The gas-puffer effect has important effects on the interruption capability of a molded case circuit breaker (MCCB). In this paper, on the basis of a simplified model of an arc chamber with a single break, the effect of back-volume of an arc-quenching chamber on arc behavior in an MCCB is investigated. Firstly, using a 2-D optical-fiber arc-motion measurement system, experiments are performed to study the effect of back-volume on the arc-motion and gas pressure in an arc-quenching chamber. We demonstrate that the lower back-volume of the arc-quenching chamber is, the higher the pressure and the better the arc motion will be. Then, corresponding to the above experiments, the gas pressure inside the arc-quenching chamber is calculated using the integral conservation equation. The simulation results are consistent with the experimental results.

According to a new kind of permanent contactor, this paper analyses the dynamic behavior of the contactor with and without current-feedback system. And it presents a method to obtain the dynamic characteristics of the contactor with current-feedback system. The experiments prove that the method is correct. Then, it compares the contactor without current-feedback system with the one with current-feedback system. The result shows that the contactor with current-feedback system can avoid this flaw of the contactor without current-feedback system.

To predict the thermal behavior of switchgear quickly, the Thermal Network Finite Difference Analysis method (TNFDA) is adopted in thermal analysis of AC contactor in the paper. The thermal network model is built with nodes, thermal resistors and heat generators, and it is solved using finite difference method (FDM). The main circuit and the control system are connected by thermal resistors network, which solves the problem of multi-sources interaction in the application of TNFDA. The temperature of conducting wires is calculated according to the heat transfer process and the fundamental equations of thermal conduction. It provides a method to solve the problem of boundary conditions in applying the TNFDA. The comparison between the results of TNFDA and measurements shows the feasibility and practicability of the method.

In the optimum design of AC contactors, it is important to analyze the dynamic behavior. Moreover, movable contact and core bounces have remarkable effect on the lifetime of contactors. According to a new kind of contactor with feedback controlled magnet system, this paper builds two different sets of periodically inter-transferred equations to obtain the dynamic characteristics of the contactor. The equations describe the coupling of the electric circuit, electromagnetic field and mechanical system taking account of the influence of friction. Then, the paper gives an optimum design to the dimension and the duty ratio of the contactor' pulse modulated wave (PWM) under different exciting, and proves, by experiment and simulation, that the bounce time of the contactor working in the optimized duty ratio is much less than that of the general AC contactors.