Numerical Study of SF6 arc with Copper Contamination

Numerical Study of SF6 arc with Copper Contamination

The present model of a SF6 arc accounts for the copper vapour contamination from the electrodes inside a Laval nozzle of a circuit breaker. Steady state simulations have been done for the arc with electrode gap of 60mm and DC electric current of 500A, 1000A and 1500A for both cases with and without copper contamination. The effects of electrode polarity are considered for the arc current of 1000A. It was found out that evaporation of copper from the anode results in a cooling of the arc in a region close to the electrodes. The electrical potential across the electrodes is not sensitive to the presence of copper vapour, typically less than $4\%$ difference. Transient analysis has been done in order to obtain the arc properties at current zero. The arc current is increased linearly from -1000 to 0A when the upstream electrode is cathode with constant dI/dt of $27.0A/{\mu}s$ (or decreased linearly from 1000 to 0A when upstream electrode is anode). It has been predicted that the presence of copper vapour reduces the interruption capability of the breaker.