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Circuit Protection for circuits ranging from 800 Amps to 10000 Amps.
One should not be confused between Air Circuit Breaker and Air Blast
Circuit Breaker. Air Circuit Breakers are usually used in low voltage
applications below 450 volts. You can today find these in Distribution
Panels (below 450 volts).Air Blast Circuit Breakers are high capacity
breakers and can be seen in old substations mainly above 132 kV. The
working principle of these two circuit breakers are quite different. Here
we will only discuss the working of Air Circuit Breaker (ACB).
Air Circuit breakers normally have two pairs of contacts. The main pair
of contacts carries the current at normal load and these contacts are
made of copper. The additional pair is the arcing contact and is made of
carbon.
When circuit breaker is being opened, the main contacts open first and
during opening of main contacts the arcing contacts are still in touch
with each other. As the current gets. a parallel low resistive path through
the arcing contact during opening of main contacts. there will not be any
arcing in the main contact. The arcing is only initiated when finally the
arcing contacts are separated. The each of the arc contacts is fitted with
an arc runner which helps. the arc discharge to move upward due to both
Arc voltage can be increased by lengthening the arc path. As soon length
of arc path is increased the resistance path will increase more arc voltage is
applied across the arc path hence arc voltage is increased.
It is operated within voltage level up to 1 KV. It contains two pairs of contact. The
main pair carries the current and the contact made of copper. An additional pair
of contact is made of carbon. When the breaker is opened, the main contact
opens first. During opening of the main contact, the arc contact remains in touch
with each other. The arcing gets initiated when arc contacts are separated. The
circuit breaker is obsolete for medium voltage.
Types of Air circuit breaker:
choice
in
low
voltage
application.
voltage
is
sufficient
to
sustain.
Air blast circuit breaker is a suitable option to use where frequent operation
is required because of lesser arc energy
The risk of fire is eliminated in the operation of Air blast circuit breaker.
Air blast circuit breaker is small in size, because of the growth of dielectric
strength is so rapid (which final contact gap needed for arc extinction is very
small).
Speed of circuit breaker is much higher during operation of the air blast.
There is a chance of air pressure leakage from the air pipes junction.
Air circuit breaker is also used in Electricity sharing system and NGD about
15kV
Also used in Low as well as High voltage and Currents applications .
The
basic operating principle lies in the Toroidal Transformer shown
in the diagram containing three coils. There are two coils say
Primary (containing line current) and Secondary (containing
neutral current) which produces equal and opposite fluxes if
both currents are equal.
Whenever in the case there is a fault and both the currents
changes, it creates out of balance flux, which in-turn produces
the differential current which flows through the third coil
(sensing coil shown in the figure) which is connected to relay.
The Toroidal transformer, sensing coil and relay together is
known as RCD - Residual Current Device. Test Circuit: The
test circuit is always included with the RCD which basically
connects between the line conductor on the load side and the
supply neutral. It helps to test the circuit when it is on or off
the live supply. Whenever the test button is pushed current
starts flowing through the test circuit depending upon the
2 Pole: It is for single phase line consisting of one live and one
neutral wire slot in it. 4 Pole: It is designed for three phase line
consisting of 4 slots where three phase wires and a neutral wire
can be connected.
Conclusion: Hence it provide a real time protection device for
major circuits used commercially in industries and other high
voltage commercial places where there is a always a risk of
shocks and accidental deaths due to it.
http://www.electrical4u.com/residual-current-circuit-breaker/
delay feature. Ambient temperature affects the time delay but does not
affect the current rating of a magnetic breaker