1

5. Black box arc modelling

Circuit-breaker’s performance in power system is analysed by representing the circuit-breaker

characteristics by a function of electrical parameters such as current/voltage, and combining with,
though complicated, power system circuit. For such purposes, so-called “Black-box modelling” is
applied, in which, despite of actual circuit-breaker hard-ware such as contact shape, gas pressure,
number of breaking point, etc., a mathematical function of electrical parameters is introduced. In
the chapter, as being popularly used equations, Mayr arc model and Cassie arc model are taken
up.

5.1 Mayr arc model

In Mayr’s arc modelling, assuming constant arc diameter, constant arc power loss, Saha’s ex-
pression of arc conductivity, etc. the following expression is deduced.:
1 dG 1  EI 
=  − 1
G dt θ  N 0 
where, G: Arc conductivity θ: Arc time constant E: Arc voltage I: Arc current
N0: Arc loss constant
Introducing Laplace operator “s” the equation is rewritten as,

G0 = I 2 N 0 G = G0 (1 + θ s )
These equations are easily introduced to TACS in ATP-EMTP, and the result G can be the arc
conductance, the reciprocal of which is introduced as the circuit-breaker into the system circuit.
For details, see the attached data files.
Mayr arc model is suitably applied to low current (< several tens A ) of arc, or even post arc current
arc.
Though fault current of a cir-
cuit-breaker is very high, cur-
rent interrupting is phenom-
ena around current zero, so
Mayr arc model is suitably
applicable. Also the model is
applicable to “arc”, i.e. high
temperature gas predominant
time region, therefore, so
called “Inter-action interval” is
Fig. 5.1 Short line fault breaking circuit a typical application.
300kV, 50kA, L90 condition Note:
- After the Inter-action interval,
the time interval is called as “High-voltage interval”, where dielectric phenomena are significant, so
another model(s) is to be applied.

As the first example, short line fault current breaking is taken up. Fig. 5.1 shows basic (simplified)
circuit according to IEC standard for 300kV, 50kA circuit-breaker’s L90 (SLF current is 90% of
terminal fault one) rated condition. For the circuit-breaker, Mayer arc model is applied,
where, θ(time constant) = 1μs, N0(arc loss) = 293kW
The main part of current breaking phenomena in this case lasts several micro seconds, and, also
very short length of distributed parameter line for ITRV is involved. Therefore very short step time
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is required in EMTP. For shorter

TMAX (total time), suitable
TACS initialisation is recom-
mended. For details, see the
attached data file. The calcula-
tions in this case were done for
100 μseconds around current
zero (current interruption).
Fig. 5.2 shows breaking current
and TRV in comparison with by
ideal circuit-breaker (without arc
voltage, infinitive dielectric re-
Fig. 5.2 Breaking current and TRV covery after current interruption).
by Mayr model arc and Ideal circuit-breaker The main part is zoomed in Fig.
5.3. The above shown Mayr arc
parameters θ and N0 are critical one, i.e. higher. θ and/or lower N0 bring failure in current
breaking. These values seem to be typical of SF6 gas circuit-breaker.
Compared to by ideal cir-
cuit-breaker, current zero, i.e.
interruption is made, though by
a little, earlier due to the arc
voltage. After current zero, in-
verse direction of current, called
as “post-arc current” flows, the
magnitude of which is in the
order of several A.
As for TRV by the circuit-breaker,
ITRV oscillation is entirely
damped and smooth wave
shape appears.
In Fig. 5.4, the arc resistance
Fig. 5.3 Enlargement of the above figure (Fig. 5.1) variation is shown. Up to the
current zero, the resistance is
very low. Then, gradually it in-
creases and after the first peak
of the TRV, it quite rapidly en-
hances up to quasi infinitive. So,
around the current zero, the
relatively low arc resistance
damps ITRV oscillation.
From these, the energy balance
just after the current zero is
understood, i.e. by the com-
Fig. 5.4 Voltages and arc resistance parison of injecting energy by
TRV and the energy loss,
breaking success/failure is determined. In very critical failure state, i.e. by a little higher θ or
lower N0, the current recovers at several micro seconds after the current zero. You should try. !!
 3

Fig. 5.5 shows an alternative circuit, which is approved in IEC standard as equivalent to Fig. 5.1,
main purpose of which is making
easier the breaking test. For de-
tails, see IEC standard
62271-100.
In the circuit, ITRV circuit is ex-
cluded and, instead, the ramp
capacitance at the line side ter-
minal is lowered. Then the TRV
across terminals is mostly
equivalent to the original one.
Fig. 5.5 Alternative circuit to Fig. 5.1 By the circuit, introducing
θ= 1.0 μs
N0= 300kW
critical condition is obtained.
Much fortunately by quasi equal
arc parameters, the critical con-
dition appears and both circuits
are evaluated to be equivalent.
Nevertheless, in Fig. 5.6, some
differences in post arc current
and TRV damping are observed.
The circuit in Fig. 5.5 produces
much post arc current and much
damping of TRV.
Fig. 5.6 Breaking currents and TRVs by Fig. 5.1 and 5.5 By circuit-breakers with another
arc parameters ( θ, N0), the re-
sults may be different.

As the next example, shunt re-

actor switching is taken up. When
shunt reactor magnetising cur-
rent is switched off by a cir-
cuit-breaker, while the current
approaching the relevant current
zero, oscillation is initiated. Es-
pecially for smaller current region,
Fig. 5.7 Shunt reactor switching circuit circuit-breaker arc exhibits nega-
300kV, 150MVA, Single phase representation tive V-I characteristic. By Mayr
arc equation above shown, for
(quasi) steady state, i.e. d/dt=0,
EI = Const. i.e. negative characteristic appears. Inserting a negative resistor into a L-C circuit, os-
cillation is created. Actually in the primary state of radio technology, arc was applied to oscillator.
In Fig. 5.7, 300kV, 150MVA shunt reactor switching circuit (single phase representation) is shown.
Shunt reactor inductive current is easily interrupted, so generally the interruption occurs in rela-
tively shorter arcing time, i.e. smaller contact gap and lower blasting gas pressure. As for the arc
parameter, lower arc loss seems to be suitable. Lets introduce the following parameters.
θ(time constant) = 0.5μs, N0(arc loss) = 15kW
The values are arbitrary ones, but at least from the following results, seems to be suitable for
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modern SF6 gas circuit-breaker. For detailed modelling, also see the attached data file.
Calculated circuit-breaker current
is shown in Fig. 5.8. Before ap-
proaching the prospective current
zero, at ca. 8A, oscillation begins
and by the oscillating current zero,
i.e. before the prospective inter-
ruption time, the current is inter-
rupted. Roughly looking, the cur-
rent is chopped at ca. 8A. There-
fore the phenomena is called as
current chopping.
In the figure, the first part oscilla-
tion is created by switching for the
calculation purpose This may help
Fig. 5.8 Current chopping by shunt reactor current to introduce disturbance to create
breaking oscillation.
By doubling N0, corresponding to
longer arcing time (longer contact
gap), higher gas pressure, or
multi-break circuit-breaker, the
calculated result is shown in Fig.
5.9, where oscillation initiating
current is almost doubled from the
above case. Such phenomena is
know, i.e. by stronger quenching
force, chopping current is higher.
In some literatures, chopping cur-
rent is reported as approximately
proportional to square root of
breaking point number. Factor
Fig. 5.9 Ditto, but doubled N0 other than N0 may be dominant by
increasing breaking point.
The next example, shown in Fig.
5.10, is by doubled parallel ca-
pacitance to the reactor winding.
In the relevant oscillation circuit,
i.e. 0.03 μ F, 50 μ H , cir-
cuit-breaker and the relevant ca-
pacitor, which is called as “second
parallel oscillation circuit,” actually
the capacitance value is doubled.
Then as mentioned in some lit-
eratures, the chopping current is
enhanced approximately propor-
Fig. 5.10 Same as Fig. 5.8, but doubled reactor parallel tional to the capacitance value.
capacitor from 5nF to 10nF
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5.2 Cassie arc model

In Cassie arc modelling, the assumptions are:
- Heat loss depends on the arc flow (convection loss).
- Heat loss, stored heat, and electrical conductance are proportional to the cross section area.
Then, as the result, the following is obtained.
1 dG 1  E 2 
=  2 − 1
G dt θ  E 0 
where, E = Arc voltage, E0 = Constant, θ= Arc time constant, G = Arc conductance.
The above assumptions correspond to relatively high current of arc, such as higher than several
hundred A, so Cassie arc model is applicable to higher current of arc.
Introducing to EMTP-TACS, following rewriting is useful.

G0 = G 2
(G = G0 ) G=I E G0 =
I2
E0
2
1
1+θs
R =1 G

These equations are, likewise as Mayr model easily introduced to TACS. For details, see the at-
tached data file.
For steady state, i.e. d/dt = 0, arc voltage E equal constant E0. Therefore, as the equation is to be
applied to relatively long time interval of high current region, to introduce just appropriate E0 value
is important. As an example, so called zero skipping current breaking near a synchronous gen-
erator is taken up.
In Fig. 5.11 a), the
generator is sup-
plying transmis-
sion line charging
current via the
step-up trans-
former. Close to
the 550kV bus bar,
three-phase
grounding faults
occurs in one of
the two circuits.
Non simultaneous
faulting is intro-
duced, i.e.
three-phase point
on wave individual
Fig. 5.11 Circuit for zero skipping current breaking calculation timing of faulting
to create max of
current zero skipping. Actually, the faulting timing is, 14ms, 8.3ms and 8.3ms for phase A, B and C
respectively from the voltage crest in phase A. The timing was gotten by trial and error procedure.
Therefore such high rate of zero skipping of current could seldom be created.
For introducing circuit-breaker’s dynamic arc characteristics calculated by TACS, circuit diagram in
Fig. 5.11 b) is used. The main reason is TACS is active only after time 0, so for initialisation pur-
pose, i.e. for t < 0, the switch connected in parallel is required. For more details, see the attached
data files. Some important generator parameters applied are shown in the figure. Also for other
details of modelling synchronous generator, see the following chapter(s).
In Fig. 5.12, three-phase short circuit current is shown, where in phases A and C apparently no
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current zero exists. Though the fault

initiating timing truly seldom occurs,
and practically not necessary to con-
sider from statistical point of view,
here the phenomenon is taken up as
the base.
In Fig. 5.13, introducing an ideal cir-
cuit breaker which has zero arc volt-
age and can interrupt current at the
first current zero, the three-phase
fault currents are tried to be inter-
rupted. The contact opening time is
Fig. 5.12 Zero skipping short-circuit current set to 0.048s. In phase B current ze-
without influence of circuit-breaker arc ros exist, so at the first current zero, it
is interrupted. Introducing zero se-
quence components due to asymme-
try of the circuit by one phase of in-
terruption, dc components in phase A
and C are much damped very soon
current zeros appear. Then the cur-
rents in the rest two phases are in-
terrupted.
Introducing Cassie dynamic arc, i.e.
inserting arc voltage to the circuit, dc
components in three-phases’ currents
are expected to be much damped. So
Fig. 5.13 Breaking by ideal circuit-breaker assuming N0 = 1000Volt, i.e. as the
mean arc voltage, three-phase fault
current were calculated. In Fig. 5.14,
in comparison with the case without
arc voltage in Fig. 5.12, current wave
shapes are shown. The difference is
very small. This is thought to be the
fact that the arc voltage is so small
comparing to the system voltage.
Inserting an ideal circuit-breaker in
series to the arc model as shown in
Fig. 5.11 b), so as to interrupt current
at the first current zero, the
Fig. 5.14 Three-phase fault currents with and without three-phases’ currents calculated are
arc voltages shown in Fig. 5.15. Due to small dif-
ference between with and without arc
voltage as shown in Fig. 5.14, the
current interruption phenomena is not so different from that in Fig. 5.13. Therefore, it can be said
that arc voltage of in the order of 1000V does not introduce significant effect on zero skipping
current interruption in 500kV system.
The next trial is, though un-realistic, to introduce 10000V of arc voltage.
Due to the higher damping effect on dc component, current zero in skipping phase(s) appears
earlier, so the total fault time interval is significantly shortened. See Fig. 5.16.
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What can be said in the section are,

- Significant current zero skipping is
of rare occurrence by quite special
fault timing of fault initiation.
- Even though of such case, at least
one phase current has current zero,
so the phase current can be inter-
rupted by usual ac circuit-breaker.
After at least one phase of fault cur-
rent interruption, the other phase’s
current zero(s) comes soon due to
inserting zero sequence parameter
Fig. 5.15 Fault current interruption by a circuit-breaker (resistance) to the circuit. Then
with Cassie arc model ------ N0 = 1000 Volt three-phase fault current can be in-
terrupted by usual ac circuit-breaker.
- For introducing significant effect on
sooner current zero coming, in the
order of 10000V of arc voltage is
necessary in 500kV system.

In two phase isolated fault case, due

to non-insertion of zero sequence
parameter to the circuit, much com-
plicated phenomena is foreseen. But
due to the less damping of ac com-
ponent, sooner current zero coming
Fig. 5.16 Ditto, but N0 = 10000 Volt appears, see Fig. 5.17.

Care should be taken that, in this

section, considering high voltage ac
circuit-breaker arc, current zero
skipping only in high voltage system
circuit is taken up. Other current zero
skipping such as in shunt reactor
making current superimposing on
capacitive current, or that in gen-
erator circuit is to be surveyed
separately.

Fig. 5.17 Two phase isolated fault case

Attached data files

- Data5-00.dat Short-line-fault (SLF) current breaking according to IEC 62271-100, 300kV,
50kA, 50Hz, L90 (Current interruption by ideal circuit-breaker)
- Data5-01.dat Ditto, but by CB with Mayr arc characteristics, θ=1μs, N0=293kW
- Data5-02.dat Ditto, but by alternative test circuit according to IEC 62271-100 (without Tdl,
without ITRV), N0=300kW
- Data5-03.dat Current chopping in shunt reactor current interruption, 300kV, 150MVA reactor,
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CB with Mayr arc characteristics, θ=0.5μs, N0=15kW

- Data5-04.dat Ditto, but N0 is increased to 30kW
- Data5-05.dat Same as previous but one, with increased parallel capacitance from 5nF to
10nF.
- Data5-11.dat Current zero skipping in HV side of generator step-up transformer, without arc
voltage (system circuit prospective).
- Data5-12.dat Ditto, fault current is interrupted by ideal circuit-breaker without arc voltage.
Three-phase fault currents are interrupted phase by phase.
- Data5-13.dat Same as previous but one, but inserting Cassie model arc characteristics (arc
voltage).
- Data5-14.dat Ditto and also inserting ideal circuit-breaker in series to the arc model to inter-
rupt current at the first current zero.
- Data5-1Z.dat Ditto but the arc voltage is enhanced to 10 times of the previous one to bring
significant effect of the circuit-breaker arc.
- Data5-16.dat Two-phase isolated fault case.