Experimental Investigation on the Arc Characteristics and Arc Quenching Capabilities of C5F10O-CO2 Mixtures

Abstract

C5F10O-CO2 mixtures are possible alternatives to SF6 - which has a high global warming potential - as the interruption medium in gas circuit breakers. This paper experimentally studies the arcing characteristics of C5F10O-CO2 mixture, with an experimental model with viewing windows, and measures the arc voltage, current and emission spectrum. The arc evolution process is captured with a high speed camera through an inspection window. The two-dimensional distribution of arc is obtained and analyzed by the inverse transformation of Abel. The results show that, the C5F10O-CO2 mixture arc is more volatile than SF6 gas, and adding C5F10O into CO2 improves the stability of the arc, and significantly reduces the arc temperature.