Small scale arc fault testing of medium voltage switchgear

Abstract

Arc fault tests of medium voltage switchgear have been performed with reduced volume and arc energy. This has been done in order to investigate if small scale experiments can be used to predict the pressure build-up during full scale arc fault test. Between 40 and 50 % of the arc energy was transferred to the gas in both small scale and full scale tests. The results show that it is reasonable to assume that small scale testing down to 10 % can be used to predict the pressure rise in a full scale test with a single phase arc with about 10 % precision. However, the scaling method of the arc energy seems to be important. (4 pages)