Abstract Although the vacuum technology is commonly used in power system, challenges still exist for vacuum circuit breakers (VCBs) to cope with the requirements of capacitor bank switching duties as the insulation performance can be the deteriorated by the inrush current. The objective of this paper is to investigate an impact of the inrush current on the restrike characteristics of vacuum interrupters (VIs). The capacitor bank switching tests are carried out for 7.2kV and 40.5kV VCBs. The experimental results show that the restrike phenomena are significantly influenced by the contact surface conditions damaged by the inrush current. The restrike probability increases from 5% to 30% with the increase of the inrush current from 0 to 5kA for 7.2kV VIs. The restrike probability increases from 3% to 20% with the increase of the inrush current from 4kA to 5kA for 40.5kV VIs. In addition, the inrush current could also impact the occurring time of restrike. The higher the inrush current is, the restrike tends to occur earlier during the recovery voltage applied period.
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2019, Vol. 20 
