Investigations on moving characteristic of VCB´s electrodes [vacuum circuit breakers]

The most important property of modern vacuum circuit breakers (VCB) is their reliability. The efforts to solve this question include controlling input energy from the arc and minimizing the restrike probability, which are all relevant to the moving characteristic of the VCB´s electrodes. In this paper, the moving parameters are preliminary optimized, based on both theoretical and experimental investigations. Results give shorter average arcing times when breaking high currents and less macroparticles ejection because of a soft stop of the moving electrode. Discussions are also made on the limitation of the bellows to moving characteristics and the expected closing movement