Research on the vacuum arc commutating characteristic of resistive fault current limiters

The paper focuses on the vacuum arc commutating characteristic which is a common basic problem in resistive fault current limiters. The current commutating characteristic of the current can be diverted into the current limiting resistor from the vacuum circuit breaker is mainly researched. The influence of the current amplitude, the current limiting resistor resistance, the arcing time, the transverse magnetic field and the current frequency on the time of the current commutation and the current in the moment of the completion transition is investigated and analyzed. According to the experimental results, the mathematical description of the vacuum arc commutating characteristic is obtained. The interaction between the vacuum arc and the transverse magnetic field is discussed. The paper provides the foundation for the structure and parameters optimization of the resistive fault current limiter.