obtained results via a novel HF-based approach with the experimental data validates the feasibility and accuracy of this approach in analysing the ablation of contacts used in the interruption chamber of CBs.