Definition

A circuit breaker is defined as a piece of

equipment which can do any one of the
following tasks:
Makes or breaks a circuit either manually or
by remote control under normal conditions
Breaks a circuit automatically under fault
conditions
Makes a circuit either manually or by remote
control under fault conditions
Circuit Breaker with Internal
Structure
 Switching Function
Thus a circuit breaker is used for
incorporating manual as well as automatic
control for the switching function.
The automatic control of the circuit breaker
is incorporated with the help of relays.
The automatic control is only done in case
of fault conditions
 Advantage over Fuse
A fuse operates once and then has to be
replaced.
The main advantage associated with the use
of circuit breaker is that a circuit breaker can
be reset (either manually or automatically)
to resume normal operation.
 Circuit Breaker Contacts

There are two types of contacts:

Primary contact
Arcing contact
 Circuit Breaker Contacts
The primary contact is always made of a
high conductive material such as copper
(Cu).
The arcing contact is made of arc resistance
material such as tungsten or molybdenum,
which has a much lower conductivity than
those used for primary contacts.
 Normal Condition

Under the normal operating conditions,

these contacts remain closed and are not
open automatically until and unless the
system becomes faulty.
 Faulty Condition

When a fault occurs on any part of the

system, the trip coils of the circuit breaker
get energized and the moving contacts are
pulled apart by some mechanism, thus
opening the circuit.
 Arc Phenomenon

When the contacts of a circuit break are

separated under fault conditions, an arc is
struck between them. The current is thus
able to continue until the discharge ceases.
 Categories of Arcs
Arcs in the circuit breakers are categorized
as:
High-pressure arcs:
(with ambient pressures of 1 atm and above)
Vacuum arcs:
(with ambient pressures below 10-4 torr)
 Arc is Useful?
The arc is useful in a way as it provides a
low resistance path for the current after
contact separation. It prevents current
chopping and associated abnormal
switching over-voltages in the system.
The arc provides a gradual, but quick,
transition from the current-carrying to the
current-breaking states of the contacts.
 Arc Extinction

The arc depends upon the following factors:

Degree of Ionization
Length of the Arc
Cross-section of the Arc
 Classification of Circuit
Breakers

Circuit Breakers

1. Based on 4. Based on
2. Based on 3. Based on
Voltage Interrupting
Location External
•Low Media
•Indoor Design
•Medium •Air Blast
•Outdoor •Dead Tank
•High/Extra •Oil
•Live Tank
High •SF6
•Ultra High •Vacuum
 1. Based on Voltage
On the basis of the voltage levels for which they
are used, the circuit breakers are classified as:

Category Range of Voltage

Low voltage Less than 1 kV
Medium voltage 1 kV to 52 kV
High/Extra High 66 kV to 765 kV
voltage
Ultra High voltage Above 765 kV
 2. Based on Location

Circuit breakers are, based upon where they

are located, classified as:

Indoor type
Outdoor type
 3. Based on External Design

From the point of view of their physical

structural design, outdoor circuit breakers
can be identified as either:
dead tank type
live tank type
 4. Based on Interrupting
Media
The circuit breakers may be classified into
following categories:
Oil Circuit Breakers
Air Circuit Breakers
Air-blast Circuit Breakers
Sulphur Hexafluoride (SF6) Circuit
Breakers
Vacuum Circuit Breakers
 1. Oil Circuit Breakers

The circuit breakers in which some insulating oil (i.e.,

transformer oil) is used as an arc quenching medium.
 Arc Extinction in OCBs

The arc extinction is facilitated mainly

by two processes:
 Cont… Arc Extinction in
OCBs

Firstly, the hydrogen gas has high heat

conductivity and cools the arc, thus
aiding the de-ionization of the medium
between the contacts.
 Cont… Arc Extinction in
OCBs

Secondly, the gas sets up turbulence in the

oil and forces it into the space between
contacts, thus eliminating the arcing
products from the arc path. This results in
extinguishing the arc and as a result the
circuit current is interrupted.
 Advantages
The oil provides insulation for the live
exposed contacts .
The hydrogen produced during arcing has
excellent cooling properties and helps
extinguish the arc.
The oil close to the arc region provides
cooling surface.
 Disadvantages
Oil is inflammable and may cause fire
hazards.
The hydrogen, when combined with air,
may form an explosive mixture.
During arcing, oil becomes polluted by
carbon particles, which reduces its dielectric
strength. Hence, it requires periodic
maintenance and replacement.
Types of Oil Circuit Breakers

They can be classified with the

reference to the quantity of oil used.
Bulk Oil Circuit Breakers
Minimum Oil Circuit Breakers
 Bulk Oil Circuit Breakers

These circuit breakers use a large

quantity of oil.
Cont… Bulk Oil Circuit Breakers

The oil has to serve two purposes:

It extinguishes the arc during opening
of contacts.
It insulates the current conducting
parts from one another and from the
earthed tank.
 Minimum Oil Circuit Breakers
These circuit breakers use a small
quantity of oil.
In such circuit breakers, oil is used
only for arc extinction; the current
conducting parts insulated by air or
porcelain or organic insulating
material.
 2. Air-Blast Circuit Breakers

These circuit breakers employ a high

pressure air-blast as an
The contacts are opened in a flow of
air-blast established by the opening of
the blast valve. arc quenching medium.
 Arc Extiction

The air-blast cools the arc and sweeps

away the arcing products of the
atmosphere. Consequently, the arc is
extinguished and flow of current is
interrupted.
Air-Blast Circuit Breaker
 Uses of ABCBs

This type of circuit breaker has been

used earlier for open terminal HV
applications, for voltages of 245 kV,
and 400 kV up to 765 kV, especially
where faster breaker operation was
required.
 Advantages
The risk of fire is eliminated.
The arcing products are completely removed by the blast,
so the expenditure of oil replacement is avoided.
The size of these breakers is reduced.
Due to the rapid growth of the dielectric strength, the
arcing time is also very small. It causes less burning of oil.
The arc energy is also very small fraction of that in oil
circuit breakers.
The arc extinction is facilitate by the high pressure air, and
is independent of the fault current to be interrupted.
 Disadvantages

These circuit breakers are very sensitive to

the variation s in the rate of rise of restriking
voltage.
The air-blast is supplied by the compressor
plant that needs considerable maintenance.
3. Sulphur Hexafluoride (SF6)
Circuit Breakers
In these circuit breakers, Sulpher
hexafluoride gas (SF6) is used as the arc
quenching medium.
The SF6 is an electronegative gas and has a
strong tendency to absorb free electrons.
This loss of conducting electrons in the arc
quickly builds up enough insulation strength
to extinguish the arc.
 Uses of SF6 CBs
These circuit breakers are available for
complete range of medium voltage and
high voltage application up to 800 kV
and above.
This medium is most suitable for
metal-clad and hybrid HV sub-stations.
 Advantages
Due to the low energy the contact erosion is small.
The gaseous medium SF6 possesses excellent dielectric
and arc quenching properties.
Due to the superior arc quenching property of the SF6
gas, such circuit breakers have very short arcing time.
Furthermore, they can interrupt much larger current.
These breakers give noiseless operation due to its
closed gas circuit and no exhaust to atmosphere unlike
the air-blast circuit breaker.
The SF6 gas is not inflammable, so there is no risk of
fire and explosion in SF6 breakers.
 Disadvantages
These circuit breakers are expensive due to
the high cost of SF6 gas.
Since SF6 gas has to be reconditioned after
every operation of the breaker, additional
equipment is required for this purpose.
The SF6 gas has been identified as a
greenhouse gas, so can be harmful for
population in its area of operation.
4. Vacuum Circuit Breakers

In these circuit breakers, the vacuum is

used as the arc quenching medium.
The degree of vacuum in these circuit
breakers is in the range from 10-7 to 10-5
torr.
Vacuum Circuit Breaker
 Advantages
The vacuum circuit breakers are compact in size and
have longer lives.
Because of the very low voltage across the metal vapor
arc, energy is very low.
There is no generation of gases during and after the
circuit breaker operation.
The outstanding feature of these breakers is that it can
break any heavy fault current perfectly just before the
contacts reach a definite open position.
They can successfully withstand lightning surges.
 5. Air Circuit Breakers

Air circuit breaker is defined as a

circuit breaker, in which the contacts
open and close in air at atmospheric
pressure.
 Arc Interruption
The principles of arc interruption used in an air
circuit breaker are rather different from those in
any other type of circuit breaker.
This can be achieved in three ways:
1. Intense cooling of the arc plasma, so that the
voltage gradient is very high
2. Lengthening the arc path to increase the arc
voltage
3. Splitting up the arc into a number of series
arcs
 Circuit Breakers Ratings

There are three ratings for breakers as:

Breaking Capacity
Making Capacity
Short-time Rating
 Breaking Capacity
Breaking capacity is defined as the
r.m.s. current that a circuit breaker is
capable of breaking at given recovery
voltage and under specified conditions
(i.e. power factor, rate of rise of
restriking voltage).
 Cont… Breaking Capacity
It is a common practice to express the breaking
capacity in MVA by taking into account the rated
the rated breaking current and rated service voltage.
Thus if I is the rated breaking current in Amperes
and the rated service voltage is V in volts, the
breaking capacity for three-phase circuit is:

Breaking Capacity = sqrt 3 x V x I x 10-6

MVA
 Making Capacity
It is the peak value of current
(including d.c. component) during the
first cycle of current wave after the
closure of circuit breaker.
Mathematically stated, making
capacity is given as:

Making Capacity = 2.55 x symmetrical

breaking capacity
 Short-time Rating
The period for which the circuit breaker is
able to carry fault current while remaining
closed is known as short-time rating.
The short-time rating of a circuit breaker
depends upon its ability to withstand:
1. The electromagnetic force effects
2. The temperature rise
Thank You … !