Abstract
Moving and fixed main and arc contacts used in circuit breakers (CBs) are prone to erosion with time and usage. Static resistance measurement and dynamic resistance measurement (DRM) are well-known noninvasive methods for the condition assessment of the contacts. Practically, the implementation of various failures on contacts of the CB is so difficult due to their placement in a high-pressure interruption chamber. This paper investigates the impacts of common failure modes such as erosion, disconnection, and misalignment of contacts on DRM profile through 3-D multiphysical simulation of the interruption chamber in the finite-element analysis software COMSOL. The model has been verified against experiments conducted on a 24-kV, SF₆ CB with a high-resolution scope. The measured profiles indicate that DRM exhibits specific behavior with respect to each failure, e.g., the arc contact erosion leads to a change in the commutation point in DRM. The results have been organized into an intelligent failure diagnosis algorithm based on a set of DRM-based features. In the end, the performance of the proposed algorithm which could be suitable for smart grids is evaluated in the case of an experiment.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 3066-3077 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement |
Volume | 68 |
Issue number | 9 |
Early online date | 5 Nov 2018 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Sept 2019 |
Bibliographical note
AcknowledgementThe authors would like to thank Alimohammadi and Bayat from Pars Switch Manufacturer Company, Zanjan, Iran, for providing measurement setup. They would also like to thank Bakhtar Regional Electric Company, Arak, Iran, for their support
Keywords
- circuit breaker (CB)
- condition monitoring
- dynamic resistance measurement (DRM)
- fault diagnosis
- simulations