A gravity heat pipe for high voltage vacuum interrupter

• Published in: Journal of Zhejiang University. A. Science Vol. 10; no. 9; pp. 1305 - 1312
• Main Authors: Yu, Xiao-ling, Liu, Zhi-yuan, Feng, Quan-ke, Wei, Yi-jiang, Wang, Ji-mei, Zeng, Xiang-jun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hangzhou Zhejiang University Press 01.09.2009
• Subjects: Civil Engineering; Classical and Continuum Physics; Engineering; Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering; Mechanical Engineering; 不锈钢管; 仿真结果; 无氧铜; 最高气温; 热性能; 重力热管; 高压真空断路器; 高压真空灭弧室; Nominal current; Vacuum interrupters; Heat pipe; Vacuum circuit breakers (VCBs); Thermal simulation; TM561.2
• ISSN: 1673-565X; 1862-1775
• DOI: 10.1631/jzus.A0820724

To enhance nominal current of high voltage vacuum circuit breakers （VCBs）, a gravity heat pipe was proposed to replace stationary conducting rod of a high voltage vacuum interrupter. The heat pipe is composed of two coaxis tubes： the external tube is made of oxygen-free copper and the inner tube is made of stainless steel. The bottom end of the inner stainless steel tube is connected to the external copper tube by holes. Transient and static thermal performance of the heat pipe was measured, and the thermal resistance of it was compared with that of a solid copper rod with the same dimensions. Experimental results showed that thermal resistance of the heat pipe was about 1/3 of that of the copper rod, and it decreased slightly with the rising of the input heat flux. 3D thermal simulation on a 126 kV/2000 A single break VCB was done to compare the thermal performance between the proposed gravity heat pipe and the copper rod serving as the stationary conducting rod of the vacuum interrupter. Simulation results revealed that in the heat pipe case, the maximum temperature between contacts was 67 ℃ lower than that in the copper rod case.