Electrical Wear in High-Voltage Circuit Breakers Using SF6 Alternative Gases

Nicola Garaboldi and Javier MantillaIndustry Topics, Summer 2021 Industry Topics

Every current interruption involves an arc burning between the contacts of a circuit breaker (CB). The produced arc energy and associated pressure increase is used in gas circuit breakers to cool the arc region leading to current interruption. The same arc energy causes wear that can be separated into two main phenomena: • Nozzle ablation, which affects pressure build up, …