Low-voltage Circuit Breaker using Auto-puffer Interruption Technique

Abstract

A low-voltage molded-case circuit breaker using an auto-puffer technique is developed for the first time. This paper presents our research and development of this new-type circuit breaker. In the research, arcing and quenching phenomenon in a simple chamber model is investigated experimentally and numerically. As the result, the quenching phenomenon is strongly influenced by the chamber, its material, dimension, shape and so on, and it is found that the gas flow and its component in the chamber are quite important for quenching phenomenon. In the next stage, we developed a new commercial circuit breaker, based on the previous research. From the interruption tests of a 600V short circuit, the usefulness of this technique was verified. And it is found that this gas flow is also useful as an arc driving force as well as electromagnetic force.