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Solutions for Shunt Reactor Switching with Dead-Tank Circuit Breakers

Conference Paper · April 2021

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Victor Hermosillo Andrew Chovanec

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 SOLUTIONS FOR SHUNT REACTOR SWITCHING WITH DEAD-TANK
CIRCUIT BREAKERS
Victor F. Hermosillo, Andrew Chovanec
GE Grid Solutions, Charleroi, PA

ABSTRACT
Shunt reactor switching is one of the most challenging duties for a circuit breaker. This paper
describes the challenges of this load switching duty and presents qualification tests according to
IEEE and IEC standards. Applications and alternative solutions are presented, including circuit
breaker over-dimensioning, the use of surge arresters installed across the circuit breaker
terminals and controlled opening targeting the reignition-free window. Configuration,
implementation and benefits of these solutions are presented.

INTRODUCTION
The introduction of renewable generation in electric power networks has resulted in increased
need for reactive power compensation to balance system conditions due to variations in available
power combined with changes in demand. Additionally, the use of long underwater cables in
offshore windfarms has led to the installation of shunt reactors at onshore collection points. This
has resulted in an increase in the number of installed shunt reactors and also to an increase in
switching frequency. A survey organized by CIGRE [1] concluded that this particular circuit
breaker application involves the highest number of switching operations per year as well as the
highest failure rate among other applications such as shunt capacitor bank, transmission line,
transformer and other switching duties.
Shunt reactor switching requires a special purpose circuit breaker or circuit switcher that has been
designed and tested for this particular application. This document briefly describes the reactor
switching phenomenon and the implications for interrupter design. This is followed by a summary
of qualification tests. Lastly, several different alternatives for switching shunt reactors with AC
high-voltage power dead-tank circuit brakers are described including over-dimensioning, the use
of surge arresters across the terminals and controlled opening.

CIRCUIT BREAKER DESIGN AND TESTING ASPECTS

Circuit Breaker Design
Requirements associated with shunt reactor switching should be considered during the interrupter
initial design stage. Often, these are not considered until after the interrupter design is completed
and issues arise during inductive switching tests.
During reactor switching, the load reacts with a Transient Recovery Voltage (TRV) associated
with inductive current chopping characteristics of the circuit breaker. The high magnitude and rate
of rise of the TRV is such that, at each arcing time, the insulation coordination of the interrupter
is tested. The dielectric coordination between the main contacts and arcing contacts should be
such that there is enough margin between the withstand across the main contacts at ambient gas
density and the arcing contact withstand at higher gas density due to the compression action of
the interrupter. Reactor switching is a load switching duty with currents in the range of a few tens
to a few hundred amperes. Therefore, the insulating gas is mostly under cold conditions.

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Additional design aspects include:
 Quality of the tungsten-copper material on the tip of the arcing contacts: which should be
of high-grade providing long endurance and low erosion rate. Erosion causes deformation
and surface roughness of arcing contact.
 Quality of the filled PTFE main nozzle and auxiliary nozzle: this material should be free of
imperfections and the filler should be homogenously mixed.
 Dielectric withstand across the gap during the entire interrupter stroke: this involves the
gas density distribution across arcing contacts influenced by nozzle and contact
geometries resulting in a particular withstand characteristic. Dielectric withstand is related
to the dynamic gas flow during the opening operation, combined with the interrupter travel
characteristics (speed, stroke).
 Reliability and endurance of the mechanism and linkage necessary to obtain adequate
mechanical endurance. A qualification for M2 class is required, involving 10,000
mechanical operations.
Circuit Breaker Testing
There are three main documents associated with the qualification of a circuit breaker for reactor
switching. The IEEE circuit breaker test procedure standard [2] calls for a particular IEC test
procedure [3] and a technical application guide with includes theory, description of the switching
phenomena, means of TRV control and breaker specification [4].
The test procedure allows for mapping of the circuit breaker behavior with respect to the arcing
time. Tests are performed at two current levels, corresponding to two natural frequencies of
oscillation of the load TRV and at two gas densities, namely lockout and rated levels. Graphs can
be generated from the test data showing the relation between the chopping current and the load-
side overvoltage depending on the arcing time. In addition, the occurrence or absence of
reignitions can be represented with respect to the arcing time to determine if the circuit breaker
has a clean and well-established reignition-free window.
Two inductive current levels are tested, depending on the maximum rated voltage:
 Below and including 72.5 kV: 630 and 200 A (±20 %)
 Above100 kV: 315 and 100 A (±20 %)
There are four prescribed test duties (TD), each requires a scan through arcing times for one
period of the current each consisting of 18-20 breaking operations. TD1 is at high current and
rated gas density, TD2 is at lower current and rated gas density, TD3 is at lower current, at the
transition between the reignition & reignition-free window at rated gas density. TD4 is at lower
current and lockout gas density. TRV can be for grounded or ungrounded (including impedance
grounded) reactors.

Example of reignition and reignition-free windows

Figure 1
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The circuit breaker performance during this test is measured by the width of the reignition-free
window. In our experience, a window of 4 ms or greater is typical for a suitable dead-tank circuit
breaker. The window should not include erratic reignitions and should have a well-defined
transition to the reignition window (Figure 1). In general, the reignition-free window is narrower for
larger currents (corresponding to higher load natural frequency), which also lead to higher
magnitudes of the chopping current.

SHUNT REACTOR SWITCHING SOLUTIONS WITH DEAD-TANK CIRCUIT BREAKERS

Failure Modes and End-of-Life
A circuit breaker that has not been qualified for reactor switching and has no special provisions
will only last a few hundred operations switching a shunt reactor. The failure mode at the end of
life usually involves a restrike across the main contacts or a nozzle puncture. Main contact failure
results from loss of coordination with the arcing contacts. Contact erosion causes increased
dielectric stress due to deformation and surface roughness, which combines with additional
shielding from other components and reduced stress associated with length reduction. These
variations may lead to lower relative withstand in the main contacts compared with these
recessed, eroded contacts if the safety margin is not sufficient. In contrast, nozzle puncture occurs
when the location and direction of the maximum electric field intensity vector on the arcing
contacts changes as they undergo changes in shape and surface roughness. If the direction of
this vector is through the nozzles, a discharge may propagate through the nozzle surface or break
through the walls causing permanent dielectric damage. Voids, imperfections or regions of
abnormal concentration of filler may also lead to nozzle punctures.

A failure across the main contacts is an end-of-life event. In a dead-tank circuit breaker, the molten
metal splatter typically causes a line to ground internal fault between the interrupter and the tank.
Nevertheless, due to the presence of a metallic tank with a certain burn-through time and a
pressure relief device, such event does not lead to fragmentation of the vessel. The behavior of
a live-tank circuit breaker housed in porcelain insulators under such incident is more catastrophic.
Molten metal spatter from a breakdown across main contacts causes thermal shock, leading to
rapid fragmentation of the porcelain insulator.
Available Solutions
It is important to select a solution that offers adequate electrical endurance, which is entirely based
on the number of switching operations experienced by the circuit breaker. Three solutions are
available that can be implemented individually or combined in order to maximize circuit breaker
endurance, which are:
 circuit breaker over-dimensioning,
 the use of surge arresters installed across the circuit breaker terminals, and
 controlled opening targeting the reignition-free window.
With these solutions it is possible to obtain an endurance of several thousand operations.
Circuit Breaker Over-dimensioning
This solution is often used at lower rated voltages. It consists of using a circuit breaker with a
maximum rated voltage higher than the system’s operating voltage. It is possible to use a ganged
circuit breaker which offers the benefits of having a simpler control scheme than an independent-
pole-operated breaker. The circuit breaker performs random opening operations with various
arcing times. The additional endurance is provided by the relatively higher speed, stroke and
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dielectric withstand across the interrupter contacts. It is also possible to obtain higher endurance
from a circuit breaker with a higher short-circuit rating. For example, by selecting a 63 kA rating
instead of 40 kA. Arcing contacts for higher currents have larger dimensions.

DT1-72.5 circuit breaker applied for reactor switching at lower voltage.

Figure 2

An example of such application is the use of a ganged DT1-72.5 circuit breaker rated 72.5 kV,
40 kA, 3000 A to switch a 25 MVAr, 24.9 kV ungrounded air-core reactor connected to tertiary of
500 MVA transformer. A photograph of the installation is included in Figure 2. The expected
electrical endurance for this case is approximately 3,000 operations.
Surge Arresters Across the Circuit Breaker Terminals
Another alternative is to install surge arresters across the circuit breaker terminals. These surge
arresters limit the maximum combined transient from the source and load side across the
contacts. The associated TRV suppression increases the width and maintains the reignition-free
window. Surge arresters can be combined with over-dimensioning or with controlled opening to
further increase the breaker electrical endurance. A DT1-362 circuit breaker rated 362 kV, 63 kA,
5,000 A is shown in Figure 3. The circuit breaker is independent-pole-operated and is applied at
362 kV.

DT1-362 IPO circuit breaker with surge arresters across the terminals.
Figure 3

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Controlled Opening Targeting the Reignition-free Window
Controlled opening allows the circuit breaker to target its reignition-free window during each
tripping operation. It requires an Independent-Pole-Operated (IPO) circuit breaker in which each
pole targets a suitable arcing time for each phase. The circuit breaker must have consistent and
predictable mechanical timing characteristics. Low mechanical scatter is desirable and should
allow the opening times to fall within the window width. Adaptation for changes in mechanical
timing is performed by long term trending based on current inception and deviations estimated
from previous operations to account for drift in the opening time. The controller should allow
compensation for parameters that affect breaker timing such as: control voltage, ambient
temperature, hydraulic pressure and idle time. Most circuit breakers rated 362 kV and above are
IPO. At these voltage levels, the addition of an electronic controller does not have a significant
impact on the total equipment cost. A DT2-550 circuit breaker rated 550 kV, 63 kA, 4,000 A is
shown in Figure 4. A combination of controlled switching and surge arresters can be used to
obtain a long breaker lifespan. Such a solution implemented on a DT2-550Z is shown in Figure 5.

DT2-550 IPO circuit breaker with controlled opening.

Figure 4

DT2-550Z IPO circuit breaker with controlled opening and surge arresters.
Figure 5

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CONCLUSIONS
A general-purpose circuit breaker should not be used for shunt reactor switching. Such circuit
breaker will have a reduced useful life. Means of effective switching of shunt reactors include
over-dimensioning, the use of surge arresters parallel to the interrupter and controlled opening.
The most cost-effective solution depends on the system’s operating voltage. Over-dimensioning
is typically used for voltages below 145 kV. It offers the advantage of a simple control scheme
and allows the use of a gang-operated circuit breaker. It can be combined with surge arresters to
extend breaker lifespan. In the range of 145 kV up to 245 kV there are options of IPO available
which allow for controlled opening. At rated voltages above 362 kV circuit breakers are inherently
IPO, which makes controlled opening very attractive. Controlled opening can also be combined
with surge arresters to extend breaker life.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Support provided by GE Grid Solutions to the authors to publish and present this paper is
acknowledged.

REFERENCES
[1] CIGRE Technical Report No. 510, “Final report of the 2004-2007 international enquiry on reliability of
high voltage equipment – Part 2. Reliability of high voltage SF 6 circuit breakers”, CIGRE WG A3.06,
October 2012.

[2] IEEE Std C37.09-2018, “IEEE Standard Test Procedures for AC High-Voltage Circuit Breakers with
Rated Maximum Voltage Above 1000 V”, IEEE, New York, NY, 2018.

[3] IEC 62271-110 2009-01, “High-voltage switchgear and controlgear – Part 110: Inductive load
switching”, IEC, 2009.

[4] IEEE Std. C37.015-2009, “IEEE Guide for the Application of Shunt Reactor Switching”, IEEE, New
York, NY, 2009.

BIOGRAPHIES
Victor F. Hermosillo is the dead-tank circuit breaker R&D Innovations Manager of GE Grid Solutions in
Charleroi, PA. He was R&D Director for dead-tank circuit breakers for Alstom Grid between 2006-2011, Sr.
Development Engineer for circuit breakers with Alstom and AREVA T&D between 2000 and 2006, Sr. R&D
Engineer at ABB’s R&D Department between 1996-2000 designing and testing HV switchgear and optical
instrument transformers. He worked as a transmission line planning engineer for a power utility between
1993 and 1996. PhD from Uppsala University in Sweden (1993), MSEE from the Ohio State University
(1987) and BSEE/IE from Monterrey Tech (1984). Senior member of IEEE Power & Energy Society, Chair
of the IEEE HV Circuit Breaker Subcommittee and member of CIGRE. He has authored 30 papers and has
eight patents.

Andrew Chovanec has been R&D Department Manager at GE Grid Solutions dead-tank circuit breaker
facility since 2017. He joined Alstom Grid (now GE) in 2005 where he has been involved in the development
of several dead-tank circuit breakers. Between 2008 and 2010, he spent two years at ALSTOM’S high-
voltage switchgear research and testing center in France. He spent over 3 years, from 2013 to 2017,
working at Southern States LLC developing live-tank circuit switchers. He is specialized in high-voltage
circuit breaker design, testing and standards. He has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the
Pennsylvania State University (2001).

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