9/13/2015

RoutineTestofCircuitBreakers|Electrical4u

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RoutineTestofCircuitBreakers
UnderElectricalSwitchgear
Thispageisallabout:
PowerFrequencyOverVoltageWithstandTest
OneMinuteDryPowerFrequencyVoltageWithstandTest
Dielectrictestonauxiliaryandcontrolcircuit
Measurementoftheresistanceofmaincircuit
TightnessTest
VisualChecks
MechanicalOperationTest

Variousroutinetestsareperformedforensuringthequality,performanceofacircuit
breakerandtheseare

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RoutineTestofCircuitBreakers|Electrical4u

1.PowerFrequencyOverVoltagewithstandtest
2.Dielectrictestonauxiliarycircuitandcontrolcircuit
3.Measurementofresistanceofmaincircuitorcontactresistancetest
4.TightnesstestorSF6gasleakagetest
5.Designandvisualchecks
6.Mechanicaloperationtests.

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Letusdiscussthemonebyone.

PowerFrequencyOverVoltageWithstandTest
Thepowersystemmayexperiencedifferenttemporarypowerovervoltageconditions
maybeduetosuddencutofloadfromthesystem,wrongoperationofonlinetap
changer,insufficientshuntcompensationinthesystem,etc.Powerfrequencyover
voltagewithstandtestofcircuitbreakerisperformedtoverifysufficiencyofinsulation
strengthofthemaincircuittowithstandthiskindofabnormalovervoltageconditions
ofthesystem.Thecircuitbreakershouldalsobedesignedtobecapableofwithstanding
overvoltagesduetolightningandswitchingimpulses.Acircuitbreakerlikeother
costlyengineeringequipment,aredesignedforsafelyfacingallkindofabnormal
situations,butatthesametime,thedesignerscannotsacrificeeconomicalaspects.To
verifythecapabilityofwithstandingallkindsofovervoltagesconditionswithout
sacrificingtheeconomicalaspectsofmanufacturing,acircuitbreakerhastogothrough
andpassdifferentdielectrictests.Butonlypowerfrequencyovervoltagewithstandtest
comesunderthecategoryofroutinetestofcircuitbreakers

OneMinuteDryPowerFrequencyVoltageWithstandTest
Itisassumedthatovervoltageconditions,atpowerfrequencycannotbesustained
beyondoneminutetimemoreoveritisactuallysustainedformuchlesstimethanone
minuteduration.Thistestiscarriedouttoverifywhethertheinsulationprovidedinthe
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RoutineTestofCircuitBreakers|Electrical4u

maincircuitofbreakeriscapableofwithstandingpowerfrequencyovervoltagesfor
longoneminutedurationornot.Thetestisperformedindryconditionsofthebreaker.
Thepowerfrequencyvoltages,appliedtothebreakerduringthetest,arespecifiedinthe
standardasperthenominalvoltagelevelofthesystem.

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LetusdiscussonecommonexampleofOneMinuteDryPowerFrequencyVoltage
WithstandTestofSF6CircuitBreaker.Herenormallytopofallpolesofallcircuit
breakersofsamevoltageratingtobetested,areconnectedtogetherpreferablybycopper
conductor.Thisconnectionthenisearthedproperly.Similarlybaseofallcircuit
breakersundertesttobeproperlyconnectedtoearth.Thebuttonofallpolesofallcircuit
breakersundertest,areconnectedtogetherpreferablybycopperconductor.This
connectionthenisconnectedtothephaseterminalofsinglephasehighvoltagecascaded
transformer.Highvoltagetransformerusedhereisancascadedautotransformerwhere
inputvoltagecanbevariedfromzerotoseveralhundredvoltsandcorresponding
secondaryvoltagewouldbezerotoseveralhundredkilovolts.Duringtestthevoltageis
appliedatthebuttonterminalofbreakersbyhighvoltagecascadedtransformer,and
variedfrom0tospecifiedvalueslowlyandgentlythenstaytherefor60secondand
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thenslowlydecreasedtozero.Duringtesttheleakagecurrenttothegroundtobe
measuredandtheleakagecurrentshouldnotcrossthespecifiedmaximumallowed
limit.Anyfailureofinsulationduringtestindicatestheinsufficiencyofinsulationused
inbreaker.

Dielectrictestonauxiliaryandcontrolcircuit

Theremaybeabnormalovervoltageconditionintheauxiliaryandcontrolsupply
circuits,too.Hence,theauxiliaryandcontrolcircuitsofbreakersshouldalsobegone
throughshortdurationpowerfrequencyvoltagewithstandtest.Heretestvoltageof2000
Visappliedfordurationofoneminute.Theinsulationofauxiliaryandcontrolcircuit
shouldpassthistest,andthereshouldnotbeanydestructivedischargeduringthetest.

Measurementoftheresistanceofmaincircuit
TheresistanceofmaincircuitismeasuredfromDCvoltagedropacrossthecircuit.In
thistest,directcurrentisinjectedtothecircuitandcorrespondingvoltagedropis
measuredandfromtheseresistanceofthecircuitismeasured.Theinjectedcurrent
wouldbefrom100Atomaximumratedcurrentofthecircuitbreaker.Themaximum
measuredvaluecanbe1.2timesthevalueobtainedatthetemperaturerisetest.

TightnessTest
Thistestiscarriedoutonmainlygasinsulatedswitchgear.Inthistest,leakagerateis
measured.Thistestensuresthedesiredlifespanoftheswitchgear.Hereallthejointing
pointsinthegascontainingpathsarecoveredairtightlywiththinsheetsofpolythene
(preferablytransparent)formorethan8hoursandthenthegasdensityinsidethiscovers
ismeasuredbyinsertinggasdetectingportofagasdetectorthroughaholenowcreated
onthecovers.Themeasurementistakeninppmunitandshouldbewithinthespecified
limit.Maximumlimitofgasleakage3ppm/8hours,istakenasstandard.

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RoutineTestofCircuitBreakers|Electrical4u

VisualChecks
Thecircuitbreakershouldbevisuallycheckedforlanguageanddataonthetemplates,
properidentificationmarkofanyauxiliaryequipment,colorandqualityofpaintand
corrosiononmetallicsurface,etc.

MechanicalOperationTest
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Thecircuitbreakermustbesmoothlyoperatedatmaximumaswellasminimum
allowableauxiliaryandcontrolcircuitsupplyvoltage.Closingandtrippingoperation
shouldbeperformedatleast5timesforspecifiedmaximumallowablecontrolcircuit
supplyvoltageaswellasspecifiedminimumallowablecontrolcircuitsupplyvoltage.
Theclosingandopeningoperationofcircuitbreakerarealsobecheckedforrated
supplyvoltageofcontrolcircuit.110%ofcontrolvoltageistakenasmaximumlimitfor
closingandopeningoperationofcircuitbreaker.85%ofcontrolvoltageistakenas
minimumlimitforclosingoperationofcircuitbreakerand70%ofcontrolvoltageis
takenasminimumlimitforopeningortrippingoperationofcircuitbreaker.During
maximumandminimumcontrolvoltageoperationitwouldbefoundthatoperating
timesarelessandmorerespectivelythanthatinratedcontrolvoltagebutallthetimes
shouldbewithinspecifiedtimeslimits.Ifitisapplicable,suchasinthecaseof
pneumaticcircuitbreakers,thebreakershouldalsobeoperatedatleast5timesin
specifiedmaximumallowableoperatingpressure,inspecifiedminimumallowable
operatingpressureandinspecifiedratedoperatingpressure.Acircuitbreakerisalso
intendedforrapidautoreclosingatleast5opencloseoperatingcyclesshouldbe
checkedagainstspecificationgivenontheratingplate.Theactualtimeintervalbetween
openandcloseoperationsshouldbetalliedwiththetimeintervalgivenintheoperating
cyclespecification.Whenthecircuitbreakersareshippedasseparateunitsand
reassembledatsite,themanufacturershouldparticipateincommissioningtesttogive
confirmationaboutcompatibilityofsuchseparateunitsandcomponentswhen
assembledasacompletecircuitbreaker.Forallrequiredoperationsequences,thetest
shouldbeconductedandallclosingandopeningoperatingtimesalongwithintervals
betweentwoconjugativeoperationsarerecorded.Whereapplicable,themeasurements
offluidcompression(pressuredifference)duringcircuitbreakeroperationarealso
recorded.
Noloadoperatingcyclecanbeperformedonthecircuitbreakertodrawthenoload
travelcurve.Thecurveshouldbewithintheprescribedenvelopeofthereference
mechanicaltravelcharacteristics.
NB:Theparametersshouldbemeasuredandrecordedduringoperationtestof
circuitbreaker,aregivenbelow

Closingtimeofeachpole

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Closingtimedifferencebetweenpolesorclosingmismatchtime

Openingtimeofeachpole

Openingtimedifferencebetweenpolesoropeningmismatchtime

CloseOpentimeofeachpole

Timedifferencebetweentwoconjugativeopeningoperation(OCO)

Maximumbounceofmovingcontactduringclosingoperation

Totalbounceofmovingcontactduringclosingoperation

Overtravelofmovingcontact

Contactspeedforclosingindeg/ms(astransducerisofrotarytype)

Contactspeedforopeningindeg/ms(astransducerisofrotarytype)

Dampingtimeduringopening

Springchargingtime
Whensubassembliesofcircuitbreakerarefittedtogetheratsite,themechanicaltravel
characteristicsofthebreakershouldconfirmthecorrectnessattheendofthe
commissioningtestonsite.Ifthisisdoneonsite,themanufacturershouldprescribethe
exactprocedureofdoingthatotherwisetheresultmaybedifferentandthecomparison
oftheinstantaneouscontactstrokemaybeimpossibletoachieve.Themechanicaltravel
characteristicsofcircuitbreakercontactsareproducedbyusingtraveltransduceror
similardeviceconnectedtothecircuitbreakercontactsmechanism.
Inadditiontothis,eachconnectioninthecontrolandauxiliarycircuitinthecircuit
breakerkioskshouldbechecked.Itshouldalsobecheckedwhethercontroland/or
auxiliaryswitchescorrectlyindicatetheopenandclosepositionofcircuitbreaker.All
auxiliaryequipmentsshouldalsobeoperatedcorrectlyandsmoothlyforspecified
maximumandminimumallowablecontrolvoltagesupply.
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RoutineTestofCircuitBreakers|Electrical4u

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