ABSTRACT
With vigorous development of the electric power industry and the growing demand of electricity, Gas Insulated Switchgear (GIS) has been widely used in the power systems [1-2] and presents unique advantages, including outstanding breaking capacity, long maintenance cycle, low failure rate, low maintenance costs, small occupation space, etc. However, if the contacts of the circuit breaker or the disconnecting switch within the GIS equipment are in poor status that gives an increased resistance, overheating phenomenon may occur when the load current flows through [3-4]. Overheating of the contacts and the lead conductor will result in reduced allowable load flow, and may cause insulation degradation or even breakdown accident [5-8]. In order to ensure the security of the power systems’ operation, the manufacturing technique and on-line monitoring levels of GIS conductor contact should be improved [9-11]. Hence, it is rather necessary to make accurate calculating on GIS temperature distribution and analysis its influence factors caused by the contacts’ overheating.
