Energy analysis of the closing process of an AC contactor

How to improve the electrical energy utilization of traditional mechanical and electrical equipment is a problem that deserves to be discussed, especially now when energy usage and sustainability is becoming more and more important. From the view point of energy, the closing process of AC contactor is an energy exchange process with the input electric energy changing into kinetic energy, thermal energy and magnetic field energy. If the input energy is more than the expended energy, then the excess energy will be exhibited as bounce of contacts and cores. Therefore, controlling the input energy and the distribution of each kind of energy in the closing process will result in significant reduction in contact bounce. In addition, the electrical endurance and the overall performance will be improved. Selecting one kind of AC contactor which applied in-air condition as prototype in this paper. The energy distribution of contactor is analyzed based on the 3D dynamic simulation system. Then, the energy calculation model is developed and verified through the experiment.