Simulation of an electro magnetic (EM) drive for a fast opening circuit breaker contact

The force between two current carrying bodies gained more interest due to new applications. This so-called Lorentz force is used for decades to accelerate or move objects, for instance for fast opening of DC circuit breakers. A novel electro-mechanical set-up has been developed, which accelerates a movable electrical contact of 2.8 kg extremely fast. In this contribution the developed mixed signal model of the electro-mechanical set-up has been discussed and the initial simulations have been compared with the first measurements. The simulated results are in good agreement with the measurements.