Application of computational fluid dynamics to predict the temperature-rise of gas insulated switchgears

Accurate temperature-rise prediction in gas insulated switchgears (GIS) is necessary to reduce the number of heat-run tests during the product development process. An electromagnetic-thermal-fluid coupled model using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is developed to predict the temperature-rise of a 110-kV three phase GIS in common tank type. The GIS includes the three-position isolation/ground switch and the circuit breaker insulated with SF₆ gas at 5 bar. In this model, the contact resistance, eddy current, skin effect, thermal flow, and thermal radiation are considered. The ohmic losses generated in the conducting components are calculated through the harmonic electromagnetic analysis with MAXWELL 3D software. Then, the predicted losses are imported to the commercial CFD software ANSYS Fluent to fulfill the thermal simulation. Based on this model, the distributions of heat generation, gas velocity, and temperature-rise are obtained. The results show that the maximum power density and temperature-rise both occur at the contact zones of the three-position isolation/ground switch. To verify the developed model, the temperature-rise tests of the GIS are carried out at 2200 A. The simulation and measurement results are close with a maximum error of 3.99 K.