Introduction to Circuit Breaker

 Introduction
 Type of CB
 Fault Clearing Time of CB
 Arc Voltage
 Arc Interruption
 Restriking Voltage and Recovery Voltage
 What is Circuit breaker (CB)?

CB is a mechanical switching device capable of

making
carrying
breaking
currents under normal circuit conditions.

making, carrying for a specified time,

and automatically breaking currents under specified

abnormal circuit conditions such as those of short-
circuits (faults).
 The insulating medium
◦ oil circuit breaker
◦ air-break circuit breaker
◦ air blast circuit breaker
◦ sulphur hexafluorid (SF6) circuit breaker
◦ vacuum circuit breaker
◦ Any many more!
 The function of CB -> to isolate the faulty part of the power
system.
1. A protective relay detects abnormal conditions
2. The relay connected to the CT and VT detects the fault
3. Actuates and closes its contacts
4. Complete the trip circuit sends a tripping signal to the
circuit breaker
5. The circuit breaker isolates the faulty part of the power
system
6. Current flows from the battery in the trip circuit
7. Trip coil of the circuit breaker is energized
8. The circuit breaker operating mechanism is actuated
9. It operates for the opening operation to disconnect the
faulty element.
 A circuit breaker has 2 contacts:
◦ fixed contact
◦ moving contact
 The contacts are placed in a closed chamber containing a
fluid insulating medium (either liquid or gas) which
quenches (extinguishes) the arc formed between the
contacts.
 Under normal conditions the contacts remain in closed
position. When the circuit breaker is required to isolate the
faulty part, the moving contact moves to interrupt the
circuit.
 On the separation of the contacts, an arc is formed
between them and the current continues to flow from one
contact to the other through the arc .
 .The circuit is interrupted (isolated) when the arc is finally
extinguished.
 When the moving contact starts separating, the
insulating fluid between the two contacts
experiences a vary high electric stress.
 The electric stress is almost inversely
proportional to the distance between two
electrodes, i.e., between two contacts.
 Thus, at the instant of contact separation, the
insulating medium between the contacts is
subjected to extremely high electric stress
leading to breakdown.
 The breakdown of the insulating medium
between the contacts results in formation of a
conducting channel or an arc between the
contacts.
 As the moving contact moves further away, the
arc is also drawn along with it. The arc which is
in the plasma form continues to carry the pre-
opening current.
 In spite of physical separation of the two
contacts, current continues to flow through the
arc and thus, the interruption is not effective.
 The interruption of the current takes place only
when the arc is finally quenched (extinguished)
and ceases to exist.
 Thus, circuit breaking may be called an art of arc
quenching.
 A circuit breaker is required in the power system
to give rapid fault clearance, in order to avoid
overcurrent damage to equipment and loss of
system stability.
 The fault tripping signal to the circuit breaker is
derived from the protective relay via the trip
circuit.
 After fault inception, the relay senses the fault
and closes its contacts to complete the trip
circuit.
 The relay takes some time to close its contacts.
 After closing of the contacts of the trip circuit,
the trip coil of the circuit breaker is energized
and the operating mechanism of the breaker
comes into operation.
 The contacts of the circuit breaker start
separating to clear the fault.
 On the separation of the contacts, an arc is
formed between them and the current continues
to flow through the arc.
 The fault is cleared when the arc is finally
extinguished.
 The fault clearing time is the sum of relaying
time and breaker interrupting time.
The various components of the fault clearing time of the circuit
breaker are defined as follows:

Relaying time = Time from fault inception to the closure of trip

circuit of CB.
Breaker opening time = Time from closure of the trip circuit to
the opening of the contacts of the circuit breaker.
Arcing time = Time from opening of the contacts of CB to final
arc extinction.
Breaker interrupting time = Breaker opening time + arcing time
Fault clearing time = Relaying time + breaker interrupting time .
 The voltage drop across the arc is called arc
voltage. As the arc path is purely resistive, the arc
voltage is in phase with the arc current.
 The magnitude of the arc voltage is very low,
amounting to only a few per cent of the rated
voltage. A typical value may be about 3 per cent of
the rated voltage.
 There are two methods of arc interruption:
(i) High Resistance Interruption
(ii) Current Zero Interruption
 What is restriking voltage? -> Transient of
arc voltage.
 What is recovery voltage? -> The power
frequency rms voltage, which appears across
the breaker contacts after the arc is finally
extinguished and transient oscillations die
out.
For a 132 kV system, the reactance and
capacitance up to the location of the circuit
breaker is 3 ohms and 0.015 mF,
respectively. Calculate the following:
(a) The frequency of transient oscillation.
(b) The maximum value of restriking voltage
across the contacts of the circuit breaker.
(c) The maximum value of rate of rise of
restriking voltage (RRRV).