Circuit Breakers

1
 Introduction
 Circuit breaker is an electrical isolation equipment
 Make or break a circuit either manually or by remote control
under normal conditions
 Break a circuit automatically under fault conditions
 Make a circuit either manually or by remote control under
fault conditions
 Essentially consists of fixed and moving contacts /
electrodes
 Remains closed under normal operation
 Open after receiving trip command from
• User directly or by remote control
• Protection relays

2
Introduction ..

3
 The Arc Phenomenon
 After the contacts separation, the current continues to
flow due to arc struck between separated contacts.
 Delays the current interruption process
 Generates enormous heat which may cause damage to the
system or to the circuit breaker itself.
 The main problem in a circuit breaker is to extinguish
the arc within the shortest possible time so that heat
generated by it may not reach a dangerous value.
 The arc provides a low resistance path and
consequently the current in the circuit remains
uninterrupted so long as the arc persists.
 During the arcing period, the current flowing between
the contacts depends upon the arc resistance.
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 Arc Extinguishment
High Resistance Method
 Arc can extinguish with the increase in the arc resistance
 Degree of ionisation— the arc resistance increases with
the decrease in the number of ionised particles between the
contacts
 Cooling the arc
 Removing the ionised particles
 Length of the arc— the arc resistance increases with the
length of the arc
 Increased separation of contacts
 Cross-section of arc— the arc resistance increases with
the decrease in area of X-section of the arc.
 Passing the arc through a narrow opening or by having smaller area
of contacts.
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 Arc Extinguishment ..
Current zero method
 Applicable to AC systems only.
 50Hz system have current zero crossing after every
10ms.
 All modern high power AC CBs employ this method
for arc extinction.
 Arc resistance is kept low until current crosses zero
where the arc extinguishes naturally.
 Medium between the contacts still contains ions and electrons
 Therefore, it has small dielectric strength which can easily
broken down by the rising contact voltage to the value known
as re-striking voltage.
 If such a breakdown does occur, the arc will persist for
another half cycle . 6
 Arc Extinguishment ..
 Arc Voltage: The voltage that appears across the
contacts of the circuit breaker during the arcing
period.
 Restriking voltage: Transient voltage that appears
across the contacts at or near current zero during
arcing period.
 Also known as transient recovery voltage (TRV)
 If the dielectric strength of the medium builds up more
rapidly than the restriking voltage, the arc fails to restrike and
the current will be interrupted.
 Recovery voltage: It is the normal frequency (50 Hz)
rms voltage that appears across the contacts of the
circuit breaker after final arc extinction.
 Approximately equal to the system voltage.
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 CB Operating Times
 The operating time of a circuit breaker involves a
number of carefully defined time intervals, such as:

8
 CB fluids
 The basic function of a circuit
breaker is to insert an insulating
medium.
 The fluid medium commonly used
in circuit breakers depends on the
type and rating of the breaker
 Air at atmospheric pressure
 Compressed air
 Mineral oil
 Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6)
 Ultra-high vacuum
 These fluids vary widely in their
relative dielectric strengths
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 Oil CBs
 Earlier circuit breaker technology.
 Insulating oil (e.g. transformer oil) is
used as an arc quenching medium.
 The first oil circuit breakers were of
simple design
 Switch put in a tank filled with mineral oil,
without any arc quenching device.
 Then metal explosion pot was used.
 Breaker was fitted with an insulating arcing
chamber through which the breaker contacts
moved.
 The oil filled arcing chamber, fixes the arc
 Increased pressure inside the arcing chamber
improved the cooling effects on the arc.
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 Oil CBs ..
 Later, the design of the arcing
chamber was further improved
by pumping mechanisms, such
as cross jet explosion pot
 A cross flow of oil was created,
giving extra cooling to the arc.
 The gas due to arc exerts pressure on
the oil in the back passage.
 Moving contact uncovers the arc
splitter ducts, fresh oil is forced
across the arc path.
 The arc is driven sideways into the
arc splitters which increase the arc
length, causing arc extinction.
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 Oil CBs ..
 A next step in the development of
oil circuit breakers was the low/
minimum oil circuit breaker.
 The contacts and arcing chamber placed
into a porcelain insulator instead of in a
bulky metal tank.
 Employs solid materials for insulation
purposes
 Uses a small quantity of oil which is
just sufficient for arc extinction.
 The oil behaves identically in bulk as
well as low oil circuit breaker.
 By using suitable arc control devices,
the arc extinction can be further
facilitated.
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 Air Blast CB
 Air is used as insulator in outdoor-type
substations and for HV transmission lines.
 Air can also be used as extinguishing medium
for current interruption.
 At atmospheric pressure, the interrupting
capability is limited to low voltage and
medium voltages only.
 Compressed air can interrupt higher currents at
considerable higher-voltage levels due to high cooling
power of air at high pressure.
 The arcing products are completely removed by the blast
whereas the oil deteriorates with successive operations.
 The air blast circuit breakers are finding wide applications
in high voltage installations, typically around 110kV.
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 Air Blast CB ..
 In cross-blast type CB, compressed air blows the arc
into a segmented arc-chute compartment.
 Because the arc voltage increases with the arc length, this is
also called high-resistance interruption
 In the axial-blast design, the arc is cooled in axial
direction by the airflow.
 Because the arc voltage hardly increases this is called low-
resistance interruption

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 SF6 CB
 SF6 gas has superior dielectric properties for arc
quenching.
 Contacts are opened in a high pressure flow of SF6 gas
from reservoir to interruption chamber and an arc is struck
between them.
 Conducting free electrons in the arc are rapidly captured
by the gas to form relatively immobile negative ions.
 Loss of conducting electrons in the arc quickly builds up
enough insulation strength.
 Developed for voltages up to 115 kV to 230 kV, power
ratings 10 MVA to 20 MVA.
 Interruption time is less than 3 cycles.
 Additional equipment is required to recondition SF6 after
each breaking operation.
15
 Vacuum CB
 Metallurgical developments made it possible to
manufacture gas-free electrodes.
 Since vacuum offers the highest insulating strength, it
has far superior arc quenching properties than any
other medium.
 Fats operation – interruption occurs on first zero-
crossing.
 The production of arc is due to the ionisation of metal
ions and depends upon the material of contacts.
 Arc extinguished quickly as metallic vapours, ions,
electronic diffuse quickly on metallic surfaces.
 The arc extinction in a vacuum breaker occurs with a
short contact separation.
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 Vacuum CB ..

 Investment cost is very high. If the operation and

maintenance costs are comprehensively considered, the
price is not so high.
 Faster operation also require corresponding over-voltage
management.
 Faster operation also require corresponding over-voltage
management.
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 Analysis of Circuit Interruption

 Before current interruption,

 C is short-circuited by the fault.
 Short-circuit current in breaker
is limited only by L.
 Therefore, the short-circuit
current will lag the voltage by
90º.

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 Analysis of Circuit Interruption..
 Simplified form of fault current
𝑑
 𝐸𝑚 sin(𝜔𝑡 + 𝛼) = 𝑅𝑖𝑓 + 𝐿 𝑖𝑓
𝑑𝑡
𝑅
𝐸𝑚 −𝐿 𝑡
 𝑖𝑓 𝑡 = 𝑒 sin 𝛼 − 𝜃 + sin 𝜔𝑡 + ∅ − 𝜃
𝑍

𝑍 = 𝑅2 + 𝜔𝐿 2

𝜔𝐿
𝜃 = tan−1 𝑅
α is angle at switching
instant

 After the interruption of current

 Circuit contains both L and C
 Second order oscillation
 Magnitude can approximately rise to 2Em
• CB insulation must be able to withstand it
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 Analysis of Circuit Interruption..
𝑑𝑖 1
 𝑣 = 𝑅𝑖 + 𝐿 + ‫𝑡𝑑 𝑖 ׬‬ 𝐿
𝐶
is also known as
𝑑𝑡 𝐶
𝑣
 𝑖𝑐 = 𝑒 −𝛿𝑡 sin 𝜔𝑛 𝑡 − 𝑖𝑐𝑜 𝑒 −𝛿𝑡 sin 𝜔𝑛 𝑡 surge impedance
𝜔𝑛 𝐿
𝑣 𝑣
 𝑖𝑐 = sin 𝜔𝑛 𝑡 = sin 𝜔𝑛 𝑡
𝜔𝑛 𝐿 𝐿
iC
𝐶
v vC
 Voltage across C
1 1 𝐶
 𝑣𝐶 = ‫𝐶𝑖 ׬‬ 𝑑𝑡 = ‫𝑣 ׬‬ sin 𝜔𝑛 𝑡 𝑑𝑡
𝐶 𝐶 𝐿

1 𝐶
 𝑣𝐶 = . 𝑣. . 𝐿𝐶 − cos 𝜔𝑛 𝑡 + 𝑘
𝐶 𝐿
 𝑣𝐶 = 𝑣 − cos 𝜔𝑛 𝑡 + 𝑘
 Initial Condition: vC=0, k=1
 𝑣𝐶 = 𝑣 − cos 𝜔𝑛 𝑡 + 1
 𝑣𝐶𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 2𝑣
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 Analysis of Circuit Interruption..
Upon the fault clearance by breaker:
 Contacts are opened and the arc finally extinguishes at
some current zero.
 The generator voltage v is suddenly applied to the
inductance and capacitance in series.
 Transients are generated at natural frequency of LC circuit
1
𝑓𝑛 =
2𝜋 𝐿𝐶
 The system losses cause the oscillations to decay fairly
rapidly but the initial overshoot increases the possibility of
arc re-striking the arc.
 This transient rise in voltage is the restriking voltage
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 RRRV
 RRRV is the rate of rise of restriking voltage, which
depends on
 Recovery voltage – i.e. normal system voltage
• Magnitude can approximately rise to 2Em
 fn – RRRV is high for high natural frequency
 For a short-circuit occurring near the power station
bus-bars, C being small, the natural frequency can be
high.
 Consequently, RRRV will attain a large value.
 Thus the worst condition for a circuit breaker would be
that when the fault takes place near the bus-bars of terminal
power station.

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 Current Chopping
 Phenomenon of current interruption
before the natural current zero.
 In vacuum interrupters
 High speed movement of contacts can be
obtained due to
• Low mass of breaker contacts
• Small separation requirement
 Arc is to be interrupted at first zero-crossing within a half
cycle.
 Arc usually tends to go out even before current zero due to
rapid dielectric recovery.
 As a result, current can instantaneously drops to zero with
high di/dt.
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 Current Chopping
 The problem can be more
severe in air blast CB due
to multiple chops
 The powerful air-blast can
interrupt arc before actual
zero-crossing.
 The prospective restriking voltage can be very high as
compared to the dielectric strength gained by the gap so that
the breaker restrikes.
 Chop can again occurs due to deionizing force still in action.
 The arc current this time is smaller than the previous case.
 This induces a lower prospective voltage to re-ignite the arc.
 Consequently, the final interruption of current takes place
after several chopping attempts.
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 Current Chopping
 Interruption on non-zero current cause production of
high voltage transients across breaker contacts.
 Transfer of inductive energy (Li2/2) to capacitance can
be approximated as
1 2 1 2
𝐿𝑖 = 𝐶𝑒 𝐿
is also known as surge
2 2 𝐶
𝐿 impedance or characteristic
𝑒=𝑖 impedance
𝐶

 The breaker insulation and downstream equipment has

to bear this prospective voltage e, which increase the
design requirements of overall system.

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 Practice Problem
50 Hz, 11 kV, 3-phase alternator with earthed neutral has a
reactance of 5 ohms per phase and is connected to a bus-bar
through a circuit breaker. The distributed capacitance upto circuit
breaker between phase and neutral in 0·01 μF. Determine
i. Peak re-striking voltage across the contacts of the breaker
2
= 2𝐸𝑚𝑎𝑥 =2× × 11 = 17.96𝑘𝑉
3
ii. Frequency of oscillations
𝑋𝐿 5 1
𝐿= = = 15.9𝑚𝐻 𝑓𝑛 = = 12.61𝑘𝐻𝑧
2𝜋𝑓 100𝜋 2𝜋 𝐿𝐶
iii. The average rate of rise of re-striking voltage upto the first
peak 1 1
𝑇𝑛 = = 12.61𝑘𝐻𝑧 = 79𝜇𝑠 𝑇𝑛 = 39.5𝜇𝑠
𝑓𝑛 2
𝑃𝑒𝑎𝑘 17.96𝑘𝑉
𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑉 = = = 453000 𝑘𝑉
𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘 39.5𝜇𝑠
26
 Practice Problem
In a short circuit test on a circuit breaker, the following
readings were obtained on single frequency transient:
i. Time to reach the peak re-striking voltage is 50μs
ii. The peak re-striking voltage, 100 kV
Determine the average RRRV and frequency of
oscillations.
𝑃𝑒𝑎𝑘 100𝑘𝑉
𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑉 = = = 2 × 106 𝑘𝑉
𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘 50𝜇𝑠

𝑇𝑛 = 2 × 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘 = 100𝜇𝑠

1 1
𝑓𝑛 = = = 10𝑘𝐻𝑧
𝑇𝑛 100𝜇𝑠

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 Resistance Switching
 To reduce the severity of the transient oscillations, a
resistance is connected across the contacts of the
circuit breaker.
 After contact opening, part of arc current flows
through shunt resistance.
 Decrease of arc current and an increase in the rate of de-
ionisation of the arc path.
 Also reduce the di/dt of chopping current MOSA

Valve type
arrester

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 CB Ratings
 Breaking capacity: The current (or MVA) that a circuit
breaker is capable of breaking at given recovery voltage under
specified conditions.
 The prospective short-circuit current should not exceed the rated breaking
capacity.
 Making Capacity: Current magnitude during the first cycle of
current wave after the CB closing.
 Possibility of CB closing during short circuit always exists.
 Therefore, making capacity should be equal to peak breaking capacity.
 Approximate DC component = 0.8 × (Peak AC component)
• DC component dies away rapidly
• Typical decrement factor is 0·8 per cycle
 Making capacity = 1.8 × (Peak AC component)
 Short-time rating: It is the period for which the CB is able to
carry fault current while remaining closed.
 Normal current rating: The current which the CB is capable
of carrying continuously under normal operation.
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 Practice Problem
 A circuit breaker is rated as 1500 A, 1000 MVA, 33
kV, 3-second, 3-phase oil circuit breaker. Point out
i. Rated normal current 𝐼𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 = 1500𝐴

ii. Breaking capacity 𝑆𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 = 1000𝑀𝑉𝐴

iii. Rated symmetrical breaking current (symmetrical current

breaking capacity) 𝐼𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 = 𝑆1∅ = 1000𝑀𝑉𝐴 = 17496𝐴 (rms)
𝑉1∅ 3×33𝑘𝑉

iv. Rated making current

𝐼𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 = 1.8 × 2 × 17496 = 44614 (Peak)
v. Short-time rating
17496A for 3s

vi. Rated service voltage. 33kV

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