Classifications of circuit breaker

1
 Bulk oil circuit breaker
In these circuit breakers, the current carrying contacts are immersed in insulating oil called transformers oil. When the contacts are
separated, arc is struck between them. The heat of the arc dissociates the oil and gases like hydrogen etc. are evolved. The hydrogen gas
bubbles surround the arc and cools it down which helps in de-ionisation of the medium between the contacts and extinguishes the arc.
Moreover, gases set up turbulence in the oil and forces it into the arc space when the current is zero which further helps in extinguishing
the arc.
Advantages
 It absorbs the arc energy in decomposing the oil into gases.
 The gases evolved provide good cooling effect.
 The surrounding oil in close proximity to the arc provides cooling effect.
 It has the ability to flow into the arc space after the current zero.
 It acts as an insulator between the live contacts and earthed tank which reduces the overall size of the circuit breaker.
Disadvantages
 It is easily inflammable.
 It may form an explosive mixture with air.
 It requires more maintenance.
TYPES OF BUIK QIL CIRCUIT BREAKERS

1. Plain Break Oil Circuit Breakers

2. Arc Control Oil Circuit Breakers
(a) Self Blast Oil Circuit Breaker
(b) Forced Blast Oil Circuit Breaker

2
 Plain Break Oil Circuit Breakers

A plain-break oil circuit breaker involves the simple process of separating the contacts under the whole of the oil in the tank. There
is no special system for arc control other than the increase in length caused by the separation of contacts. The arc extinction occurs when a certain
critical gap between the contacts is reached. The plain-break oil circuit breaker is the earliest type from which all other circuit breakers have
developed. It has a very simple construction. It consists of fixed and moving contacts enclosed in a strong weather-tight earthed tank containing oil
upto a certain level and an air cushion above the oil level. The air cushion provides sufficient room to allow for the reception of the arc gases
without the generation of unsafe pressure in the dome of the circuit breaker. It also absorbs the mechanical shock of the upward oil movement. Fig.
19.3 shows a double break plain Oil Circuit Breaker Diagram. It is called a double break because it provides two breaks in series.
Under normal operating conditions, the fixed and moving contacts remain closed and the breaker carries the normal circuit current. When a fault
occurs, the moving contacts are pulled down by the protective system and an arc is struck which vapourises the oil mainly into hydrogen gas. The
arc extinction is facilitated by the following processes :
The hydrogen gas bubble generated around the arc cools the arc column and aids the de-ionisation of the medium between the contacts.
The gas sets up turbulence in the oil and helps in eliminating the arcing products from the arc path.
As the arc lengthens due to the separating contacts, the dielectric strength of the medium is increased.
The result of these actions is that at some critical gap length, the arc is extinguished and the circuit current is interrupted.
Disadvantages
There is no special control over the arc other than the increase in length by separating the moving contacts. Therefore, for successful
interruption, long arc length is necessary.
These breakers have long and inconsistent arcing times:
These breakers do not permit high speed interruption.
Due to these disadvantages, plain-break oil circuit breakers are used only for low-voltage applications where high breaking-capacities are not
important. It is a usual practice to use such breakers for low capacity installations for voltages not exceeding 11 kV.

3
Arc Control Oil Circuit Breakers:
In case of plain break Oil Circuit Breaker Diagram discussed above, there is very little artificial control over the arc. Therefore,
comparatively long arc length is essential in order that turbulence in the oil caused by the gas may assist in quenching it. However,
it is necessary and desirable that final arc extinction should occur while the contact gap is still short. For this purpose, some arc
control is incorporated and the breakers are then called arc control circuit breakers. There are two types of such breakers, namely :
SELF BLAST OIL CIRCUIT BREAKER— in which arc control is provided by internal means i.e. the arc itself is employed for
its own extinction efficiently.
FORCED BLAST OIL CIRCUIT BREAKER— in which arc control is provided by mechanical means external to the circuit
breaker.

4
 Self Blast Oil Circuit Breaker
In this type of circuit breaker, the gases produced during arcing are confined to a small volume by the use of an insulating rigid
pressure chamber or pot surrounding the contacts. Since the space available for the arc gases is restricted by the chamber, a very
high pressure is developed to force the oil and gas through or around the arc to extinguish it. The magnitude of pressure developed
depends upon the value of fault current to be interrupted. As the pressure is generated by the arc itself, therefore, such breakers are
sometimes called self-generated pressure oil circuit breakers.
The pressure chamber is relatively cheap to make and gives reduced final arc extinction gap length and arcing time as against the
plain-break oil circuit breaker. Several designs of pressure chambers (sometimes called explosion pots) have been developed and a
few of them are described below :

5
 It is a rigid cylinder of insulating material and encloses
the fixed and moving contacts The moving contact is a
Plain explosion pot cylindrical rod passing through a restricted opening
(called throat) at the bottom. When a fault occurs, the
contacts get separated and an arc is struck between
them. The heat of the arc decomposes oil into a gas at
very high pressure in the pot. This high pressure forces
the oil and gas through and round the arc to extinguish
it. If the final arc extinction does not take place while
the moving contact is still within the pot, it occurs
immediately after the moving contact leaves the pot. It
is because emergence of the moving contact from the
pot is followed by a violent rush of gas and oil through
the throat producing rapid extinction.
The principal limitation of this type of pot is that it
cannot be used for very low or for very high fault
currents. With low fault currents, the pressure
developed is small, thereby increasing the arcing time.
On the other hand, with high fault currents, the gas is
produced so rapidly that explosion pot is liable to burst
due to high pressure. For this reason, plain explosion
pot operates well on moderate short-circuit currents
only where the rate of gas evolution is moderate. 6
 This type of pot is just a modification of
plain explosion pot and is illustrated in Fig.
Cross jet explosion pot It is made of insulating material and has
channels on one side which act as arc
splitters. The arc splitters help in increasing
the arc length, thus facilitating arc
extinction. When a fault occurs, the moving
contact of the circuit breaker begins to
separate. As the moving contact is
withdrawn, the arc is initially struck in the
top of the pot. The gas generated by the arc
exerts pressure on the oil in the back
passage. When the moving contact uncovers
the arc splitter ducts, fresh oil is forced
across the arc path. The arc is, therefore,
driven sideways into the “arc splitters”
which increase the arc length, causing arc
extinction. The cross-jet explosion pot is
quite efficient for interrupting heavy fault
currents. However, for low fault currents, the
gas pressure is small and consequently the
7
pot does not give a satisfactory operation.
 This type of pot is essentially a combination of plain
explosion pot and cross jet explosion pot. Therefore, it can
interrupt low as well as heavy short circuit currents with
reasonable accuracy. Fig shows the schematic diagram of
Self-compensated explosion
self-compensated explosion pot. It consists of two
pot chambers, the upper chamber is the cross-jet explosion pot
with two arc splitter ducts while the lower one is the plain
explosion pot. When the short-circuit current is heavy, the
rate of generation of gas is very high and the device
behaves as a cross-jet explosion pot. The arc extinction
takes place when the moving contact uncovers the first or
second arc splitter duct. However, on low short-circuit
currents, the rate of gas generation is small and the tip of
the moving contact has the time to reach the lower chamber.
During this time, the gas builds up sufficient pressure as
there is very little leakage through arc splitter ducts due to
the obstruction offered by the arc path and right angle
bends. When the moving contact comes out of the throat,
the arc is extinguished by plain pot action.
• It may be noted that as the severity of the short-circuit
current increases, the device operates less and less as a
plain explosion pot and more and more as a cross-jet
explosion pot. Thus the tendency is to make the control
self-compensating over the full range of fault currents
to be interrupted. 8
 Forced Blast Oil Circuit Breaker

In the self-blast Oil Circuit Breaker Diagram discussed above, the arc itself generates the
necessary pressure to force the oil across the arc path. The major limitation of such breakers is
that arcing times tend to be long and inconsistent when operating against currents considerably
less than the rated currents. It is because the gas generated is much reduced at low values of fault
currents. This difficulty is overcome in forced-blast oil circuit breakers in which the necessary
pressure is generated by external mechanical means independent of the fault currents to be
broken. In a forced -blast Oil Circuit Breaker Diagram; oil pressure is created by the piston-
cylinder arrangement. The movement of the piston is mechanically coupled to the moving
contact. When a fault occurs, the contacts get separated by the protective system and an arc is
struck between the contacts. The piston forces a jet of oil towards the contact gap to extinguish
the arc. It may be noted that necessary oil pressure produced does not in any way depend upon
the fault current to be broken.
Advantages
Since oil pressure developed is independent of
the fault current to be interrupted, the performance
at low currents is more consistent than with self-blast
oil circuit breakers.
The quantity of oil required is reduced considerably.
9
 Air blast circuit breaker
Air blast circuit breaker is used to interrupt heavy currents and for the extinction
of arc with the help of blast of air. Air blast circuit breakers employ high pressure
air blast as an arc quenching medium. The high pressure air blast cools the arc and
sweeps away the arcing products to atmosphere. Now, one question arises here
that, why only air is used for arc quenching instead of other gases such as
Nitrogen, Carbon di-oxide or hydrogen ?
So the answer of not using above mentioned gases over air is as follows,
 Nitrogen- as nitrogen gas has almost similar circuit breaking properties as of air,
so, we don’t use Nitrogen in air blast circuit breakers.
 Carbon-di-oxide – carbon di oxide gas tends to freeze, hence it is not used.
 Hydrogen – Hydrogen gas best cooling properties and it is the most suitable gas for
circuit breaking operation (arc quenching), but due to it,s very high cost, we don’t
use hydrogen gas.
In air blast circuit breakers, highly compressed air is used, so these breakers are
also called compressed air circuit breakers.
These breakers are most suitable for high voltages and majority of these are used
for voltages beyond 110kV. 10
 Advantages of ABCB
 There is no risk of fire and explosion
 The are is between the contact is removed rapidly by the
air blast extinguishes very quickly , since the ionized
medium
 As arc duration very small burning of contact is less.
 They require less maintenance.
 The growth of dielectric strength of air between the
contacts is so rapid the gap needed for arc extinction is
very small. This reduces the size of the circuit breaker.
 They provide facility of high speed re-clousure.
11
 disadvantages of ABCB
 Compressor plant is required for compressed
air.
Air leaks at the pipe line fittings.
They are very sensitive to resticking voltage.
Since air is poor dielectric medium as
compared to oil , therefore, it has relatively
inferior arc extinguishing properties

12
 CONSTRUCTION OF AIR
BLAST CIRCUIT BREAKERS
Pictorial diagram of air blast circuit breakers is given below and you will see such figure in substations. Let’s understand the
construction. At the bottom, there is a tank which is called air reservoir, and this air reservoir is connected with an air valve.
 On the air reservoir tank, there are three hollow insulator columns.
 On the top of each insulator column there is double arc extinction chamber.
 The current carrying parts are connected to the arc extinction chamber in series.
 The assembly of entire arc extinction chamber is mounted on insulators as there exists large voltage between the conductors
and air reservoir.
 The main arc extinction phenomenon is done in the double arc extinction chamber. We will see the arc extinction phenomenon
in the types of air blast circuit breaker.

13
14
 WORKING OF AIR BLAST
CIRCUIT BREAKERS
• An auxiliary compressed air system is required by this type of circuit breaker. This system will supply air to the reservoir of
the breaker.
• During the fault operation, the air is allowed to enter in the extinction chamber which pushes away the moving contacts.
• As we know that when contacts get separated then an arc is struck between them. This arc has to be interrupted as soon as
possible.
• So, in this circuit breaker the contacts are separated under the action of air blast, this air blast will take away the ionized gases
and arcing products with it and finally helps in extinguishing the arc.
• This is very frequent operation, hence the arcing time is very less in air blast circuit breakers.

15
TYPES OF AIR BLAST CIRCUIT Breaker

• According to the type of flow blast of air, two major types are –
• AXIAL BLAST TYPE – In this type, the blasting of air is
done directly along the path of arc.
• CROSS BLAST TYPE-in this type, the blasting of air is
directed at right angle to the arc path,

16
 AXIAL BLAST TYPE
CONSTRUCTION:
• The arcing chamber is
connected to the air reservoir
with an air valve as shown. The
fixed contact and moving
contact are held in closed
position by the piston and the
spring pressure under normal
conditions.
• The air valve remains closed
under normal condition, but it
opens automatically by the
tripping impulse when any
fault occurs in the system. 17
18
WORKING AXIAL BLAST -ACB
When any fault occurs in the system, the tripping impulse causes the air valve to open automatically and it connects the air
reservoir to arc extinction chamber. The high pressure compressed air now move into the extinction chamber where fixed and
moving contacts are in closed position with the spring pressure. Now, as the arc extinction chamber is now filled with
compressed air so, it will exert pressure on moving contact against the spring pressure. When the air pressure becomes more
than the spring pressure then, moving contact will separate and an arc will be struck between moving and fixed contact. If you
see closely then you will find that the pressure of air blast is acting axially to the arc and it will decrease the area of cross-
section of the arc. We know that resistance is inversely proportional to area of cross-section, it means when area of cross
section decreases then the resistance will increase, in other words dielectric strength of the path will increase. As, the current
is flowing through the arc but due to increase in resistance, current flow will stop, also the arcing products (ionized gases) are
taken away with the blast of air to the atmosphere. Hence, arc is extinguished. In such circuit breakers, the contact separation
required for interruption is very small (1.75 cm or so). Such a small gap may constitute inadequate clearance for the normal
service voltage. Therefore, an isolating switch is incorporated as the part of this circuit breaker which open immediately after
fault interruption and provides necessary clearance for insulation .

19
 CROSS BLAST AIR CIRCUIT
BREAKER
• CONSTRUCTION
• Air reservoir filled with compressed air is
connected to the arc extinction chamber with the
help of air valve.
• The Arc extinction chamber contains fixed and
moving contacts. Arc splitters and baffles are also
connected as shown in the figure.
• These Arc splitters are used to increase the length
of the arc whereas baffles are used to provide
necessary cooling.
20
21
 WORKING- Cross Blast ACB
When the moving contacts are withdrawn due to fault in the system, an arc is struck between the moving and fixed contacts.
Now, the high pressure air which is coming at right angle to the arc will force the arc into a chute consisting of arc splitters
and baffles.
These arc splitters will increase the length of arc as shown in figure. As we know that resistance is directly proportional to the
length. It means if the length of arc increases, then resistance (or dielectric strength) of the path will also increase. The
increment in length of arc will increase the dielectric strength of the path and finally it will interrupt the flow of current.
Hence, the arc is extinguished.
Since the blast pressure is independent of value of fault current, so it is very efficient at low currents also.
Here in cross blast air circuit breaker, a series isolating switch is not necessary, because the final gap for interruption is good
enough to give normal insulation clearance.

22
 Radial Type ABCB

• In this radial type, the flow of air is longitudinal along the arc. Breaking
by employing a double blast is called a radial blast circuit breaker. The
air blast flows radially into space between the contacts. The contacts are
separated and an arc is formed between them. The air flows at a great
speed axially along the arc. It causes the removal of heat and the arc is
reduced to a value at current zero. Thus, the arc is extinguished. The
flow of fresh air builds the dielectric strength between them.

23
 Vacuum circuit breaker
• Vacuum circuit breaker is most reliable among other circuit breakers like oil, Air blast or sulphur hexafluoride circuit breaker.
• In this post we will read about vacuum circuit breaker, its construction and working along with advantages, disadvantages and applications of
this circuit breaker.
• In a vacuum circuit breaker, the vacuum of the order of 10 -5 to 10-7 torr is used as an arc quenching medium.
• (1 torr = 1mm of Hg). Basically, vacuum is a pressure below atmospheric pressure where no gas is present.
• They are used for switching and protection purpose in power system. Vacuum circuit breaker has replaced oil circuit breakers in 1970s and
then SF6 circuit breakers in 1980s.
• These breakers have highest insulating strength than any other medium. Vacuum circuit breaker does the interruption of current at the first
current zero. It means it interrupts the current in the half cycle. You will get to know about this line in detail in later half of this post.

24
 CONSTRUCTION OF vcb
• It has an outer envelope which is made up of glass joined with end
caps. This glass shield is used to examine the breaker after
operation, if the colour becomes milky white then it indicates that
the breaker is losing its vacuum.
• Two contacts named as fixed contact and moving contact are placed
as shown in the figure. The main arcing process is done in between
these two contacts.
• The moving contact is connected with metallic bellows which are
made up of stainless steel. These bellows are used to move the
moving member up and down and a spring mechanism is connected
with the bellows to operate them.
• Sputter shield made up of stainless steel is present to prevent metal
vapour from reaching outer envelope.
• The ceramic envelope is also present to insulate the chamber. 25
26
 WORKING OF VCB
• Initially, the fixed contact and moving contact both are connected to each other and the current flows through them. But as
soon as any fault occurs in the system, the moving contact start separating from the fixed contact and arc phenomenon occurs
between them. Vacuum circuit breakers have a different way of arc generation. The arc is generated due to vaporisation of
metal vapours from the contact surface. A contact surface has large number of microscopic projections and when current
reaches to these projections.
• Now, we know that, after disconnecting the contacts the last point of current will be the contact surface which results in high
current density at these points and due to which resistive heating occurs. Due to excessive heating, the metal ions starts
vaporising from the contact surface . When these ions come in between of two contacts, then they provide a path to the current
and current starts flowing which we see as an arc. This is how arc generates in these breakers.

27
 arc extinguishes in vacuum circuit breakers?

• Now as we all know that AC has sinusoidal nature. So, the current wave has two zeros in one cycle. When this arcing current
reaches its first zero (at half cycle) the dielectric strength of the vacuum rapidly builds up and it interrupts the current at first
half cycle. The arc will not restrike because of very high insulating strength of vacuum. After the current interruption at fist
half cycle, the metallic ions will condense again on the contact surface. In this way, the arc and extinguishment and current
interruption is done in a vacuum circuit breaker.

28
 ADVANTAGES OF VCB
 There is no fire hazards or risk of fire.
 These breakers are compact in size.
 They require less maintenance and it increase their life span.
 These are highly reliable. It means that they have very high chances to perform arc extinction process
successfully every time.
 Noiseless or quiet operation
 Arc energy is low as compared to other circuit breakers.
 They can also withstand lightning surges.


Quick operation (interrupts current at its first half cycle .

29
 DISADVANTAGES OF VCB
 Their voltage range is limited and they can’t
be used for higher voltage levels like SF6
circuit breaker.
 If they are used for voltage level more than
36kV, then some units are to be connected in
series which increases complexity and cost.
 Extra care for leakage should be done.

30
 APPLICATIONS OF VCB
 These circuit breakers are used both for indoor
and outdoor applications.
 They are very useful for remote areas like hilly
areas or rural areas because of less
maintenance and longer life.
 Vacuum circuit breakers are employed for
Reactor switching, capacitor bank
switching ,.and Transformer switching.

31
 SF6 circuit breaker
The SF6 gas is used as an arc quenching medium.
SF6 gas or sulphur hexafluoride gas has one atom of sulphur and six atoms of fluorine. The physical and chemical properties of the
gas are listed below.
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
 The gas is non-inflammable.
 SF6 gas is electronegative.
 The gas is colourless, odourless and non-toxic.
 It has high density.
 Liqui-fication of the gas starts at low temperature which depends on pressure.
 It has excellent heat transfer properties.

CHEMICAL PROPERTIES
 SF6 gas is chemically inert.
 Products of this gas are toxic.
 Metallic fluorides are good dielectric materials.
 Recombination of SF6 gas is very good and that’s why it is recombined and reconditioned after the arc quenching process
with suitable methods for further use.
HOW SF6 GAS QUENCH THE
ARC?
SF6 gas is an electronegative gas, it means that it has high tendency to
absorb the free electrons.
When there is a fault in the system, then the current carrying contacts
starts separating and an arc struck between them due to ionization of
the surrounding medium. Huge number of free electrons generated
due this ionization.
When the SF6 gas molecule reacts with the free electrons, then they
form negative immobile ions. These negative immobile ions are
heavier as compared to free electrons and they do not get sufficient
energy to lead cumulative ionization in the gas under a given electric
field.
This process makes dielectric strength of the medium very high and the
arc gets extinguished. SF6 gas cools the arc much effectively.
TYPES OF SF6 CIRCUIT
BREAKERS
There are three types of SF6 circuit breakers as
listed below, we will discuss all of them in
detail,
1. Non puffer type
2. Single pressure puffer type
3. Double pressure puffer type
NON PUFFER TYPE SF6 CIRCUIT
BREAKER
This type of SF6 circuit breaker is widely used, hence we will
discuss the construction and working in detail.
CONSTRUCTION
The non-puffer type SF6 circuit breaker has an Interrupter part, the
arc quenching process is performed in this part.
It consists of two contacts, the fixed contact and the moving
contact. Both these contacts are hollow cylinders. The fixed
contact has arc horns connected with it as shown in fig. below.
These arc horns prevent the switching components during
flashover.
The moving contact has rectangular gas outlets as shown in the fig.
below. The gas after the process of arc extinction moves out from
these rectangular holes.
• SF6 circuit breaker .The tips of arc horn and both
contacts are coated with the copper-tungsten arc
resistant material.
• The main arcing process is done in arc chamber as
shown in fig. A SF6 gas reservoir is connected with
the arc chamber with a valve connected.
• The valve is synchronized with the moving contact
of the circuit breaker. It means, as soon as the
moving contact separates from the fixed contact
during any fault, then the valve of SF6 gas tank
will automatically open and flow of gas will inlet
to the arc chamber.
 WORKING
Initially the contacts are in closed position surrounded by the Sulphur
hexafluoride gas (SF6) at a pressure of around 2.8 kg/cm2
When there is a fault in the system then the moving contact begin to
separate from the fixed contact. According to the arc interruption
theory, the surrounding medium will ionize and arc will be struck
between the contacts. The valve connected with the SF6 gas tank will
open and now the pressurized gas will come in the arcing chamber,
now the pressure in the chamber is around 14 kg/cm2.
Now, SF6 gas will flow through the arc and it will quench the arc in
very short time as explained earlier. After the extinction of arc and
interruption of current, the gas moves out from the gas outlets and
with the suitable methods, the gas gets recombined and reconditioned
for further use.
 SINGLE PRESSURE PUFFER
TYPE SF6 CIRCUIT BREAKER
CONSTRUCTION
A movable cylinder is placed which is also known as
puffer cylinder. A fixed piston is connected with the
puffer cylinder as shown in the fig.
The arrangement of fixed and moving contact is also
shown in the figure below. The SF6 gas is filled in
between the movable cylinder and the fixed piston as
shown. Initially the gas is at normal pressure.
Two nozzles are given to pass the gas during operation
of the circuit breaker.
Working
when there is a fault in the system, then the moving contact will start moving away from the fixed contact and an arc will struck
between them. The movable cylinder is also moving along with the moving contact. Due to its movement, the SF6 gas will
start getting compressed because the piston is fixed.
After some time, the nozzle on moveable cylinder will open due to gas pressure. The SF6 gas will come out through these
nozzles and will pass through the arc.
As we have discussed earlier about the arc quenching process of SF6 gas, the same will also apply here. Also, the flow of gas
will reduce the cross-section of the arc and also cools the arc. This will increase the dielectric strength and will finally
extinguish the arc.
DOUBLE PRESSURE PUFFER TYPE CIRCUIT BREAKER
In previous case, there was only one pressure but, in this case two pressure are used as shown in figure below.
As we all know that gas always flow from high pressure to low pressure.
CONSTRUCTION AND WORKING
In this type of SF6 circuit breaker, the two nozzles are placed over the current carrying contacts. These nozzles are made up in
such a way that the flow of gas speeds up when it passes through them.
The SF6 gas is filled both sides at different pressures as shown in fig., pressure P1 is greater than the pressure p2, it means
that, gas will flow from P1 to P2 side.
During fault, the contacts starts separating and an arc will be struck, the gas will flow through the arc and the nozzles will
speeds up the flow. Sulphur hexafluoride gas will extinguish the arc as explained earlier.
When the gas passes through the arc, then the
it reduces the area of cross section of the arc,
and we know that, resistance is inversely
proportional to the resistance. It means
resistance of arc will increase and current will
interrupt.
So, till now we have studied about all the three
main types of Sulphur hexafluoride circuit
breaker.
 ADVANTAGES
 ADVANTAGES

 No risk of fire as the gas is non-inflammable

 As there are no carbon deposits, so insulation problems are neglected.
 Very short arcing time
 Quick operation
 Noiseless operation
 They can interrupt large currents
 As these breakers are totally sealed and enclosed, so they are particularly suitable where fire explosion exists. E.g. Coal mines
 No moisture and dust problems
 Minimum maintenance required.
 .
 DISADVANTAGES

 These breakers are costly due to high cost of SF6 gas.

 Additional equipment is required to recombine and recondition the gas after each operation.
 Imperfect joint may lead to leakage of gas.
 Arched SF6 gas is poisonous.
 SF6 circuit breakers are most suitable for high power services. They are made up in the range of 3.6KV to 760KV
 A typical SF6 circuit breaker consists of inturrepter units each capable of dealing with currents upto 60kA and voltages in the
range of 50-8-kV