2011 1st International Conference on Electric Power Equipment – Switching Technology – Xi’an – China
A Method to Analyze the Short-time Withstand
Current Capability for Air Circuit Breaker
Kena Chen, Degui Che, Xingwen Li, Shenli Jia
State Key Laboratory of Electrical Insulation and Power Equipment, Xi’an Jiaotong University, China, 710049
Abstract- A method to analyze the short-time withstand
current for air circuit breaker (ACB) is presented. The
cylindrical contact bridge is adopted to describe the
current constriction between the movable and fixed
contacts, and then the corresponding electromagnetic force
and temperature rise of the contacts are calculated. Finally,
the short-time withstand current capability could be
evaluated based on the temperature rise of the contacts. In
addition, the influence of the number of the contacts, the
contact force and contact size on the short-time withstand
current capability is analyzed.
I. INTRODUCTION
The short-time withstand current (Icw) represents the
capability of air circuit breaker (ACB) to endure
mechanical effects and thermal effects of short-circuit
current. As one of the important parameters of the
breaking capacity of ACB, Icw should satisfy the
requirement that the circuit breaker can withstand the
short-current for 0.5s or 1s.
Many works have been reported in the field of
electrical contacts phenomena. Numerical analysis was
performed to study the heating transient of electric
contacts under short circuit conditions in literature [1].
Belbel investigated the electrodynamic force
experimentally [2], while Ito and Kawase calculated the
electrodynamic forces in stationary electric contacts and
low voltage circuit breakers using 3-D finite element
method [3] [4]. In literature [5], using the contact bridge
to describe contact spots between contacts, the
influences of the configuration of the current-carrying
conductors on the electromagnetic repulsion force were
investigated. In literature [6],by nonlinear 3-D finite
element method, taking into account properties of
conductor material varying with temperature, the
coupled transient analysis of electromagnetic field and
thermal field is done for a new type of double-breaks
ACB.
In this paper, we established a calculation model for
one ACB with 1600A rated current. In this model, the
cylindrical contact bridges are introduced to describe
the dispersive contact spots between movable and fixed
contacts[1,2] . By nonlinear 3-D finite element method,
taking into account properties of conductor material
varying with temperature, the coupled analysis of
electromagnetic field and thermal field is done for the
978-1-4577-1272-2/11/$26.00 © 2011 IEEE
calculation model. With different contacts configuration,
dimension and pressure, electromagnetic force and
temperature rise of the contacts is compared, when Icw
is 55kA.
II. CALCULATION METHOD
A. Calculation model
In Fig.1, a calculation model whose configuration
associated with the contact system of a single-break
ACB is built. Due to its symmetrical structure, only a
half of the model is constructed, and the xoy plane is the
symmetric plane. The contact system of this model is in
closed position, the movable contacts consist of total
five pieces in parallel, No.1 and No.3 represents the
most inner and the most outer movable contact
respectively, and No.2 represent the movable contact
between them. In the calculation model, the copper soft
connecting wires are designed to connect movable
conductors and terminal, and the cylindrical contact
bridges are built in these connections as well.
Splitter plates
No.3
No.2
Copper braid
No.1
Fixed conductor
M ovable conductor
Terminal
Fig. 1. Calculation model
B. Calculation of Short-time Withstand Current
Concerning the electric circuit equation, the
short-circuit current flowing through the ACB can be
written as:
R
− t
i = 2 I sin (ωt +ψ − ϕ ) − 2 I sin (ψ − ϕ ) e L (1)
i: instantaneous value of short-circuit current
I: effective value of short-circuit current
ψ: closing phase angle
φ: phase angle difference between voltage and
current
R: equivalent resistance of network
L: equivalent inductance of network
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 According to GB14048.2, ψ-φ should be assigned to
–π/2 and R/L should be assigned to 20.4π if I>50kA.
Then the peak current is the maximum one, about 2.2
times the periodic component effective value.
C. Calculation principle of contacts electromagnetic force
and temperature rise
With the calculation model whose movable and fixed
contacts are connected by the cylindrical contact bridges,
electromagnetic force of the contacts is calculated firstly.
And then the temperature rise of contacts can be
achieved.
Electromagnetic force of contacts can be calculated
according to the following formula:
F = ∫ J s × Bdv (2)
Where Js is the current density, B is the magnetic flux
density, v is the volume.
Thermal balance equation is represented as bellow:
P = mcτ + ( PC t + PV + PR )t (3)
Where P is thermal power of thermal source, m is mass
of components that absorb heat ,C is specific heat
capacity, and PC、PV、PR represent the energy loss due
to conduction ,convection and radiation, respectively.
In equation (3), thermal source P comes from the
current-carrying conductor, m is the mass of
current-carrying conductor. The heat generated by
current-carrying conductor is dissipated into conductor
itself by heat conduction, and also into surrounding
environment by convection and radiation.
Heat exchange between current-carrying conductor
and other components can be characterized by
convection coefficient and radiation coefficient
respectively:
(1) the heat generation of the current-carrying
conductor can be obtained by P=I2Rt, assuming
I=55000A，R<20μΩ，t=1s，then P<60500J. if the
total of P is consumed by the current-carrying
conductor to produce temperature rise (the mass of
the current-carrying Cu conductor is 4Kg, the
specific heat capacity of Cu is 386, the mass of the
current-carrying Ag conductor is 4Kg, the specific
heat capacity of Ag is 228), the average temperature
rise of the current-carrying conductor is less than
39°. As a result, the radiant heat loss of the
conductor can be ignored.
(2) The inner space of the circuit breaker is small and
comparatively closed, and Icw lasts about 1s, so
there is no intense air flow in the surrounding of the
current-carrying conductor. Therefore the
convective heat transfer coefficient (CHTC) of the
current-carrying conductor exterior surface is less
than the free CHTC, about1~10. The area of
current-carrying conductor exterior surface is about
0.091m2, so the energy of the convection heat
transfer is less than 10×39°×0.091m2×1s＝35.49W.
From the above analysis, the heat dissipation of the
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current-carrying conductor by convection and radiation
can be ignored.
The heat generation of the current-carrying conductor
is mainly absorbed through the heat conduction by itself,
as well as heat loss through the terminals. Heat-flow
density at the terminals can be obtained as below：
Nu λ
α= (4)
dI
Where λ is the air heat conductivity(0.0259W/mK at
20°C) , dI is the equivalent diameter of the binding post
cross-sections, Nu can be obtained as below：
N u = 0.8( Ra 0.05 ) + 0.35( Ra 0.27 ) (5)
Where Ra = 3.912 × 10 × (273.15 + TE )
19
× d × (Ts − TE ) ,
−4.69 3
I
Ts is the temperature at the binding post, TE is the
environment temperature.
D. Characteristics of the short-time withstand current
With respect to calculation of steady-state
temperature rise in the constant current situation, there
are some characteristics for temperature rise
calculation of short-time withstand current：
(1) High-current (55kA) results in fairly high
temperature rise at contact resistance place.
(2) Time duration is as short as 1s, while usually it
takes several hours for circuit breaker to change
from cold state to steady-state temperature rise.
(3) As a function of time, current at each contact piece
is not totally equal due to skin effect and proximity
effect. Therefore cylindrical contact bridges must
be adopted to calculate transient electromagnetic
repulsive force, instead of using Holm formula to
obtain Holm force. Finally temperature rise of Icw
can be achieved.
The key step of temperature rise calculation lies in
contact resistance between movable contacts and fixed
contacts. In this paper, the cylindrical contact bridge
model is adopted, whose height is 0.05mm,and radius
can be achieved by the following Holm formula:
F
r= (6)
πξ H
Where F is contact pressure，which equals contact
preloading minus electromagnetic repulse force. H is
Brinell Hardness, ξ characterizes the contact status,
assuming 0.3-0.6 usually [5].
III. CALCULATION RESULTS
A. Electromagnetic force of contact
Electromagnetic force of contact is derived from
three forces: Holm force, electromagnetic force of
movable conducting pole, and electromagnetic force
affecting on copper soft connecting wires.
As to the electromagnetic force calculation model in
Fig.1, assumed the maximum peak current is 121kA, 2.2
times I=55kA, is calculated. Fig.2 shows the current
density distribution of conductors as I being 55kA.
Fig. 2. Current density distribution of conducts when I=55kA
Magnetic flux distribution in arc chamber is shown in
Fig.3, where magnetic field in air is not displayed in
convenience to analyze.
Fig. 3. Magnetic flux distribution in arc chamber when I=55kA
If sorted by direction, electromagnetic force of the
contact can be divided into electromagnetic repulse
force, lateral force and distorted torque. As show in
Fig.4 and Fig.5, the direction of magnetic field lines
through parallel conducting pole is not always
perpendicular to conducting pole, and the direction of
the magnetic field line changed gradually from the
middle conducting pole to the outer conducting pole.
The magnetic field line which is perpendicular to
conducting pole contributes to electromagnetic repulse
force; while the magnetic field line which is parallel to
the conducting pole is contributes to lateral force and
distorted torque. Electromagnetic repulse force decides
whether the contact would be pushed away. Lateral
force and distorted torque decide deformation in the
lateral and circular directions, which finally influence
the contact status.
Movable NO.3 NO.2 NO.1
conduct pole
I I I conduct pole
Tdistorted
B Frepulse
B
B
Movable Flateral Frepulse
conduct
(a) top view
Fig. 4. forces of the movable conducting pole
Fig. 5. Magnetic flux distribution in parallel movable contact
pieces
Table 1 shows the lateral force and distorted torque.
The more it close to the lateral, the more the movable
conducting pole is influenced by the lateral force and
distorted torque.
TABLE 1. Lateral force and distorted torque of each parallel
movable contact piece, when I=55kA and
piece-number=5
B. Temperature rise of contact
The final contact force of each parallel contact piece
is 82.8N. Considering the effect of the copper soft
connecting wires, the average electromagnetic
compensatory force of each parallel contact piece is
about 46N when I=55kA, then the average force of the
contact is about 128.8N, depending on which
temperature rise of the contact can be calculated. Fig.6
to Fig.8 show the temperature distribution of contact at
t=0.05s, 0.5s and 1s when I=55KA. Fig.9 shows
maximum contact temperature varying with time t when
I=55kA.
Movable
Flateral Axis
(b) front view
Fig. 6. Temperature distribution of contact at t=0.05s when
I=55kA
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 of movable contact, which has significant influence on
lateral force and distorted torque, as shown in Table 3.
TABLE 2. Peak electromagnetic force of each parallel movable
contact piece ,when I=55kA and piece-number=6

Fig. 7. Temperature distribution of contact at t=0.5s when

I=55KA TABLE 3. Lateral force and distorted torque of each parallel
movable contact piece, when I=55kA and
piece-number=6

Fig.10 compares the maximum contact temperature

varying with time when parallel contact pieces number
increases from 5 to 6.
Fig. 8. Temperature distribution of contact at t=0.5s when Obviously, contacts temperature rise decreases in
I=55KA the latter condition.

1400
1200
Temperature(oc)
Temperature (oc)

1000
800
600
400
200
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
Time(s)

Fig. 10. maximum contact temperature varying with time when

Fig. 9. Maximum contact temperature varying with time when
I=55kA,contact pieces number =5,6
I=55kA.

IV. INFUENCE OF DIFFERENT DESIGN B. Influence of contact force

Fig.11 compares the maximum contact temperature
PARAMETERS varying with time when each parallel contact piece
Depending on the previous calculations results , pressure increases from 82.8N to 85N and 90N.
where the number of parallel contact pieces is 5 with As shown in the figure11, contacts temperature rise
copper soft connecting wires taken into account, decreases with proper increase of contact pressure.
contacts temperature rise is calculated with different 1400
82.8N 85N
parallel contact pieces number ,contact pressure and 1200
contact dimensions when I=55kA.
Temperature (oc)

1000 90N
A. Influence of parallel movable contact pieces number 800
Table 2 shows the peak electromagnetic force of each 600
parallel movable contact piece on condition of including 400
and excluding the copper soft connecting wires, when 200
the piece number of the parallel movable contact 0
increase from 5 to 6. 0 0.2 0.4 0.6
Time(s)
0.8 1 1.2

Increasing the parallel movable contact piece number

is helpful to decrease the electromagnetic repulse force Fig. 11. maximum contact temperature varying with time in
different contact pressure condition when I=55kA

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C. Influence of contact size proper increase of contact pressure
Fig.12 compares the maximum contact temperature (4) Increase of contact size results in higher heat
varying with time when fixed contact width increases capacity, and lower contact temperature rise.
from 10mm to 15mm, and the length of movable contact
should be increased correspondingly. REFERENCES
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