Influence of copper contamination on thermophysical, radiation, and dielectric breakdown properties of CO2-N2 mixtures as replacement of SF6 in circuit breakers

Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) is a greenhouse gas designated by the Kyoto Protocol because of its extremely high global warming potential (GWP). CO2, N2, and their mixtures have the potential to replace SF6 in certain applications, such as circuit breakers. In these electric apparatus, copper vapour resulting from the heating of electrodes can modify the characteristics of arc plasmas, which must be taken into account when setting up physical models. This dissertation, therefore, investigates the thermodynamic, transport, diffusion, radiation, and dielectric breakdown properties of CO2-N2 mixtures contaminated by copper at temperatures of 300 - 30,000 K and pressures of 0.1 - 16 bar. The equilibrium compositions are calculated using the minimization of Gibbs free energy with consideration of condensed species. Copper vapour is found to condense at temperatures below 3000 K. Based on the compositions, the thermodynamic properties, including mass density, specific enthalpy, and specific heat at constant enthalpy, are determined according to their definitions. The Debye-Huckel corrections are also considered in the calculation of compositions and thermodynamic properties. The transport coefficients (including electrical conductivity, viscosity, thermal conductivity) and combined diffusion coefficients (including the combined ordinary diffusion coefficient, combined electric field diffusion coefficient, combined temperature diffusion coefficient and combined pressure diffusion coefficient) are calculated based on the Chapman-Enskog theory. The newly developed Lennard-Jones like phenomenological model potential is adopted to describe the neutral-neutral and neutral-ion interactions in determining collision integrals. The net emission coefficients (NEC) of gas mixtures are calculated with considering atomic lines and continuum and molecular bands and continuum. The pressure broadening (Van der Waals broadening and the resonance broadening), Stark broadening, and Doppler broadening are taken into account in the determination of escape factors. The continuum radiation of atoms is described by radiative attachment, radiative recombination, and Bremsstrahlung. The dielectric breakdown properties (including EEDF, reduced ionization coefficient, reduced electron attachment coefficient, reduced effective ionization coefficient, and reduced critical electric field strength) of hot gas mixtures are calculated based on the two-term approximation of the Boltzmann equation. The interactions, including elastic, excitation, ionization and attachment collisions, between electrons and neutral species are taken into account in solving the Boltzmann equation. The ionization cross sections of Cu2 and CuO which are unavailable in literatures are calculated using the DM method. Compared with SF6-Cu mixtures, CO2-N2-Cu mixtures present much different thermophysical, radiation, and dielectric breakdown properties. As an arc quenching gas, CO2-N2-Cu mixtures have lower ? Cp and thermal conductivity at low temperatures but present higher ? Cp, thermal conductivity, and NEC in the medium temperature range. As an insulating medium, the hot CO2-N2-Cu mixtures have much poorer dielectric strength below 2000 K, whereas above 2000 K, they present better dielectric breakdown performance than SF6-Cu mixtures.