Abstract:Power devices intended for high-voltage systems must be tested according to international standards, which includes the short-time withstand current test and peak withstand current test. However, these tests require very special facilities which consume huge amounts of electrical power. Therefore, mathematical tools to simulate such tests are highly appealing since they allow reproducing the electromagnetic and thermal behavior of the test object in a fast and economical manner. In this paper, a three-dimensional finite element method (3D-FEM) approach to simulate the transient thermal behavior of substation connectors is presented and validated against experimental data. To this end, a multiphysics 3D-FEM method is proposed, which considers both the connector and the reference power conductors. The transient and steady-state temperature profiles of both the conductors and connector provided by the 3D-FEM method prove its suitability and accuracy as compared to experimental data provided by short-circuit tests conducted in two high-current laboratories. The proposed simulation tool, which was proven to be accurate and realistic, may be particularly useful during the design and optimization phases of substation connectors since it allows anticipating the results of mandatory laboratory tests.

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A numerical simulation of electric currents is carried out through solid dielectrics from a model based on the local polarization. A degradation of material was considered to be produced from one of the electrodes and we simulated it by admitting modifications in the chemical structure of the material, which implies an alteration in the value of the corresponding dipole moments that characterize the material, as well as the concentration of the latest. Different simulations are achieved according to the ratio of the degraded thickness and the temperature.