DCbreakingcapacityofcircuitbreakersAdiscussion

%DCandtheX/RratioinCB
InaCircuitbreakertheDCcurrentbreakingisspecifiedintermsof%ofthemaximumDCpresent
duringtheafault
ThemaximumDCisavailablewhenthefaulthappensatVoltageminimum.(Theassumptionsmade
arethecircuitactaspureinductiveduringfaultandthereisnoinitialcurrentthroughthecircuitpriorto
thefault.Thisisacasewhereweareswitchinganinductivecircuit.Inaninductivecircuitideally,the
currentshouldlagthevoltageby90DegreeandhencewhenthevoltageisZerocurrentwillbelagging
by90degreeandithasmaximumvalue.Nowinactualphysicalcircuitwhenthevoltageiszerocurrent
isZero!Thisisaconflictingrequirement!Tosolvethistwoconflictingrequirement,weassumethatwe
havetwocurrentsatvoltagezero,OnesteadystateACcurrentwhichisequaltothecircuitvoltage
dividedbythecircuitXandanotherDCcurrentwhichisequalandoppositetotheACcurrent.Nowat
instantofvoltagezero(assumedworstcasefault),thetotalcurrentiszero(AC+DC).Thistheory
satisfiesourconflictingrequirement!ie(physicalcurrentiszeroaswellastheACcurrentislaggingthe
voltageby90Degree).
NowwhatisthemaximumvalueoftheDCcurrentpossibleinanetwork?Itmustbethemaximum
steadystateACvaluepossibleduringthefault.ThemaximumsteadystateACvaluehappens
theoreticallyatzerovoltageanditsinstantaneousvalueis=1.414RMSvalueHence
ThemaximumvalueofDCcurrentpossibleis1.414RMSAcvalue(butinoppositedirection)
NowwhatwillhappentothisDCvalue.ItdecaysdowntozeroexponentiallybasedontheX/Rratioof
thecircuit
NowincaseofaCircuitbreaker,thecircuitbreakercontactstartsopenaftersometimeoffault.(
contactpartingtime.ThisincluderelayoperationtimeandCBcontactpartingtime1.5cyclefora2
cyclebreaker,2cyclesfora3cyclebreaker,3cyclesfora5cyclebreaker,and3.5cyclesforan8
cyclebreakerasperIEEEC37.010.1999)NowDCcurrentthataCBrequiredtobreakisneverthe
maximumDC(or100%DC)butaDCwhichislesserbasedontheCBcontactopeningtime(startof
opening).
Nowasperthestandard,theX/Rratioof14isthestandardfor50HzcorrespondingtoaDCtime
constantof45msec.
Nowatthetimeoffaultthe%DCis100%(ifthecontactpartingtimeiszerothentheCBhastobreak
the100%DCbutasthecontactpartingtimeisneverzerothe%ofDCthattheCBrequiredtobreak
isalwayslesser)
Anditdecaysas100e^t/Taspercentage
ForatimeconstantofT=45msecandcontactpartingtimeof1.5cycles(30msec)
The%DCis100*e^30/45=100*0.5134=51%

HencewecanfindouttheX/RratiotheCBmanufacturehasusedinthecalculationonceweknowthe
%DCratingoftheCBandcontactpartingtime.(moreX/RratiopleaserefertoIEEEC37.010.1999
5.10.2.2)
ButifyouareinterestedinfindingtheActualX/RratiowehavetofindoutfromtheCircuitimpedance.
WiththisbasicwecandiscusswhatX/Rrationeedtobetakenforourapplication