Introduction to Protection: Fuse

and CB
 Introduction to Switchgear
• In power generation, transmission and distribution systems, different types of equipment such as alternators, lines, transformers,
motors etc. are used.

• The apparatus used for switching, controlling and protecting the electrical circuits and equipment is known as switchgear and
collectively the whole system concerned with switching and protection of equipment and system is called switchgear and protection
of power system.

• The switchgear equipment is concerned with switching and interrupting currents either under normal or abnormal operating conditions.

• The tumbler switch with ordinary fuse is the simplest form of switchgear and is used to control and protect equipment in homes, offices
etc. However, it is used only in low voltage system for some reasons. Firstly, when a fuse blows, it takes some time to replace it and
therefore there is an interruption of service to the customers. Secondly, the fuse cannot successfully interrupt large fault currents that
result from the faults on high voltage system.

• With the advancement of power system, lines and other equipment operate at high voltages and carry large currents.

• When a short circuit occurs on the system, heavy current flowing through the equipment may cause considerable damage. In order to
interrupt such heavy fault currents, circuit breakers are used.
 Fuse

A fuse is a short piece of wire or thin strip which melts when excessive current flows through it for
enough time. It is inserted in series with the circuit to be protected.

Under normal operating conditions, the fuse element is at a temperature below its melting point.
Therefore, it carries the normal load current without overheating.

However, when a short circuit or overload occurs, the current through the fuse element increases Rewirable Fuses
beyond its rated capacity. This raises the temperature and the fuse element melts (or blows out), and
disconnects the equipment from supply.

In this way, a fuse protects the equipment from damage due to excessive currents.

Low voltage fuses can be subdivided into two classes viz., (i) semi-enclosed rewireable fuse (ii) high rupturing capacity (H.R.C.)
cartridge fuse.
Circuit breakers: A circuit breaker is an equipment which can open or close a circuit under all
conditions viz. no load, full load and fault conditions. It is so designed that it can be operated manually
under normal conditions and automatically under fault conditions. It has two contacts: fixed contact
and moving contact.

When the contacts of a CB are separated under fault conditions, an arc is produced between them.
Based on the medium used for arc extinction, CB may be classified into:

(i) Oil CB (ii) Air-blast CB (iii) Sf6 CB (iv) Vacuum CB

It is primarily rated as breaking current that it can carry before opening the moving contact.

Relays: A relay is a device which senses/detects the fault and closes the trip circuit of
the circuit breaker for circuit interruption. Based on the operating principles, relay are
two types: Electromagnetic attraction relays and electromagnetic induction relays.
 Trip circuit
Trip circuit is a part of circuit breaker which is energized due to the action of relay coil during
fault condition such as thermal overload, short circuit. Trip circuit includes a battery, trip coil
and relay contacts. The function of trip circuit of CB is to isolate the faulty part of the system
from rest of the healthy system.

In normal condition, CB is normally closed i.e. fixed contact and moving contact are connected
together.

Consider a fault occurs in the line then abnormal high current flows in line due to the fault.
Let’s say 300A fault current flows in the line.

A primary side of C.T is connected to line to be protected and secondary side is connected to
relay coil. A current transformer let’s say of ratio is 100:5 connected to line to be protected. The
fault current 300A flows through the primary of CT and then accordingly in secondary of C.T,
15 A is found and this current flows through relay coil.

The fault current in the relay coil produces magnetic field and this magnetic energy closes the
relay contact. Therefore the trip circuit of the CB gets closed. Then current starts to flow from
battery through trip coil. And the trip coil of a circuit breaker gets energized. This opens the
moving contact of the CB and isolates the faulty part from rest of the healthy system.
 Difference Between a Fuse and Circuit Breaker

Particular Fuse Circuit breaker

Function It can detection and interruption the supply together. CB interrupts the supply only. The detection of fault
is done by integrated relay system.
Operation Completely automatic Requires relays for automatic action
Breaking capacity Small Very large
Operating time Very small (0·002 sec or so) Comparatively large (0·1 to 0·2 sec)
Replacement Requires replacement after every operation. No replacement after operation.