15E701 - Power System Protection & Switch

Gears

CIRCUIT BREAKERS

Presented by,
A.AARTHI,18E101
S.ABINAYA,18E102
A.AJITH KUMAR,18E03
S.AMBRISH,18E104
CIRCUIT BREAKER
 A circuit breaker is a switching device that
interrupts the abnormal or fault current.
 It is a mechanical device that disturbs the
flow of high magnitude (fault) current and in
additions performs the function of a switch.
 The circuit breaker is mainly designed for
closing or opening of an electrical circuit,
thus protects the electrical system from
damage.
 It protects the circuit by interrupting the
current flowing in the line,transformer etc…
CIRCUIT BREAKER
A simple circuit breaker has the following
components,
 Electromagnet/bimetallic strip
 Moving contact
 Switch
 Stationary contact
 Upper and lower

terminal
 Catch
OPERATING PRINCIPLE OF BREAKER
 Circuit breaker consists of two contacts,
1.Fixed contact
2.Moving contact
 Moving contact is used to make and break the
circuit using stored energies in the form of
spring or compressed air
 Spring, pneumatic or oil damping is used to
arrest the speed of mc while closing
 FC contains a spring which holds the mc after
closing
 It consists of ,

Closing coil-used to close the circuit

Tripping –used to trip the circuit
 These coils activate the stored energy and
directs the mc to open or close
 DC batteries are used to energize these coils
 Solenoids are used to close or trip it
 CBs are usually arranged with pilot devices to
sense a fault current and to operate the trip
opening mechanism
 After a cycle of operation of circuit breaker
the total stored energy is released and hence
the potential energy again stored in the
operating mechanism of circuit breaker by
means of spring charging motor or air
compressor or by any other means
 TYPES OF CIRCUIT BREAKER

 According to their arc quenching media

1.Oil circuit breaker
2.Air circuit breaker
3.SF6 circuit breaker
4.Vacuum circuit breaker

 According to their services

1.outdoor circuit breaker
2.Indoor breaker
 According to operating mechanism
1.Spring operated circuit breaker
2.Pneumatic circuit breaker
3.Hydraulic circuit breaker

 According to voltage level of installation

1.High voltage circuit breaker
2.Medium voltage circuit breaker
3.Low voltage circuit breaker
OIL CIRCUIT BREAKER
 It is designed for 11kv-765kv
 These are of two types,
 BOCB(Bulk oil circuit breaker)
 MOCB(Minimum oil circuit breaker)
 The contacts are immersed

in oil bath
 Oil provides cooling by hydrogen

created by arc
 It acts as a good dielectric medium

and quenching the arc

 ADVANTAGES:
 Oil has good dielectric strength
 Low cost
 Oil is easily available
 It has wide range of breaking capacity

DISADVANTAGES:
 Slower operation
 Highly inflammable
 High maintanence cost
VACUUM CIRCUIT BREAKER
 It is desinged for medium voltage range (3.3-
33kv)
 It consists of vacuum pressure (1*10-6)

inside arc extinction chamber

 The arc burns in metal vapour

when the contacts are disconnected

 At high voltage,its rate of

dielectric strength recovery is very high

 Due to vacuum arc extinction is very fast
 The contact loose metals gradually

due to formation of metal vapours

 ADVANTAGES:
 Free from arc and fire hazards
 Low cost maintanence and simpler mechanism
 Low arcing time
 Silent and less vibrational operation
 No byproducts formed

DISADVANTAGES:
 High initial cost dur to creation of vacuum
 Surface of contacts are depleted due to metal
vapours
 High cost and size required for high voltage
breakers
AIR BLAST CIRCUIT BREAKERS
 This operates using high velocity blast of air
which quenches the arc
 It consists of blast valve,blast tube and
contacts
 Blast valve contains air at high pressure
 Blast tube carries the air at high pressure and
opens the moving contact attached to spring
 There is no carbonization of surface as in VCB
 Air should be kept clean and dry to operate it
properly
 ADVANTAGES:
 High speed operation as compared to OCB
 Ability to withstand frequent switching
 Facility for high speed reclosure
 Less maintenance as compared to OCB

DISADVANTAGES:
 Little moisture content prolongs arcing time
 Pressure should be checked frequently for
frquent operation
 Risk of fire hazards due to over voltages
SF6 CIRCUIT BREAKERS
 It contains an arc interruption chamber
containing SF6 gas
 In closed position on the contacts remain
surrounded by SF6 gas at pressure of
2.8kg/cm.sq
 During opening high pressure SF6 gas at
14kg/cm.sq from it reservoir flows towards
chamber valve mechanism
 It also cools the arc and extinguish it
 After operation the valve is closed by action of
a set of springs
 Absorbent materials are used to absorb the
byproducts and moisture
ADVANTAGES:
 No risk of fire
 Low maintenance ,light foundation
 No over voltage problem
 There are no carbon depsits

DISADVANTAGES:
 SF6 breakers are costly due to high cost of
SF6
 SF6 gas has to be reconditioned after every
operation of the breaker ,additional
equipment is required for this purpose
 ARC PHENOMENON
• When the contacts of a circuit breaker are separated,
there is a luminous electric discharge between these
two contacts known as ‘Arc’.
• The production of arc may delay the current
interruption process and generate enormous heat.
• This may cause serious damage to system or to
circuit breaker itself.
• Therefore, the main problem in a circuit breaker is
to extinguish the arc within the shortest possible
time.
 How does Arc produced

• When a fault occurs a heavy current flows through the

contact of circuit breaker.

• When the contacts begin to separate, the contacts area

decreases rapidly which causes high increases in fault
current density and hence rise in temperature.

• When the contacts are separate, a potential difference is

created between them.

• If the voltage between contacts is more than dielectric

strength of medium between contacts may sufficient to
ionize the medium between contacts.
• The ionized air or vapor act as a conducting path and
hence the arc is structed between contacts.

• The voltage that appears across the contact of circuit

breaker during arcing periods is called Arc voltage.

• The arc between contacts act as conductor and persist a

resistance value known as arc resistance.

• Current flowing between the contacts depend on the arc

resistance.

• Greater the arc resistance, smaller the current that flows

between contacts.
Arc resistance depend upon flowing
factors

1. Degree of ionization: 

As the ionized particle between contacts is decreases,

the arc resistance increases.
2. Length of arc: 

As the separation between contact increases, the length

of arc also increases which results in increase in arc
resistance.
3. Cross section area of arc: 

The arc resistance increases with the decrease in area

 Factor responsible for maintaining arc

• There are two main  factors responsible for maintaining

arc between the contacts. These are

1. Potential difference between contacts:  When the

contacts have small separation, then the potential
difference between them is sufficient to maintain the arc.
2. The ionized particles between contacts:  The ionized
particles between contacts act as charge carriers and offers
conducting the path.
 Principle of Arc extinction
• The potential difference between contacts and ionized particles
between contacts are responsible for maintaining arc.

• Therefore there are two way to extinguish the arc between the
contacts.

1. to separate the contacts to such a distance that potential

difference becomes insufficient to maintain the arc. However,
this method is impossible in higher voltage system where a
separation of many meters may be required.

2. Second way to extinguish the arc between contact may achieved

by cooling the arc by removing the arc particle from the space
between contacts.
METHODS OF ARC EXTINCTION

 There are two methods of extinguishing the

arc in circuit breakers.

1. High resistance method

2. Low resistance method
HIGH RESISTANCE METHOD
 In this method, arc resistance is made to
increase with time so that current is reduced
to a value Insufficient to maintain the arc.
The resistance of the arc may be increased by:
1. Lengthening the arc
The resistance of arc is directly proportional
to its lengh.
2. Cooling the arc
Cooling helps in the deionisation of
the medium.
3. Reducing X-section of the arc
The cross section of arc can be
reduced by letting the arc pass through a
narrow opening or by having smaller area of
contacts.
4. Splitting the arc
The resistance of the arc can be
increased by splitting the arc into a number
of smaller arc in series.
LOW RESISTANCE METHOD

 This method is suited for a.c circuits only

 Main problem – restriking voltage
 The de-Ionisation of the medium can be
achieved by:
1. Lengthening of the arc
2. High pressure
3. Cooling
4. Blast effect