Thermal Analysis of High Voltage Components

Abstract

Temperature can be a limiting factor due to which the operation in electrical power equipment can get a ected and hence an accurate knowledge of thermal behaviour is essential to predict its reliability and performance in various environments. Thermal Network represents the fast computation method to calculate the temperature rise of current carrying components of a Circuit Breaker and the current load in the same. The present work involves the usage of Thermal Network software and Computational Fluid Dynamics(CFD) simulations for a 72.5 kV Circuit Breaker to nd out the temperature rise for the current rating of 2500 Ampere at 23:5 C ambient temperature and hence optimize the design. The hierarchical approach, which is the representation of the whole device and also facilitates the quick design changes is used for analysis. Results of temperature rise achieved using Thermal Network software are compared with the experimental temperature rise results for 2500 Ampere current. A 2D CFD simulation of same Circuit Breaker was carried out. This approach, leads to improved products in a faster time thereby saving costly thermal testing and experimentation.