GUIDED BY

: RAHUL LIMBACHIYA SIR

DEPARTMENT : ELECTRICAL SUBJECT : SWITCH GEAR

PREPARED BY : RAHUL ATHAVALE PARTH PANCHAL JWALIT PATEL NEEL DESAI TEJAS MODI

AIR BLAST CIRCUIT BREAKER

INTRODUCTION CIRCUIT & MODEL OPERATING MECHANISM ARC PHENOMENA

ADVANTAGES
DIS ADVANTAGES APLICATIONS

INTRODUCTION
SWITCH GEAR:
The term switchgear, used in association with the electric power system, or grid, refers to the combination of electrical disconnects, fuses and/or circuit breakers used to isolate electrical equipment.

SWITCHGEAR EQUIPMENT:
Fuse Circuit breaker Isolator Ear thing switch Lightening arrester Current transformer Potential transformer

CIRCUIT BREAKER:
Circuit breakers are mechanical devices designed to close or open contact members, thus closing or opening of an electrical circuit under normal or abnormal conditions.

TYPES OF CIRCUIT BREAKER:

AIR BLAST CIRCUIT BREAKER OIL CIRCUIT BREAKER SF6(SULPHUR HEXACHLORIDE) CIRCUIT BREAKER D.C. CIRCUIT BREAKER AIR BREAK CIRCUIT BREAKER

AIR BLAST CIRCUIT BREAKER:

In air blast circuit breakers, compressed air at a pressure of 20-30 kg/cm*cm is employed as an arc quenching medium. Air blast circuit breakers are suitable for operating voltages of 132 kV and above. They have also been used in 11kV-33kV range for certain applications.

HISTORY:
An early form of circuit breaker was described by Thomas Alva Edison in an 1879 patent application, although his commercial power distribution system used fuses. Its purpose was to protect lighting circuit wiring from accidental short-circuits and overloads.

DETAIL OF AIR BLAST CIRCUIT BREAKER:

It also called as compressed air circuit breaker. Gases such as nitrogen, carbon dioxide, hydrogen or Freon can be used as arc interrupting medium. But compressed air is the most accepted arc interrupting medium. Carbon dioxide has a draw back as it is difficult to control owing to freezing at valves and other restricted passages. Hydrogen has increased breaking capacity but its costlier.

CIRCUIT AND MODEL

High-pressure air,(about 2030atm.) is stored in the reservoir. Air is taken from the compressed air system. Three hollow insulator columns are mounted on the top of hollow insulator chambers. The current carrying parts connect the three arc extinction chambers to each in series and the pole to the neighboring equipment. Since there exist a very high voltage between the conductor and the air reservoir, the entire arc extinction chamber assembly is mounted on insulator.

DOUBLE ARC EXTINCTION CHAMBER

The details of double arc extinction chambers are shown in figure.

Since there are three double arc extinction poles in series there are six breaks per pole. Each arc extinction chamber consists of one twin fixed contact. There are two moving contacts, which are shown in the opening process. The moving contacts, can move axially so as to open or close. Its position open or close depends on air pressure and spring pressure.

OPERATING MECHANISM
When a electrical signal is actuated the operating mechanism operates the rod and valves are made open to send the high pressure air in the hollow insulator The high pressure rapidly enters the double arc extinction chamber . As the air enter the arc extinction chamber the pressure on the moving contact become more than spring pressure and make the contacts open. The contact travel through a short distance against the spring pressure. At the end of contact travel the port for outgoing air is closed by the moving contact and the entire arc extinction chamber is filled with high pressure air, as the is not allowed to go out. However during the arcing the air goes out through the opening and takes away the ionized particles of arc.

TYPE OF ABCB:
CROSS BLAST CIRCUIT BREAKER In this a high pressure blast of air is directed perpendicular to the arc for its interruption. The arc is forced into a suitable chute. Sufficient lengthening of arc is obtained, resulting in the introduction of appreciable resistance in the arc itself. Therefore, resistance switching is not common in this type of circuit breakers. This are suitable for interrupting high current at comparatively lower voltages.

AXIAL BLAST CIRCUIT BREAKER SINGLE BLAST TYPE DOUBLE BLAST TYPE In this a high pressure blast of air is directed longitudinally(in line with the arc). Axial blast circuit breaker are suitable for extra high voltage and super high voltage application. This because interrupting chambers can be fully enclosed in porcelain tubes. Resistance switching is employed to reduce the transient over voltages.

The number of breaks depends upon the system voltage, for example, 4 at 220 kV and 8 at 750 kV.
Air blast circuit breaker have also been commissioned for 1100 kV system.

ARC PHENOMENA
An arc is struck when contacts are separated, the current is thus able to continue. Thus the main duty of circuit breaker is to distinguish the arc within the shortest possible time. The arc provides the low resistance path to the current and the current in the circuit remains uninterrupted.

When fault occurs current flow through contacts before they are being separated. At the instant when contact separates, the contact area decreases and the large fault current cause increased current density and hence rise in temperature occur due to which the surrounding air or oil get ionized.

They acts as conductor and an arc is struck between them. The potential difference between contacts is sufficient to maintain the arc.

The arc provides a low resistance path and current flows till the arc persists. The current flow depends on the arc resistance. As the resistance increases current flow between the contacts decreases.

Arc resistance depends on:

Degree of ionization arc resistance increases with decrease in number of ionized particles. Length of arc arc resistance increases with length of the arc i.e. separation of contacts. Cross-section of arc arc resistance increases with decrease in the area of x-section of the arc.

Arc interruption
Circuit breakers are usually able to terminate all current very quickly: typically the arc is extinguished between 30 ms and 150 ms after the mechanism has been tripped, depending upon age and construction of the device.

COMPARISON
AIR BLAST C.B.
In blast circuit breaker arc quenching Medium is compressed air. In this C.B. risk of fire is eliminated. In air blast C.B. as there is no oil so there is no problem of degree of carbonization. Its type: Axial blast air circuit breakers. Cross blast air circuit breaker.

OIL C.B.
In oil circuit breaker arc

quenching medium is Insulating oil. In oil C.B. there is risk of fire. In oil C.B. as there is small amount of oil , the degree of carbonization is increased. Its type: Plain break oil C.B. Arc control oil C.B. Self blast Forced blast

In air blast circuit breaker ,the arcing products are completely removed by the blast. There is no regular expense of oil replacement. Due to lesser arc energy, air blast circuit breakers are very suitable for conditions where frequent operation is required. It mostly does not have any leakage problem.

In oil circuit breaker, the oil deteriorates with successive operation. There is regular expense of oil replacement after some period. It has comparatively higher arc energy, so not used where frequent operation is required. It may have problem of oil leakage.

AIR BLAST CIRCUIT BREAKER

OIL CIRCUIT BREAKER

OIL CIRCUIT BREAKER

ADVANTAGES:
The risk of fire is eliminated. The arcing products are completely removed by the blast where the oil deteriorates with successive operations, the expense of regular oil is replacement is avoided. The growth of dielectric strength is so rapid that final contact gap needed for arc extinction is very small. This reduces the size of device. The arcing time is very small due to the rapid build up of dielectric strength between contacts. Therefore, the arc energy is only a fraction that in oil circuit breakers, thus resulting in less burning of contacts.

Due to lesser arc energy, air blast circuit breakers are very suitable for conditions where frequent operation is required.
The energy supplied for arc extinction is obtained from high pressure air and is independent of the current to be interrupted.

DIS ADVANTAGE:
Air has relatively inferior arc extinguishing properties. Air blast circuit breakers are very sensitive to the variations in the rate

of restriking voltage.
considerable maintenance is required for the compressor plant which

supplies the air blast.

APPLICATIONS:
Arc furnace duty

Traction system
Air blast circuit breakers are finding wide applications in high voltage

installations.