Vacuum Circuit Breaker Model : Application Case to

Motors Switching
C. Vollet, B. de Metz-Noblat

Abstract-- In an industrial plant equipped with HV motors, The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate, in the case of this
several severe stator failures occurred in spite of the installation desalinization plant, the necessity of complementary
of surge arresters. All of these motors were switched with protection against overvoltages by adding C-R surge
vacuum circuit breakers.
The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the necessity of
suppressors.
complementary protection against overvoltages by adding C-R The paper will first give an overview of the types of switching
(capacitor - resistor) surge suppressors. surges that can occur in this network configuration i.e. current
This paper will first give an overview of the types of switching chopping and voltage escalation at de-energization and pre-
surges that can occur in this network configuration. Secondly, ignition at energization.
network simulations using EMTP/ATP software are presented, Secondly, network simulations using EMTP/ATP software are
including a complete simulation of a vacuum circuit breaker. The
object of these simulations is to calculate the overvoltages created
presented, including a complete simulation of the vacuum
during motor switching, to study the evolution of these circuit breaker. This model takes into account the chopping
overvoltages as a function of cable length and motor power, and current, the slope of recovery strength and the current slope
to check if additional protection needs to be installed on these that the vacuum switch is able to interrupt. The object of these
motors. The comparison is made between the simulated voltages simulations is to calculate the overvoltages created during
and the motors withstand voltage capability defined in the IEC motor switching, to study the evolution of these overvoltages
60034-15. This comparison is done not only with magnitude
criteria but also with time rise.
as a function of cable length and motor power, and to check if
It can be concluded that even with two MOA (Metal-Oxide some additional protection needs to be installed on these
Arrester) surge arresters the protection of the motor is not motors.
guaranteed and that full motor protection is provided by The maximum overvoltages obtained in the simulations often
installing C-R surge suppressors thus eliminating multiple exceeds the withstand level of the motor insulation, the
reignitions. comparison is done not only with magnitude criteria but also
Keywords: Switching overvoltage, vacuum circuit breaker,
with time rise.
MOA surge arrester, C-R surge suppressor, motor, EMTP/ATP. It can be concluded that even with two MOA surge arresters,
one located at the load terminals of the vacuum circuit breaker
I. INTRODUCTION and the other located at the motor terminals, the protection of
the motor is not guaranteed.
I N a desalinization plant equipped with 32 HV motors (11
kV), several severe stator failures occurred. At least 3
motors have developed stator failures during commissioning
Full motor protection can be provided by installing C-R surge
suppressors and by keeping the MOA surge arresters on all the
motors.
tests, then one failed during operation in spite of the
installation of MOA surge arresters.
II. TYPES OF OVERVOLTAGES ASSOCIATED WITH VACUUM
All of these motors were switched with vacuum circuit
SWITCHING
breakers, and thus the first assumption was that the stator
faults were a result of exposure to steep fronted switching The subject of switching surge overvoltages associated
surges. These surges cause severe stress on the stator windings with vacuum circuit breakers has been discussed in many
insulation because of the non-uniform distribution of the technical papers [1]-[3]. Therefore the aim of this chapter is to
voltage across the windings. Both opening and closing clarify only the involved phenomena leading to the most
operations could generate switching overvoltages with large severe transients and to describe them in some detail.
amplitude and high frequencies. If the switching overvoltage A. Current Chopping (opening)
amplitude exceeds the basic insulation level (BIL) of the
Current chopping (I0) refers to the premature suppression of
motor, overvoltage protection must be installed.
the power frequency current before normal current-zero in the
vacuum circuit breaker. Depending on the load 's inductance
(Lb), a magnetic energy remains trapped in the load circuit.
Caroline Vollet is with Schneider Electric, P&E Center, Grenoble – France The maximum voltage at the load level can be estimated
(e-mail: [email protected]). with the approximation that the trapped magnetic energy (1/2
Benoit de Metz Noblat is with Schneider Electric, P&E Center, Grenoble –
France (e-mail: [email protected]). LbI0²) will be converted into electrical energy in the parasitic
capacitance (Cb). So the estimation of the maximum chopping
Presented at the International Conference on Power Systems overvoltage (Ûm) is :
Transients (IPST’07) in Lyon, France on June 4-7, 2007
 1 1 1 Lb Compared with normal current chopping, the virtual current
CbUˆm = LbI 02 + CbU pf2 ⇒ Uˆm = U pf2 + I 02
2 2 2 Cb chopping can be much higher and also the overvoltages
where Upf is the power frequency voltage at interruption between phases B and C can be up to twice the overvoltage
For vacuum circuit breakers, the chopping current is from phase to ground on these phases.
determined mostly by the contact material and is typically 2 to
10 A. Data published in [2] indicates that the maximum III. DESCRIPTION OF THE NETWORK AND MODELS
overvoltage created by current chopping never exceeds the On Fig. 2, it is shown the simplified single line diagram of
IEEE motor impulse voltage withstand recommendation [5]. the simulated electrical network of the desalinization plant.
Therefore, in general, overvoltages at current chopping do not
need surge protection (see chapter V.A).
B. Voltage Escalation (opening)
Voltage escalation arises after reignition of the circuit
breaker following switching off after a short arcing time.
Reignition can occur when contact separation takes place near
current zero, with the contact gap too small to withstand the
Transient Recovery Voltage (TRV). As a result network
capacitances on both sides of the breaker discharge over the
inductance, causing a high frequency oscillating current
(typically 100 – 200 kHz) through the breaker. The vacuum
circuit breaker is able to interrupt this current at high
frequency current zero. A new TRV will develop over the
breaker steeper and higher than the previous one. If the
separating contacts have not yet gained sufficient dielectric
strength, there will be a new reignition. This sequence of
events may be repeated several times (up to 10) with
increasing amplitude. The process will stop only when the
breaker gap strength reaches a value higher than the TRV.
C. Repetitive Pre-Ignition (closing)
Fig. 2. Simplified simulated single line diagram
During the closing operation, several pre-ignitions can
occur if the gap between the contacts breaks down before
The software used to simulate this network is ATP
galvanic contact is established. However, pre-ignition is less
(Alternative Transients Program). ATP is primarily a
severe than multiple reignition, first because the contact gap at
simulation program for the electrical power industry.
the first pre-strike is very small and second because the peak
The technical data of equipment taken into account are :
value of the steep waves decreases in time, because the
contacts approach. A. Network Supply 15 kV and 47 MVA 15/11 kV
Transformer
D. Virtual Current Chopping (opening)
Parameters for the equivalent source were varied to cover
Virtual current chopping is caused by an interaction maximum and minimum short circuit power and to take into
between two phases, dependant upon the capacitive coupling account the earthing system.
between the phases. If a reignition in one phase (phase A for
example) causes a high frequency current, a part of this B. Cable Data
transient current may flow in phase B and C via the network A model with distributed parameters was used to represent
capacitances. This could cause a current zero crossing in these all the cables in order to take into account the high frequency
two phases ; this forced current-zero phenomenon is virtual behaviour of cables.
current chopping (see Fig. 1). TABLE I
CABLE DATA
Cable size in length in m surge propagation
sq.mm impedance velocity in
in ohm km/s
between the 3#1Cx500 215 8.55 89 103
transformer and
the main busbar
between the 4#3Cx240 450 7 94 103
main and the
motors busbars
Fig. 1. Circuit demonstrating how the high frequency current resulting from a between the 3Cx150 see motors 28 90 103
reignition in one phase couples into the other phases to produce the conditions motors busbar characteristics
for virtual current chopping. and the motors
 C. Motor Data If the reignition occurs, then two conditions should be fulfilled
All of the 32 motors of the switchboard were modelled by for the circuit breaker to interrupt again the current :
an equivalent circuit (R+jX) which represents the motor in the • The number of HF current zero crossing must be over the
starting conditions. When a vacuum circuit breaker interrupts fixed limit and
a running motor, no high overvoltage is expected because the • The instantaneous value must be smaller than that which
emf produced by the running motor opposes the source the breaker is able to chop.
voltage resulting in a very small TRV across the opening If these two conditions are fulfilled, an opening signal for the
contacts. switch is produced.
To ensure robustness to sensitivities associated with The preceding logic is repeated for each time step and so it's
variations in cable length and motor size, consideration was possible to simulate the multiple reignitions phenomena and
given to the largest and the smallest motors and the longest the voltage escalation.
and the shortest cable feeders. For the present study, the following values are used, based on
TABLE II our know-how and the technical papers :
MOTORS DATA
• Slope of recovery strength = 20 or 40 kV/ms,
Motor rated running starting starting parallel cable
In kW current power current power capaci- length • Chopping current = 5 or 8 A,
(Amps) factor (Amps) factor tance (m) • Number of HF current zero crossing = 3,
500 30.6 0.91 160 0.163
frequency 248 – • Average contact opening velocity = 1 m/s,
= 15 kHz 239 –
216 • Total travel of the moving contact = 5 mm.
frequency 140
790 50.5 0.86 245 0.16 = 15 kHz E. Surge Arresters Data
1650 100 0.89 606 0.189
frequency 113 – The MOA surge arresters are located at the load terminals
= 15 kHz 126 –
of the vacuum circuit breaker and in some cases directly on
139 –
152 the motor terminals.
The arresters are represented as exponential MOA surge
D. Vacuum Circuit Breaker Data arrester R(i) , i.e. the non linear V-I characteristic is
A simple switch model, controlled by means of a logic approximated by a number of exponential segments
imposed in MODELS (ATP), simulates the multiple determined with the following points (Type 92 element in
reignitions and the arc created (see Fig. 3). EMTP/ATP software):.
TABLE III
ARRESTERS DATA
i(t) MODELS
Arrester connected to motors busbar Arrester connected to the motors
Current (A) Voltage (V) Current (A) Voltage (V)
Open/
close u2(t) 0.003 21600 0.0001 18400
u1(t) signal 0.03 22500 0.001 22925
10 26000 0.01 23850
500 42100 0.1 24000
Fig. 3. Model of Vacuum Circuit Breaker 1500 46000 1 24288
3000 49000 10 25700
5000 52000 100 27600
The model takes into account the following characteristics : 10000 57500 1000 31800
• The dielectric recovery strength between contacts 20000 65400 10000 36800
when opening, 40000 76900
• The ability of the vacuum circuit breaker to chop the
current before its natural zero, The arresters are connected to the earth with a 1 Ω resistor
• The high frequency quenching capability of the circuit in order to be more realistic.
breaker. In fact, we fixed the number of the HF current F. C-R Surge Suppressors Data
zero crossing before opening.
The C-R surge suppressor is composed with a resistor
connected in series with a surge capacitor. The value of the
The control logic implemented in MODELS is the capacitor is taken to 0.2 or 0.3 µF and the resistor must be at
following :
least equal to 30 Ω.
• After mechanical separation of the breaker contacts, it
is considered that the dielectric strength between them
IV. OVERVOLTAGE EFFECTS ON MOTOR INSULATION
rises linearly with a definite slope.
• The voltage between the contact in each instant, u(t1)- In order to examine the effects of switching overvoltages
u(t2), is compared with the withstand voltage (defined on motor insulation, these overvoltages are compared to the
by the above mentioned straight rise) and in case it is rated insulation levels for rotating machines given in the IEC
surpassed, a closing signal is given to the switch, so a 60 034-15 International Standard [5].
reignition of the arc is simulated.
 For 11 kV motors : When the simulated overvoltages magnitude is below 32
• Rated lightning impulse withstand voltage (1,2/50 µs kV for V1 or 49 kV for V2, then a graphical check for time
wave) = 49 kV peak, rise is systematically done.
• Rated steep-front impulse withstand voltage (0.2 µs
wave) = 32 kV peak, V. TRANSIENT SIMULATIONS
• Rated power frequency withstand voltage (50 Hz)
= 23 kV rms. A. Current Chopping (opening)
In these simulations we have modeled only current
For the motors, the rated steep-front impulse withstand chopping without reignition.
voltage is the impulse test of the interturn insulation. The The results are presented for the motor with the lowest
voltage is applied between the two terminals of the coils. In power and with the shortest cable, i.e. 500 kW motor supplied
the simulations, it is equivalent and has to be compared to the via 216 m cable and for a chopping current of 8 Amps. The
voltage between phase and neutral. maximum overvoltage is around 22.2 kV peak. The frequency
The rated lightning impulse withstand voltage is the observed on the voltage curves corresponds to the resonance
impulse test of the main insulation. The voltage is applied between the motor inductance and the cable capacitance.
between the coils terminals and earth. In the simulations, it is Fig. 6 gives the overvoltage at motor terminal (phase to
equivalent and has to be compared to the voltage between earth) and Fig. 7 shows the current chopping in the circuit
phase and earth. breaker.
25
The comparison between the simulated overvoltages and [kV]
the standard withstand voltage is done not only with 20

magnitude criteria but also with time rise. The overvoltage 15

curve obtained by simulation must be within the envelope 10

defined by IEC 60 034-15 (see Fig. 4 and 5).
5

-5

-10

-15
0 4 8 12 16 [ms] 20
(file RB12b.pl4; x-var t) v:MOTORA v:MOTORB v:MOTORC

Fig. 6. Voltage at motor terminal (single phase voltage): 22200 Vpeak with a
frequency of 1500 Hz

250.0
[A]
187.5

125.0

62.5

0.0

-62.5

Fig. 4. Interturn insulation 32 kV (V1) -125.0

-187.5

-250.0
0 4 8 12 16 [ms] 20
(file RB12b.pl4; x-var t) c:CABLEA-W6BBCA c:CABLEB-W6BBCB c:CABLEC-W6BBCC
4
[A]
2

-2

-4

-6

-8

-10

-12
7.60 7.69 7.78 7.87 7.96 [ms] 8.05
(file RB12b.pl4; x-var t) c:CABLEA-W6BBCA c:CABLEB-W6BBCB c:CABLEC-W6BBCC

Fig. 7. Current in the motor circuit breaker – current chopping = 8 Amps

These simulations show that even with a current chopping

of 8 Amps, the highest generated phase to earth overvoltage is
Fig. 5. Main insulation 49 kV (V2) well within the withstand voltage of all equipment. At these
relatively low levels of overvoltage, the arresters have little
When the simulated overvoltages magnitude is over 32 kV effect on the level of switching overvoltages.
for V1 or 49 kV for V2, it is obvious that the overvoltage is The obtained results are in accordance with the results
outside the envelope and there is no need of time rise described in the technical publications [4], i.e. current
checking. chopping overvoltages remain limited nowadays and the worst
case is with short cable and low motor power. So, if these overvoltages are compared only with
magnitude criteria, it can be said that the motor protection is
B. Voltage Escalation (opening)
correct. But if a graphical check for time rise is made taking
In these simulations, we have modelled current chopping into account the envelope defined by IEC 60 034-15, the
with reignition : the switch model simulates the multiple re- conclusion can be different. Fig. 10 gives the two latest re-
ignitions of the arc in the vacuum circuit breaker. ignitions for the single phase voltage and Fig. 11 shows the
1) Without any MOA Surge Arrester : comparison between the simulated overvoltage and the
When there is no MOA surge arrester connected, the envelope defined by IEC 60 034-15.
overvoltage due to multiple re-ignitions is well over the 40
withstand level of the motor insulation. [kV]
30
2) With MOA Surge Arrester at Load Terminal of the
Vacuum Circuit Breaker : 20
When there is only one MOA surge arrester connected at
10
the load terminal of the vacuum circuit breaker, the
overvoltage at the arrester connection point is limited to the 0

residual voltage of this arrester. But due to the wave

-10
reflections in the cable, the overvoltage at the motor terminal
is above the withstand level of the motor insulation. -20

3) With MOA Surge Arresters at Load Terminal of the -30

Vacuum Circuit Breaker and at the Motor Terminal : 6.48 6.51
(f ile RB23.pl4; x-var t) v:MOTORA
6.54
v:MOTORB
6.57
v:MOTORC
6.60 6.63 [ms] 6.66

These simulations show that even with two arresters, one Fig. 10. Voltage at motor terminal (single phase voltage) : Zoom on the two
located between the vacuum circuit breaker and the cable and latest re-ignitions
the other located at the motor terminal, the protection of the
motor is not guaranteed.
The maximum overvoltage obtained in the simulations is
very near or even over the withstand level of the motor
insulation.
Fig. 8 gives the overvoltage at motor terminal (phase to
earth), the MOA action can be clearly seen on this figure.
40
[kV]
30

20

10

Fig. 11. Comparison between simulated overvoltages (in blue) and IEC
0 envelope (in red)
-10
On Fig. 11, the time rise is measured at 0.1 µs.
-20
The conclusion is that even with arresters located at the
-30 motor terminal, the motor is not correctly protected and some
0 4 8 12 16 [ms] 20
(file RB23.pl4; x-var t) v:MOTORA v:MOTORB v:MOTORC very high frequency overvoltages can affect the motor and
Fig. 8. Voltage at motor terminal (single phase voltage): 32k Vpeak exceed its withstand level.
Furthermore, the arresters do not limit the multiple
The phase to neutral voltage at motor terminal is given by reignitions associated with the vacuum circuit breakers.
Fig. 9, the maximum value is about 24 kV peak.
30
On the other hand, the properly sized C-R surge
[kV]
suppressors eliminate multiple reignitions and voltage
20
escalation and limit the overvoltages within the withstand
levels for the motors.
10
Fig. 12 and Fig. 13 gives respectively the single phase
voltage and the phase to neutral voltage with C-R surge
0
suppressors on motor terminal.

-10

-20
0 4 8 12 16 [ms] 20
(file RB23.pl4; x-var t) v:MOTORA-TERMOT v:MOTORB-TERMOT v:MOTORC-TERMOT

Fig. 9. Voltage across the motor winding (phase to neutral voltage): 24k
Vpeak
 20 • The phenomenon of multiple reignition and voltage
[kV]
escalation produced overvoltages that could be over
10
the withstand level of the motors. A complete
0 comparison must be made not only according
magnitude criteria but also with time rise. In our case,
-10
even if the magnitude of the simulated overvoltage was
-20
under the standard limit, the time rise was shorter than
the wave defined in the IEC 60 034-15 standard.
-30

Full motor protection can be provided by installing C-R

-40
0 4 8 12 16 [ms] 20 surge suppressors on all the motors.
(file RB25.pl4; x-var t) v:MOTORA v:MOTORB v:MOTORC

Fig. 12. Voltage at motor terminal (single phase voltage): 26k Vpeak with a
frequency around 1kHz
20 VII. REFERENCES
[kV]
15
[1] J. F. Perkins, "Evaluation of switching overvoltages on medium voltage
power systems," IEEE Trans. Power Apparatus and Systems, vol. PAS-
10 101, pp. 1727-1734, June. 1982.
[2] S. H. Telander, M. R. Wilhelm, K. B. Stump, "Surge limiters for
5
vacuum circuit breakers," IEEE Trans. Industry Applications, vol. 24,
0
pp. 554-559, July. 1988.
[3] S. M. Wong, L. A. Snider, "Overvoltages and reignition behavior of
-5 vacuum circuit breaker," in Proc. 2003 International Conf. On advances
in power system control, operation and management., pp. 653-658.
-10
[4] J. D. Gibbs, D. Koch, P. Malkin and K. J. Cornick, "Comparison of
-15 performance of switching technologies on E CIGRE motor simulation
circuit," IEEE Trans. Power Delivery, vol. 4, pp. 1745-1750, July. 1989.
-20 [5] IEC 60 034-15 Impulse voltage withstand levels of rotating a.c.
0 4 8 12 16 [ms] 20
(file RB25.pl4; x-var t) v:MOTORA-XX0308 v:MOTORB-XX0308 v:MOTORC-XX0308
machines with form-wound stator coils, 1995.
Fig. 13. Voltage across the motor winding (phase to neutral) 15k Vpeak with
a frequency around 1kHz VIII. BIOGRAPHIES
C. Circuit Energization Caroline Vollet received her Electrical Engineering degree
In these simulations, we model the different circuit from the National Polytechnic Institute of Grenoble in 1988.
energization. The level of overvoltage during switching on is She joined Merlin Gerin (now Schneider Electric) in 1989.
considered to be a statistical quantity on 100 simulations. In She is currently working on electrical network analyses such
the studies, the circuit breaker is randomly permitted to close as stability, harmonic and overvoltages studies. She has been
at any point on the 50 Hz waveform with all poles closing personally involved in several instances of equipment failure
within a random 2.5 ms pole window to account pole scatter. or malfunctioning in different kind of industrial plants .
This permits us to find the max overvoltage that might occur Benoit de Metz-Noblat received his Electrical Engineering
in motor energization. degree from the Ecole Supérieure d'Electricité (France) in
These simulations show that the MOA surge arresters, one 1974. He worked first for Saint Gobain as electrical new
located between the vacuum circuit breaker and the cable and projects & maintenance manager. He joined Merlin Gerin
one located at the motor terminal, are necessary to be sure of (now Schneider Electric) in 1986. He is a member of the
the protection of the motor. Electrical Network competence group that studies electrical
Without these MOA surge arresters or with only the MOA phenomena concerning the operation of networks and their
surge arrester located between the vacuum circuit breaker and interaction with devices and equipment.
the cable, the maximum overvoltage obtained in the
simulations is very near or even over the withstand level of the
motor insulation.

VI. CONCLUSIONS
The HV motors failures occurred in a desalinization plant
in spite of the installation of MOA surge arresters can be
explained by the voltage escalation phenomenon developed in
the vacuum circuit breaker. A model of vacuum circuit
breaker was developed and used in ATP in order to study
overvoltages resulting from current chopping and voltage
escalation.
The results obtained may be summarized as follows :
• The overvoltages due to simple current chopping are
within the withstand levels of the motors