Parameter study on temperature-rise prediction of a vacuum circuit breaker

Vacuum Circuit Breaker (VCB) is an electric control device that interrupts the abnormal currents from the over-loads or short-circuits. Recently, higher current-ratings and better thermal performance has become important in providing the reliability for the modern devices requiring compact-size and high performance. In the development of the VCB, one of the most important design factors is the temperature rise. This thermal effect in the VCB is caused by resistances in the connection and contact surfaces of main circuit. These resistances influence terminal surfaces and volume of Vacuum Interrupter (VI). Thus, it is crucial to find out the temperature design parameters for the effective thermal system design. In this paper, we verified the thermal distribution tendency by using ICEPAK simulation with a VCB system based on the thermal parameters such as the VI load diameter and terminal.