Circuit Breaker

 A circuit breaker is a switching device that interrupts the abnormal or fault current.
 It is a mechanical device that disturbs the flow of high magnitude (fault) current
and in additions performs the function of a switch.
 The circuit breaker is mainly designed for closing or opening of an electrical circuit,
thus protects the electrical system from damage.

Working Principle of Circuit Breaker

 Circuit breaker essentially consists of fixed and moving contacts. These contacts
are touching each other and carrying the current under normal conditions when
the circuit is closed.
 When the circuit breaker is closed, the current carrying contacts, called the
electrodes, engaged each other under the pressure of a spring.
 During the normal operating condition, the arms of the circuit breaker can be
opened or closed for a switching and maintenance of the system. To open the
circuit breaker, only a pressure is required to be applied to a trigger.
 Whenever a fault occurs on any part of the system, the trip coil of the breaker gets
energized and the moving contacts are getting apart from each other by some
mechanism, thus opening the circuit.

Arc Extinction
 When the current carrying contacts of the circuit breaker are moved apart, an arc
is formed, which insist for a short period after the separation of contacts.
 This arc is dangerous on account of the energy generated in it in the form of heat
which may result in explosive force.
 The circuit breaker should be capable of extinguishing the arc without causing any
disturbances to the equipment or danger to the personnel. The arc plays a vital
role in the behavior of the circuit breaker.

Methods of Arc Extinction

 There are two methods of arc extinction in circuit breakers. These methods are:

i. High Resistance method

  In this method, the arc is controlled in such a way that its effective resistance
increase with the time, so that the current is reduced to such a value that heat
formed by it is not sufficient to maintain the arc or thus arc is extinguished.
 Because of the resistive nature of the arc discharge, most of the energy in the
system will be dissipated within the circuit breaker. This is the main drawback of
this method of arc extinction. The following are the reasons which can increase the
resistance of the arc.

 Cooling of arc
 Increasing the length of the arc
 Reducing the cross section of the arc
 Splitting of arc

ii. Low resistance or Zero Current Interruption method

 This method is applicable only in AC circuit interruption because there are natural
zero of current, 100 times in a second for 50Hz three-phase supply system.
 This is one of the most significant advantages of AC circuit for arc interruption
purpose because the current is not allowed to rise again.
 In this method, the arc resistance is kept low until the current is zero where the arc
extinguishes naturally, and it’s prevented from restriking after it has gone out at a
particular. The de-ionisation of the medium can be achieved by :
(I) lengthening of the gap : The dielectric strength of the medium is proportional
to the length of the gap between contacts. Therefore, by opening the contacts
rapidly, higher dielectric strength of the medium can be achieved.
(ii) High pressure. If the pressure in the vicinity of the arc, is increased, the density
of the particles constituting the’ discharge also increases. The increased density
of particles causes higher rate of de-ionization and consequently the dielectric
strength of the medium between contacts is increased.
(iii) Cooling: Natural combination of ionized particles takes place more rapidly if
they are allowed to cool. Therefore, dielectric strength of the medium between the
contacts can be increased by cooling the arc
(iv) Blast effect: If the ionized particles between the contacts are swept away and
replaced by un-ionized particles, the dielectric strength of the medium can be
increased consider-ably. This may be achieved by a gas blast directed along the
discharge or by forcing oil into the contact space.

TYPES OF CIRCUIT BREAKER

i. Oil Circuit Breaker
 In this type of circuit breaker oil is used, but mineral oil is
preferable. It acts better insulating property than air.
 The moving contact and fixed contact are immerged inside the
insulating oil. When the separation of current takes place, then
carrier contacts in the oil, the arc in circuit breaker is initialized
at the moment of separation of contacts, and because of this arc
in the oil is vaporized and decomposed in hydrogen gas and
finally creates a hydrogen bubble around the arc.
 This highly compressed gas bubble around and arc prevents re-
striking of the arc after current reaches zero crossing of the
cycle. The OCB is the oldest type of circuit breakers.

 In a.c circuit breakers, arc extinction is achieved at the natural current zero of the
a.c. waveform used.
 But in d.c circuit breakers, natural zero of voltage and current is not available as
both are continuously available.
 Thus for extinction of an arc, artificial current zero is required to be introduced. In
this, we will discuss HVDC circuit breaker Working and construction.
 Such an artificial current zero is possible by connecting LC circuit in parallel with
the circuit breaker.
 The LC circuit is responsible to produce oscillatory arc currents having many
artificial current zeros.At one of the artificial current zero arc gets extinguished.
HVDC Circuit Breaker Working Principle:
 The below figure shows the principle of HVDC circuit breaker. The HVDC
circuit breaker is nothing but a vacuum circuit breaker.
 The LC circuit along with a switch is connected in parallel with this circuit breaker.

 The capacitor C used is pre-charged capacitor with the polarities as shown in the
above figure.
 When the HVDC circuit breaker starts opening, the switch in the LC circuit gets
closed. Due to the charged capacitor, the discharging current starts flowing in
opposite direction to that of load current carried by the circuit breaker.
 Due to this, arcing current starts oscillating producing many natural zeros. Thus
artificial commutation results and arc extinction is achieved.
 The large transient recovery voltage is the main constraint in HVDC circuit
breaker and circuit breaker must able to withstand it.
  For successful operation of HVDC circuit breaker, the switch in LC circuit must be
a high-speed switch with a very fast response. Such systems are complex and are
costly as they require costly protection system and control systems.

Circuit Breaker Ratings

 The rating of the circuit breaker is given on the duties that are performed by it. For
complete specification standard ratings and various tests of switches and circuit
breakers may be consulted.
 Apart from the normal working of circuit breakers, the circuit breaker is required to
perform following three major duties under short circuit conditions.

Breaking Contact

 The terms expressed the highest number of short-circuit current that the breakers
are capable of breaking under specified conditions of transient recovery voltage
and power frequency voltage. It is expressed in KA RMS at contact separation.
The breaking capacities are divided into two types.

o Symmetrical breaking capacity of a circuit breaker

o Asymmetrical breaking capacity of a circuit breaker.

Making Capacity

 There is always the possibility that the circuit breaker is closed under short circuit
conditions. The making capacity of the circuit breaker is its ability to withstand
under the effect of electromagnetic forces which are directly proportional to the
square of the peak value of the making current of a circuit breaker.
 The making current of the circuit breaker, when closed on a short circuit, is the
peak value of the maximum current wave (including dc component) in the first cycle
of the current after the circuit is closed by the circuit breaker.

Short Circuit Current

  The short circuit current of a circuit breaker is the RMS value of current that a
breaker can carry in a fully closed condition without damage, for the specified time
interval under prescribed condition. It is normally expressed regarding terms of KA
for 1 seconds or 4 seconds. These ratings are based on thermal limitation.
 Low voltage circuit breaker does not have any such short circuit current because
these are normally equipped with straight acting series overload trips.

Instrument Transformers
 Instrument Transformers are used in AC system
for measurement of electrical quantities: e.g. . .
. voltage, current, power, energy, power factor,
frequency.
 Instrument transformers are also used with
protective relays for protection of power
system.
 Basic function of Instrument transformers is to
step down the AC System voltage and current.
The voltage and current level of power system
is very high. It is very difficult and costly to
design the measuring instruments for
measurement of such high level voltage and
current. Generally measuring instruments are
designed for 5 A and 110 V.
 The measurement of such very large electrical
quantities, can be made possible by using the
Instrument transformers with these small rating
measuring instruments. Therefore these
instrument transformers are very popular in
modern power system.

FUSE:
 A fuse is an electric / electronic or mechanical device, which is used to protect
circuits from over current, overload and make sure the protection of the circuit.
 The fuse is made up of thin strip or strand of metal, whenever the heavy amount
of current or an excessive current flow is there in an electrical circuit, the fuse
melts and it opens the circuit and disconnects it from the power supply.
 It is always connected in series with the circuit to protect from overcurrent in the
running cables.
Desirable characteristics of fuse element:
i. Low melting point e.g., tin, lead.
ii. High conductivity e.g., silver, copper.
iii. Free from deterioration due to oxidation e.g., silver.
iv. Low cost e.g., copper.

Important terminology of Fuse:

i. Current rating of fuse element
ii. Fusing current
iii. Fusing factor
iv. Prospective current
v. Cut off current
vi. Pre-arcing time
vii. Arcing time
viii. Total operating time
ix. Breaking capacity

Minimum Fusing Current:

 It is the value of current flowing through the Fuse wire at which the Fuse wire will
melt.

Fuse Rating:
 Fuse rating is given in Ampere. It is basically that value of current at which the
Fuse is expected to operate safely without melting.
 This value of current will definitely will be less than the Minimum Fusing Current.

Fusing Factor:
 Fusing Factor is defined as the ratio of minimum fusing current to the fuse rating.
 Fusing Factor = Minimum Fusing Current / Fuse Rating
 The value of Fusing Factor is always greater than 1.

Prospective Current:
 Prospective Current of Fuse is the value of current which will flow through it just
before the melting of the fuse wire under Short Circuit condition.
 Melting Time / Pre-arcing Time:
 This is the time taken by a fuse wire to be broken by melting.
  It is counted from the instant; the over current starts to flow through fuse, to the
instant when fuse wire is just broken by melting.

Arcing Time:
 After breaking of fuse wire there will be an arcing between both melted tips of the
wire which will be extinguished at the current zero.
 The time from the instant of arc initiated to the instant of arc being extinguished is
known as Arcing Time of fuse.

Total Operating Time:

 Total Operating Time of Fuse is the sum of Pre-arcing and arcing time.

Types of fuses:
1. Low Voltage fuses
2. High Voltage fuses

1. Low Voltage fuses:

i. Semi-enclosed rewire-able fuse: (Kit-kat type)

 It consists of (i) Fuse carrier and (ii) a base

 They are made up to 500 A rated current, but their breaking capacity is low i.e.
on 400 V service voltage, the breaking capacity is about 4000 A.
 Accordingly their use is limited to domestic and lighting load.
 ii. High-Rupturing capacity (H.R.C) cartridge fuse:
 The primary snag of low and uncertain breaking capacity of semi-enclosed rewire able fuses is
overcome by H.R.C . Cartridge fuse.
 Advantages:
 Capable of clearing high as well low fault currents.
 They do not deteriorate with age.
 They have high speed of operation.
 They provide reliable discrimination.
 They require no maintenance.
 Cheaper than other circuit interrupting devices.
 They permit consistent.
× Disadvantages:
× To be replaced after each operation.
× Heat caused by the arc affects associated Switches.

iii. H.R.C fuse with tripping device:

 H.R.C cartridge fuse is provided with tripping device which on blowing the fuse causes the circuit
breaker to operate.
 The weak link in series with tungsten wire gets fused and causes the chemical charge to be
detonated.

 Advantages:
 To prevent ‘single phasing’ all the three phases are opened under single phase fault.
 Effect of full short circuit current is avoided to select inexpensive circuit breaker.
 The CB deals with fairly small fault current which avoids the necessity of replacing the fuse
except under highest currents.
 Range: Breaking capacities of 16,000A to 30,000A at 440 V.
2. High Voltage fuses:
 High voltage circuits need HV fuses having high breaking capacities with high currents.
Some of the high voltage fuses are:

i. Cartridge type:
 Though construction wise they are no different than LV fuses, they have some special
design features.
 Some designs employ fuse elements wound in the form of helix so as to avoid corona
effects at higher voltages.
 On some designs, there are two fuse elements in parallel; one of low resistance (silver
wire) and other of high resistance (tungsten wire).
 Under normal load conditions the low resistance elements carry the normal load current.
 When fault occurs, the low resistance element is blown out and high resistance element
reduces the SC current to finally break the circuit.
 Operative range:
 High voltage cartridge fuses are used up to 33 KV with breaking Capacity of about 8700
A at that voltage. Ratings of the order of 200 A at 6.6 KV and 11 KV and 50 A at 33 KV
are also available.

ii. Liquid Type:

 These fuses are filled with carbon tetrachloride and have the widest range of application
to h.v. systems.
 They may be used for circuits up to about 100 A rated current on systems up to
132 KV and may have breaking capacities of the order of 6100 A.

Difference between fuse and circuit breaker: