Low voltage modular circuit breakers: FEM employment for modelling of arc chambers

Abstract

FEM (finite element method) is an essential and powerful numerical method that can explicitly optimize the design process of electrical devices. In this paper, the employment of FEM tools such as SolidWorks, COMSOL and ANSYS is proposed in order to aid electrical apparatuses engineering and modeling – those are arc chambers of modular circuit breakers. Procured models of arc chambers have been undergoing simulations concerning heating, electric potential distribution, electric charge velocity and traverse paths. The data acquired has been juxta-positioned against experimental data procured in the Short-Circuit Laboratory, Warsaw University of Technology. The reflection of the theoretical approach was clearly noted in the experimental results. Mutual areas of the modeled element expressed the same physical properties and robustness errors when tested under specific conditions – faithfully reflecting those which were experimented with. Moreover, the physical phenomena essential for electrical engineering could be determined already at the model stage. This procedure proved highly valuable during designing/engineering work in terms of material economy.

Keywords

• miniature circuit breaker (mcb)
• finite element method (fem)
• computational fluid dynamics (cfd)
• arc chambers