Condition Monitoring of Electrical

Components (EEL 426)

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portal.com/maintenance-management-of-
electrical-equipment-condition-monitoring-
based-part-4

Makarand Sudhakar Ballal

Condition Monitoring of Circuit
Breakers and Switchgear
1. Circuit Breakers

2. Switchgear

3. Failure Modes and

Wear

4. Condition
Monitoring and
Maintenance
SF6 is widely used in high voltage gas circuit
breakers because of its high dielectric strength
and excellent arc interruption properties and
because it is non-toxic and recombines after
arcing. SF6 has a high global warming
potential, and while it is readily possible to
prevent SF 6 from being released to the
atmosphere when it is used in gas circuit
breakers, alternatives such as synthetic air or
CO2 have been proposed.
In 220 kV, 400 kV and 765 kV applications, the SF6 gas
pressure is maintained at 6.5 bar. You will be amazed that,
even though voltage level is increasing, same pressure of
SF6 i.e. 6.5 bar is used for 220, 400 and 765 kV applications
Combination of free
electrons with molecules
produces heavy and big
ions, which have
very low mobility. Because
of the absorption of free
electrons and low mobility
of ions SF6 has very
excellent dielectric property.
The dielectric strength of
SF6 gas is about 2.5 times
more than that of air.SF6
gas pressure is 14.2
kg/sq.cm
The pressure in a vacuum interrupter at the time of sealing off is
kept at about 10-6 torr. The moving contacts of the circuit
breaker are move through a distance of 5 to 10 mm depending
upon the operating voltage.

Vacuum Circuit Breaker or VCB and

Vacuum Interrupter. A vacuum
circuit breaker is such kind of
circuit breaker where the arc
quenching takes place in vacuum.
The technology is suitable for mainly
medium voltage application.
What is the clearing time of a circuit breaker?

"Maximum
clearing time"
is the
total time from
the initiation of
the over current
to the breaker
being fully open
and the current
at zero.

It includes breaker sensing and reaction time and

arcing time.
• Daily (Supervisory tasks)
Calculation of switched currents
Logging of switched currents
Calculation of accumulated current
Checking of status signals
Compare results with service criteria
Monitor Gas Pressure and Trip Circuit
• Monthly (Routine checks)
Check SF6 gas density
Record findings in logbook or report form
Compare results with service criteria
Visual check of Circuit Breaker
• Annually (Functional checks)
Operate the circuit-breaker by using the hand crank
Operate the circuit-breaker from the control cubicle by
using using electric control.
Check heating in control cubicle
Visual check of control cubicle
 Test during AMC
• Dew point measurement
• Leakage test
• Timing of breaker
• Contact resistance
• DCRM

Dewpoint: The temperature (in Degrees °C or °F) at which

moisture (water vapor) in the gas begins to condense as liquid
(droplets or dew) or solid (ice). Typical dewpoint in SF6
equipment ranges from -60C to -5C.
NO and NC Contacts
NO and NC Contacts
Trip Circuit Supervision Schemes
What is trip circuit Supervision?

There are different contacts connected in series along a trip circuit

of an electrical circuit breaker. There must be some situation when
the circuit breaker should not trip even a faulty current passes
through its power contacts. Such situations are low gas pressure
in SF6 circuit breaker, low air pressure in pneumatic operated
circuit breaker etc.

In this situation the trip coil of the CB must not be energized to trip
the CB. So there must be NO contacts associated with gas
pressure and air pressure relays, connected in series with breaker
trip coil.
So if any of the intermediate contacts is detached, the
circuit breaker fails to trip. Not only that, if DC supply to
the trip circuit fails, the CB will not trip. To overcome this
abnormal situation, trip circuit supervision becomes
very necessary
The above scheme is for supervision while circuit
breaker is closed. This scheme is called post close
supervision. There is another supervision scheme which
is called pre and post close supervision.
This trip circuit supervision scheme is also quite simple.
The only difference is that here in this scheme, one NC
contact of same auxiliary switch is connected across the
auxiliary NO contact of the trip circuit. The auxiliary NO
contact is closed when CB is closed and auxiliary NC
contact is closed when CB is open and vice versa.

Hence, as shown in the next figure when the circuit

breaker is closed the trip circuit supervision network
is completed via auxiliary NO contact but when the
circuit breaker is open the same supervision
network is completed via NC contact. The resistor is
used series with the lamp for preventing unwanted
tripping of circuit breaker due to internal short circuit
caused by failure of the lamp.
https://electrical-engineering-portal.com/tripping-schemes-trip-
circuit-supervision
Routine and Type Tests of a Circuit Breaker
IS 13118 : 1991
Routine tests are also performed as per recommendations of the
standards of Indian Engineering Service and Indian Standards.
These tests are performed on the manufacturers’ premises.
Routine tests confirm the proper functioning of the circuit breaker.
The routine tests confirm the proper functioning of the circuit
breaker.

Power frequency voltage test being the same as mentioned under

the heading of type tests, the millivolt drop test is performed to
determine the voltage drop within the current path of the breaker
mechanism. Operational test is performed on the breaker by
simulating its tripping by artificially closing the contacts of the
relays.
Type Tests of Circuit Breaker

Type tests are conducted for the purpose of proving the

capabilities and confirming the rated characteristic of the circuit
breaker. Such tests are conducted in the specially built testing
laboratory. Type tests can be broadly classified as the mechanical
performance test, thermal test, dielectric or insulating test, short
circuit test for checking the making capacity, breaking capacity,
short time rating current and operating duty.
Mechanical Test – It is mechanical ability type test involving the repeated opening and
closing of the breaker. A circuit breaker must open and close at the correct speed and
perform its designated duty and operation without mechanical failure.

Thermal Test – Thermal tests are carried out to check the thermal behavior of the circuit
breakers. The breaker under test deal with the steady-state temperature rises due to the
flow of its rated current through its pole in a rated condition. The temperature rise for
rated current should not exceed 40° for current less than 800A normal current and 50°
for normal value of current 800A and above.

Dielectric Test – These tests are performed to check power frequency and impulse
voltage withstand capacity. Power frequency tests are kept on a new circuit breaker; the
test voltage changes with a circuit breaker rated voltage.
The test voltage with a frequency between 15-100Hz is applied as follows. (1) between
poles with circuit breaker closed (2) between pole and earth with circuit breaker open,
and (3) across terminals with circuit breaker open.
In impulse tests impulse voltage of specified magnitude is applied to the breaker. For
outdoor circuit dry and wet tests are conducted.
Short -Circuit Test – Circuit breakers are subjected to
sudden short-circuits in short-circuit test laboratories,
and oscillograms are taken to know the behavior of the
circuit breakers at the time of switching in, during contact
breaking and after the arc extinction.
The oscillograms are studied with particular reference to
the making and breaking currents, both symmetrical and
asymmetrical restriking voltages, and switchgear is
sometimes tested at rated conditions.
Pole Discrepancy Protection is an inherent feature of
Circuit Breaker which ensures that all the three poles of
Circuit Breaker is tripped / closed within a predefined
time period. If there is a mismatch of Breaker opening /
closing time then Pole Discrepancy Protection will
operate and will trip all the three poles of the Breaker.

Suppose due a particular fault, a trip command is issued

to the Breaker but due to some problem only two poles
of Breaker could open simultaneously and the one pole
of Breaker opened after some time more than the set
time. In this case Pole Discrepancy Protection will
operate and will trip all the three pole of the Breaker.
Basically, Pole Discrepancy feature is
incorporated through a Timer and a fixed
time is set in the timer after which Pole
Discrepancy is supposed to initiate.
Suppose, the time is set at 2.5 sec in the
Pole Discrepancy Timer, then if there is
mismatch of more than 2.5 sec in Breaker
opening / closing time then Pole
Discrepancy shall operate and shall trip all
the three poles of Circuit Breaker.
Condition Monitoring of CB

Off Line: Routine Test and Type Tests

On Line:
1, SF6 Gas Pressure
2.PDR
3.Trip Circuit Supervision
4.Spring Charge Indication (in case of spring charge
mechanism)
What is the necessity of monitoring CB
Timings?
What is meant by C,O, CO,OC, COC
and OCO Timings?
What are they for EHV CB?