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ME264
Burnout of ACB of Main Switchboard
Technical committee

Ship type Bulker

Date of build July 1982 at NKK Corporation, Tsurumi
Navigation route Tramper (Japan ~ Australia)
Trouble machinery
Category MSB
Name ACB
Type AE1000-S 3P DR 946A
Date of trouble January 1994, during S/B

1. Outline of breakdown

During preparation for berthing (while waiting anchor), white smoke from the No.1 air circuit breaker
(ACB) was observed while No.1 D/G and No.2 D/G were operated in parallel. Manually opening the
ACB was attempted but failed due to melted and adhered contacts. Thus, the ACB unit was detached
from the bus line.
Fire extinguishing work was carried using a CO² extinguisher and the stopped T/G was started to be
operated in parallel with No.2 D/G.

2. Cause

Due to abnormal temperature increase in the ACB current-flow part, the contact spring became fragile
(deformed by softening), dropping contact pressure of the main contact, generating unprocessable arc in
the spark arrester, resulting in burnout.
• Free length of contact spring: Original 54mm
• Deflection: R&S phases 51mm,
T phase 44mm
The probable causes for temperature increase of the ACB current-flow part are as follows:
1) Clearance between the movable arc contact point and the fixed arc contact point is 0.5mm or more
and 1.0mm or less under normal condition. The ACB of this vessel, however, did not have any gap
between the arc contact points (they are in contact). Therefore, these touching arc contact points
resulted in abnormal temperature increase due to dropped contact pressure and increased contact
resistance at contact points (drop in contact pressure and different contact materials).
2) Temperature increase due to deterioration of flexible conductor
In comparison with the original resistance between terminals of 40 µΩ, the resistance for this vessel
was 200 µΩ.
3) Combined cause of (1) and (2)

3. Repair

Repairing was carried out in Japan by the maker.

The ACB of No.1 D/G was disassembled and the following parts were replaced:

1
 (1) Source-side conductor (RT phases)
(2) Fixed arc contact (RST phases)
(3) Movable arc contact (RST phases)
(4) Contact arm (RST phases)
(5) Flexible conductor (RST phases)
T phase: disconnection
(6) Load-side conductor (RST phases)
(7) Contact spring (RST phases)
T phase: drop-off
[The parts below were burnt out.]
(8) Interphase insulation barrier (x 4)
(9) Spark arrester (RST phases)
(10) CT (current transformer) (T phase)
(11) Insulating tube (x 3)

Fig. Internal Structure of AE-1000 Low Pressure Air Circuit Breaker

Internal Structure and Name of Each Part

The internal structure diagram above shows the circuit breaker at the time of turn-on.