Working Principle

of Arc Quenching
in HVDC
RABINO, Bruce Jerard S.
BSEE – 5D
Reporter’s Background
Name: Rabino, Bruce Jerard S.
July 2, 1998

• Elementary: T.R. Yangco Elementary

School (2004-2010)
• High School: Lakandula High School
(2010-2014)
• College: TUP-Manila (2014-Present)
What is quenching an arc?
-Arc quenching or quenching the arc
refers to stoppage of the arc and/or
metal transfer. If you are having to break
high voltages care must be advised to
minimize the amount of current flowing
at the time of contact opening to
minimize the metal transfer. Minimizing
the current will prolong the life of the
contacts.
HVDC Circuit Breaker
In A.C circuit breakers, arc extinction
is achieved at the natural current zero of
the A.C waveform used. But in D.C circuit
breakers, natural zero of voltage and
current is not available as both are
continuously available. Thus for
extinction of an arc, artificial current zero
is required to be introduced.
HVDC Circuit Breaker
Such an artificial current zero is
possible by connecting LC circuit in
parallel with the circuit breaker. The LC
circuit is responsible to produce
oscillatory arc currents having many
artificial current zeros. At one of the
artificial current zero arc gets
extinguished.
Working Principle
The figure below shows the principle of
HVDC circuit breaker.
Working Principle
The HVDC circuit breaker is nothing but a
vacuum circuit breaker. The LC circuit along with
a switch is connected in parallel with the circuit
breaker.
The capacitor C used in pre-charged capacitor
with the polarities as shown in the figure. When
the HVDC circuit breaker starts opening, the
switch in the LC circuit gets closed. Due to
changed capacitor, the discharging current starts
flowing in opposite direction to that of load
current carried by the circuit breaker. Due to this,
acring current starts oscillating producing many
natural zeros. Thus artificial commutation results
and arc extinction is achieved.
Working Principle

The large transient recovery voltage is the

main constraint in HVDC circuit breaker and
circuit breaker must able to withstand it. For
successful operation of HVDC circuit breaker,
the switch in LC circuit must be a high-speed
switch with a very fast response. Such systems
are complex and are costly as they require costly
protection system and control systems.
Arc Quenching
When the current carrying contacts of the circuit
breaker are moved apart, an arc is formed, which
insist for a short period after the separation of
contracts. This arc is dangerous on account of the
energy generated in it in the form of heat which
may result in explosive force.
The circuit breaker should be capable of
extinguishing the arc without causing any
disturbances to the equipment or danger to the
personnel. The arc plays a vital role in the
behavior of the circuit breaker. The interruption of
DC arc is relatively more difficult than AC arcs
Arc Quenching
In an AC arcs, as the current becomes zero
during regular wave, the arc vanishes and it is
interrupted from restoking.

The conductance's of the arc are proportional to

the number of electrons per cubic centimeter
produced by ionization, the square of the length.
For arc extinction, it is therefore, necessary to
reduce the density of free electrons, reduces the
ionization and decrease the diameter of the arc.
Methods of Arc Quenching
There are two methods of arc extinction in circuit
breakers. These methods are

High resistance method

In this method, the arc is controlled in such a way

that its effective resistance increase with the
time, so that the current is reduced to such a
value that heat formed by it is not sufficient to
maintain the arc or thus arc is extinguished.
Methods of Arc Quenching
High Resistance Method

Because of the resistive nature of the arc

discharge, most of the energy in the system will
be dissipated within the circuit breaker. This is
the main drawback of this method of arc
extinction. The following are the reasons which
can increase
 Cooling of the
arc resistance of the arc.
 Increasing the length of the arc
 Reducing the cross section of the arc
 Splitting of arc
Methods of Arc Quenching
Low resistance or Zero Current Interruption
Method

This method is applicable only in AC circuit

interruption because there are natural zero of
current, 100 times in a second for 50Hz 3phase
supply system. This is one of the most significant
advantages of AC circuit for arc interruption
purpose because the current is not allowed to
rise again.
In this method, the arc resistance is kept low until
the current is zero where the arc extinguishes
naturally, and it’s prevented from restriking after
it has gone out of a particular.
THANK YOU.