Research on burnout fault of moulded case circuit breaker based on finite element simulation

• Published in: IOP conference series. Materials Science and Engineering Vol. 231; no. 1; pp. 12036 - 12042
• Main Authors: Xue, Yang, Chang, Shuai, Zhang, Penghe, Xu, Yinghui, Peng, Chuning, Shi, Erwei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bristol IOP Publishing 01.09.2017
• Subjects: Burnout; Circuit breakers; Contact resistance; Finite element method; Overheating; Simulation; Temperature distribution; Terminals; Wiring
• ISSN: 1757-8981; 1757-899X
• DOI: 10.1088/1757-899X/231/1/012036

In the failure event of molded case circuit breaker, overheating of the molded case near the wiring terminal has a very important proportion. The burnout fault has become an important factor restricting the development of molded case circuit breaker. This paper uses the finite element simulation software to establish the model of molded case circuit breaker by coupling multi-physics field. This model can simulate the operation and study the law of the temperature distribution. The simulation results show that the temperature near the wiring terminal, especially the incoming side of the live wire, of the molded case circuit breaker is much higher than that of the other areas. The steady-state and transient simulation results show that the temperature at the wiring terminals is abnormally increased by increasing the contact resistance of the wiring terminals. This is consistent with the frequent occurrence of burnout of the molded case in this area. Therefore, this paper holds that the burnout failure of the molded case circuit breaker is mainly caused by the abnormal increase of the contact resistance of the wiring terminal.