Modeling of the interaction between the switching arc and hydraulic driving mechanism in gas-blast circuit breakers

The presence of an arc in a circuit breaker interrupter creates an opposing force to the driving mechanism by changing of the pressure field. This opposing force alters the dynamics of the driving mechanism, the travel characteristics of the moving contact and therefore the switching process. The severity of the influence depends on the structure of the interrupter, the travel profile and also the current waveform, especially the magnitude of the fault current. A 252kV puffer circuit breaker was used in the present work to study the key factors that contribute to the uncertainty of the predicted contact travel based on coupled simulation.