Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
• Introduction
• Circuit Breaker
• The Arc
• Isolators
• Air Circuit Breakers
• Air Blast Circuit Breakers
• Vacuum Circuit Breakers
• Oil Circuit Breakers
• Sulfur Hexafluoride Circuit Breakers
• Circuit Breaker Ratings
• Circuit Breaker Controls
• High Voltage Circuit Breakers Comparison
• Reclosures
• Sectionalizers
• Fuses
• Fuse application
Restricted © Siemens AG 20XX
08/08/19
Page 2 XX.XX.20XX Author / Department
Circuit Breaker
A circuit breaker is a piece of equipment which can Make or break a circuit either
manually or by remote control under normal conditions.
Break a circuit automatically under fault condition
Make a circuit either manually or by remote under fault condition
When contacts of circuit breaker starts separating the contact resistance starts increasing. This
increases the (I square r) loss which is heat produced .
This heat increases the energy of electrons in the contact areas and the ionized particles tries to
maintain the current when contacts are separated.This flow of charged particles form one contact
to other is called an arc .
The medium surrounding the arc also contains ions .
Due to this charged particles the arc continues even if the breakers contacts are separated.
The voltage (potential gradient) across the arc is less and so it continues even for low voltages.
Separate the contacts of circuit breaker such that the arc resistance increases to a very high value.
The pd between the contacts is unable to maintain the arc current. For high voltage circuit breakers
this method is impracticable since a separation of many meters will be required.(High Resistance
Method)
The ionized particles between the contacts tend to maintain the arc. If the arc path is de-ionized ,the
arc extinction is facilitated .This may be achieved by cooling the arc or by bodily removing the ionized
particles from the space between the contacts.(Low Resistance Method)
Arc Voltage – It is the voltage that appears across the contacts of the circuit
breakers during the arcing period as the contacts are opened.
Recovery voltage – It is the normal frequency voltage that appears across the
contacts of circuit breaker after final arc extinction.
Rate of rise of restriking voltage – (RRRV) It is the rate of increase of restriking
voltage .RRRV depends upon 1) recovery voltage and 2) Natural frequency of
oscillation
It is the phenomena of current interruption before natural current zero is reached. It occurs in air
blast circuit breaker because they retain same extinguishing power irrespective of the magnitude
of current to be interrupted.
When interrupting low inductive current e.g.magnetising current of transformer, a rapid deionizing
effect causes current , to fall below its zero value before natural current zero is called current
chopping.
The switching Resistor (R) is connected in parallel with the CB contacts. Current chopping
produces high voltage oscillations which can be prevented by this method.
During arc interruption CB contacts separate first and after arc gets extinguished ‘S’ opens
depending upon the time delay provided to it.
When the fault occurs the CB contacts open and arc is struck between them. Since R is in parallel
with Cb contacts ,a part of arc current flows through this resistance so arc current decreases and
deionization rate increases. The arc resistance also increases so current through R increases. This
continue till the arc current is insufficient to maintain the arc.
Breaking capacity – It is the current (r.m.s.) that a Circuit Breaker is capable of breaking at given
recovery voltage and under specified conditions.
Making Capacity – The peak value of current (including DC component) during the first cycle of
current wave after closure of circuit breaker is known as making capacity. Making capacity = 2.55 ×
symmetrical breaking capacity
Short time rating – It is the period for which the CB is able to carry fault current while remaining
closed.
Normal current rating – It is the r.m.s. value of current which the CB is capable of carrying
continuously at its rated frequency under rated specified conditions.
Step 1.Calculate highest value of initial RMS current considering symmetrical fault. The current
can be obtained by sub -transient reactance of synchronous generators and transient reactance
of synchronous motors and induction motors are neglected.
Following Multiplying factors are applied to take into account dc components and decrement of
dc components in current. If short circuit KVA exceeds 5000,000 ,then add 0.1 to the given
factors
8 cycles or slow breaker 1.0
In this breaker, a high pressure air blast is used as an arc quenching medium.
The contacts are opened and a flow of air blast is maintained by opening the blast
valve.
The air blast cools the arc and takes away the arcing products to atmosphere .
This rapidly increases the dielectric strength of the medium between the contacts and
the arc is extinguished and the flow of current is interrupted.
Advantages Disadvantages
High speed of operation Cost is more
Short arcing time For complete compress air installation
High speed reclosing is required
Less weigh as compared to oil circuit These breakers are more sensitive to
breakers RRRV.
Very less maintenance For operation and maintenance
No possibility of explosion ,highly skilled persons are required
Air is admitted in the arc extinction chamber it pushes the moving contact. This air
blast takes away the ionized gases along with it. Afterwards the arc gets extinguished.
High pressure air has higher dielectric strength.
The design is such that the air expands into the low pressure (atmospheric pressure
zone).The air at high speed removes heat from the arc, thus arc is quenched.
Diameter of arc is reduced.
Uses
1. Arc Furnaces,
2.Traction System.
When two contacts of this circuit breaker are separated in vacuum an arc is struck and hot spots are
formed on the surface of the contacts .These hot spots produce metal vapor and plasma .the amount
of vapor in plasma depends on how rapidly the vapor is emitted from contact surface which depends
on the arc current. The current is of alternating nature, it pass through zero several times, so the rate
of vapor emission also becomes zero , and the vapor already emitted gets condensed . During this
process the dielectric strength builds up rapidly and the restriking of arc is prevented.
It consists of fixed contact, moving contact and arc shield mounted inside a vacuum chamber. The
movable member is connected to the control mechanism by stainless steel bellows. This enables the
permanent sealing of the vacuum chamber so as to eliminate the possibility of leakage,.
A glass vessel or ceramic vessel is used as outer insulating body. The arc shield prevents the
deterioration of the internal dielectric strength by preventing the deterioration of the internal dielectric
strength.
Applications –
Outdoor application where maintenance required is minimum. In the high voltage system from 22 KV
to 66kV power Circuits.
When two contacts of circuit breaker are separated in vacuum arc is struck and hot
spots are formed on the surface of the contacts. These hot spots produce metal
vapor and plasma.
At current zero the rate of vapor emission becomes zero.
The vapor already emitted gets condensed .
During this process the dielectric strength builds up and the restriking of arc is
prevented.
Advantages Disadvantages
Compact in size Vacuum has to be maintained at
Reliable and long life desired level always
Heavy fault can be interrupted
effectively
No gas is generated after arc
extinction operation
Operation is not noisy
Arc energy is low
No risk of fire
Application
These breakers are used up to 11 KV with an interrupting capacity of 250MVA.
Under normal working conditions, the fixed and moving contacts are closed. On the occurrence of fault,
the moving contacts come down and an arc is struck between the contacts. The oil between the contacts
gets decomposed and hydrogen gas bubble is formed around the contacts. The hydrogen gas cools the
arc and rthe turbulence effect cause the lengthening of arc. The deionization of medium between contacts
takes place and at some critical length of gap between the contacts ,the arc is extinguished.
The hydrogen gas bubble produces a very high pressure in the oil. The tank is therefore made strong to
withstand a large pressure. The oil moves upwards when hydrogen bubble is formed. The air is present
between the oil level and tank top and acts as cushion and absorbs mechanical shock produced due to
upward oil movement.
Advantages Disadvantages
oil has high dielectric strength Long arcing time
Oil absorbs arc energy while Do not permit high speed of interruption
decomposing Arc interruption control can be obtained
Good cooling property of the gas only by increasing the length of arc
formed due to decomposition
It acts as an insulator between the live
parts and earth
Operation
When the contacts are separated in oil
arc is formed. The heat of arc
decomposes oil and gases are formed.
These gases expand due to heating of
the arc. The gas flowing near the
contact zone cause cooling and splitting
of the arc and the arc gets extinguished.
In this breaker, the supporting ,current interruption and top chamber are made of porcelain .Hence,
clearance between live parts is small and requires less quantity of oil, hence the breaker is called
Minimum Oil Circuit Breaker. The chambers are completely filled with oil. The oil from upper
chamber does not come to lower.
The fixed contact is enclosed in the quenching chamber. Moving contact makes sliding contact with
the lower fixed contact. The operating rod is operated by operating mechanism, the three poles
operate simultaneously.
The voltage ratings are from 3.6kV to 420 KV.
Applications –Minimum oil circuit breakers are available in for all voltages and highest breaking
capacity hence they are preferred in almost all protection schemes
Advantages Disadvantages
Requires less quantity of oil Possibility of fire and explosion.
Requires smaller space Difficult to remove gases from the
Maintenance is less space between contacts.
Cost per breaking capacity in MVA is Oil deteriorates rapidly due to
less carbonization
Suitable for both manual and Smaller quantity of oil, so
automatic operation carbonization increases.
Advantages Disadvantages
Silent operation, compact size Costly
Vary short arcing time Requires conditioning of SF6 gas from time
No risk of fire to time
No reduction in dielectric strength due SF6 gas is suffocating ,so its leakage can
to operation cause suffocation of the persons in
No current chopping problem surrounding areas.
Can interrupt larger currents Special facilities are required for
Suitable for explosive environment due transporting gas
to totally enclosed body Additional equipments are required for
reconditioning
Many faults (80-90%) in the overhead distribution system like flash over of insulators, crow faults,
temporary tree contacts , etc are temporary in nature. Thus, taking a feeder or line permanent
outage may lead to unnecessary long loss of service to customers. Hence, many utilities use fast
automatic reclosers for an overhead radial feeder without synchronous machines or with minimum
induction motor load. Presence of synchronous machines will require additional problem of
synchro-check to be addressed. The almost universal practice is to use three and occasionally
four attempts to restore service before lock out .
Application of recloser in distribution systems requires selection of its ratings such as minimum
trip current, continuous current, symmetrical interrupting current etc.
For a single phase system, single phase recloser can be used whereas for a three phase
system, one three phase recloser or three single phase recloser can be used. Recloser have to
be selected by considering the following factors.
Voltage Rating.
Continuous current Rating : This is the maximum load current the recloser has to carry.
Maximum Symmetrical Interrupting Rating: The maximum symmetrical fault current should not
exceed this rating.
Minimum Tripping current : This is the minimum fault current that a recloser will clear. It is equal
to two times the continuous current rating. Usually tolerance is ±10%. This decides the
sensitivity of the recloser
Reclose at B
Maximum load current on this single phase line = 40A.
Continuous current rating of this recloser must be 1.25 - 1.5 times the maximum load current to account for
anticipated load growth.
i.e. Continuous current rating of this recloser at B = 40 × 1.5 = 60A.
From the table 1, any recloser with continuous current rating of 100A and above is acceptable.
Maximum fault current at B = 1750A.
Interrupting current rating must be greater than 1750A. From the table 1, we see that recloser with 100A continous
current rating has 2000A symmetrical rms short circuit current rating. Hence, we can choose this recloser.
Minimum tripping current = Continuous current rating × 2 ± 10% tolerance
= 100 × 2 ± 10% of 200 = 220A
Since the minimum trip current 220A is less than the minimum fault current 250A at the line end, it can protect the
entire line.
Voltage rating of the line is 11kV. So we can select the maximum voltage rating of 15.5kV (from the table).
Sectionalizers are used in the bus bars so that fault on any section of bus bar will not cause
complete shut down.
Advantages of sectionalizers
1.If fault occurs on any section of bus bars then that section is isolated from other sections without
affecting the system.
2.Fault current is much lower than in case of un sectionalized system (as the fault is fed from only
one section)
3.Repairing and maintenance on one section can be carried out by de energizing that section only
eliminating the possibility of complete shut down.
The breaker in the bus bars is acting as sectionalizing breaker in the shown figure.
The expulsion type fuse is used where expulsion gases cause no problem
such as in overhead circuits and equipment. These fuses can be termed as
current awaiting types; and the function of interrupting medium is similar to
that of an ac circuit breaker. The temperature of arc is of the order of 4000-
5000K. At this temperature special materials located in close proximity to
fuse element rapidly create gases. Preferred gas generating materials are
fiber, melamine, boric acid and liquids such as oil or carbon tetrachloride.
These gases help to create a high pressure turbulent medium surrounding
the arc, thus when the current does reach to zero and the arc channel
reduces to a minimum; the ablated gases rapidly mix with remaining ionized
gas and thereby deionize them as well as remove them from ‘arc area'. In
turn, this leads to rapid build up of dielectric strength that can withstand the
transient recovery voltage (TRV) and steady state power system voltage.
Vacuum fuse is a non expulsive fuse but still a current zero awaiting
type. The design, operation and current-voltage-time relationship of this
fuse closely matches with that of an expulsion fuse. The main difference
is that it is a completely sealed unit and no expulsion action. Interruption
occurs because of rapid dielectric build up that occur in a vacuum after
current zero is reached