Abstract
In this paper, a bidirectional fluid–solid interaction method is established to investigate the influence of the outlet elastic baffle on the pressure in the arc chamber in the breaking process of a low-voltage circuit breaker. Based on the computational fluid dynamic method, the flow model in the arc chamber is established. The model of the outlet baffle, with consideration of the nonlinear behavior, is established by the finite element method. By introducing dynamic grid technology, the interaction process of deformation of the outlet baffle and arc chamber pressure can be analyzed. A simple arc extinguishing chamber with an outlet baffle is designed, and experiments with a LC oscillating circuit are carried out. By using a high-speed camera and a pressure sensor, the deformation of the baffle and the pressure of the arc chamber are measured in the breaking process. The simulation model is verified by experimental results. It is worth noting that the flutter behavior of the elastic baffle was observed in the experiments and in the numerical simulation. Through simulation analysis, it is found that the flutter behavior is caused by the first-order mode of the elastic baffle under the excitation of arc chamber pressure.
Highlights
In the breaking process of a LVCB, an arc chamber with metal plates is used to separate, cool, and extinguish the arc
The baffle on the outlet is deformed under high pressure, and it can cause a significant change in the effective vent area
Based on a simplified computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method, the gas flow field and the pressure in the arc chamber can be calculated during the breaking process
Summary
In the breaking process of a LVCB, an arc chamber with metal plates is used to separate, cool, and extinguish the arc. Ranade et al. studied the influence of various gassing materials on the arc characteristics of the LVCB and the effect of different vent structures (baffled grills, perforated plates, and meshed wire) on the pressure drop by using the MHD model. It should be noted that most of the numerical research studies on air-flow pressure distribution in an arc extinguishing chamber were carried out with short current in the range from 300 A to 3000 A and the influence of the elastic baffle was not considered. To reduce the calculation cost and improve the convergence of solution for engineering applications, in our previous works, a simplified CFD model was introduced to calculate the pressure distribution in the arc chamber during the breaking process of the LVCB with relatively large current.
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