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Air Circuit Breaker is a device used to provide Over-current and Short

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).

Working of Air Circuit breaker

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

thermal and electromagnetic effects as shown in the figure. As the arc is


driven upward it enters in the arc chute, consisting of splatters.
The arc in chute will become colder, lengthen and split hence arc voltage
becomes much larger than system voltage at the time of operation of air
circuit breaker, and therefore the arc is quenched finally during the
current zero.
Air Circuit breakers (ACBs) are available which can be Electrically
Operated or Manually Operated. This means electrically operated Air
Circuit Breaker Can be Opened (switched OFF) and Closed (Switched
ON) using external power supply. The Electrically operated motor is
used to operate spring charging mechanism for closing and opening the
Circuit Breaker. The power supply could be single phase 230V AC Supply
or low voltage 24V-110V DC supply for operation during no availability
of power.
Air Circuit breakers (ACBs) are also available as Fixed Type and
Withdrawable (Drawout) Type formats.
http://www.studyelectrical.com/2014/12/working-of-air-circuit-breakers.html

Principle of Operation of Air Circuit Breaker:


The working principle of Air Circuit breaker is rather different from other types of
circuit breaker. The main aim of circuit breaker is to prevent reestablishment of
arcing after current zero where the contact gap will withstand the system
recovery voltage. It does it same work, but in a different manner. During
interruption of arc, it creates an arc voltage instead of supply voltage. Arc voltage
is defined as the minimum voltage required for maintaining arc .The circuit
breaker increases the voltage in three different ways:

Arc voltage can be increased by cooling arc plasma. As soon as the


temperature of arc plasma motion of particle in arc plasma is reduced, more
voltage gradient will be required to maintain the arc.
By splitting the arc into a number of series will increases the arc voltage.

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:

Plain air circuit breaker or Cross-Blast Air Circuit Breaker


Air blast circuit breaker

Plain air circuit breaker or Cross-Blast Air Circuit


Breaker:
The circuit breaker is fitted with a chamber surrounding the contact. The
chamber is known as arc chute. The arc is made to drive in it. The arc chute will
help in achieving cooling. Arc chute is made from some refractory material. The
inner walls of arc chute are shaped in such a way that arc is not only forced into
close proximity, but will drive into the serpentine channel projected on arc chute
wall.
The arc chute is divided into a number of small compartments by using metallic
separation plates. Metallic separation plates are arc splitters and each of small
compartments behave as a mini arc chute. Initial arc will split into a series of arcs
this will make all arc voltages higher than system voltage. They are preferable

choice

in

low

voltage

application.

Air blast circuit breaker:


This type of circuit breaker is used for system voltage of 245 KV, 420 KV and
even more.
Air blast circuit breaker has further divided into three categories:

Axial blast breaker

Axial blast with sliding moving contact.

Axial blast breaker:


The moving contact is in contact. There is a nozzle orifice in fixed contact at
normal closed condition of breaker. When a fault occur high pressure is
introduced into the chamber. High-pressure air will flow through nozzle orifice

voltage

is

sufficient

to

sustain.

Axial blast with sliding moving contact:


The moving contact is fitted over a piston supported by a spring. The blast
transfers
arc
to
arcing
electrode.

Advantages of Air-Blast Circuit Beaker

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.

Arc quenching is much faster

The duration of the arc is same for all values of current.

Stability of operation can be maintained and depends on speed operation


of circuit breakers.
It requires less maintenance.

Disadvantages of Air-Blast Circuit Breaker

The air supplier plant requires additional maintenance.

It contains high capacity air compressor.

There is a chance of air pressure leakage from the air pipes junction.

There is chance of a high rate rise of re-striking voltage and current


chopping.
The air has relatively lower arc extinguishing properties.

Application and Uses of Air Circuit Breaker:

It is used for protection of plants

It is used for common protection of electrical machines

It used for protection of transformers, capacitors and generators.

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 .

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Residual Current Circuit Breaker


Previous

RCCB (Residual Current Circuit Breaker) falls under the


category of wide range of circuit breakers. As we know there
are several types of miniature circuit breakers like MCCB which
works on different operational principle and has different safety
purposes. Function: Residual Current Circuit Breaker is
essentially a device which senses current and disconnects any
low voltage (unbalanced current) circuit whenever there is any
fault occurs. Purpose: Residual Current Circuit Breaker
basically is installed to prevent human from shocks or death
caused by shocks. It prevent accidents by disconnecting the
main circuit within fraction of seconds. How it Works: It has
very simple working based on Kirchhoff's Current Law ie the
incoming current in a circuit must be equal to the outgoing
current from that circuit. This circuit breaker is made such that
whenever a fault occurs the current balance of line and neutral
did not matches (imbalance occurs, as the fault current finds
another earthing path of current).
Its circuit is made such that a every instance it compares the
value of incoming and outgoing circuit current. Whenever it is
not equal, the residual current which is basically the difference
between the two currents actuates the circuit to trip/switch off.

Working Principle of Residual Current Circuit Breaker

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

resistance provided in this circuit. This current passes through


the RCD line side coil along with load current. But as this circuit
bypasses neutral side coil of RCD, there will be an unbalance
between the line side and neutral side coil of the device and
consequently, the RCCB trips to disconnect the supply even in
normal condition. This is how the test circuit tests the reliability
of RCCB.
Types of Residual Current Circuit Breaker

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/

Magnetic circuit breakers[edit]


Magnetic circuit breakers use a solenoid (electromagnet) whose pulling
force increases with the current. Certain designs utilize electromagnetic
forces in addition to those of the solenoid. The circuit breaker contacts are
held closed by a latch. As the current in the solenoid increases beyond the
rating of the circuit breaker, the solenoid's pull releases the latch, which lets
the contacts open by spring action. Some magnetic breakers incorporate a
hydraulic time delay feature using a viscous fluid. A spring restrains the
core until the current exceeds the breaker rating. During an overload, the
speed of the solenoid motion is restricted by the fluid. The delay permits
brief current surges beyond normal running current for motor starting,
energizing equipment, etc. Short circuit currents provide sufficient solenoid
force to release the latch regardless of core position thus bypassing the

delay feature. Ambient temperature affects the time delay but does not
affect the current rating of a magnetic breaker

Thermal magnetic circuit breakers[edit]

Shihlin Electric MCCB with SHT

Thermal magnetic circuit breakers, which are the type found in


most distribution boards, incorporate both techniques with the
electromagnet responding instantaneously to large surges in current (short
circuits) and the bimetallic strip responding to less extreme but longer-term
over-current conditions. The thermal portion of the circuit breaker provides
a time response feature, that trips the circuit breaker sooner for larger
overcurrents but allows smaller overloads to persist for a longer time. This
allows short current spikes such as are produced when a motor or other
non-resistive load is switched on. With very large over-currents during a
short-circuit, the magnetic element trips the circuit breaker with no
intentional additional delay.[6]

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