492 ELECTRICAL POWER SYSTEMS

relatively heavy currents at low voltages as the gas pressures developed are low and also the
dielectric strength is low. Many a times a combination of both is used so that the arc chamber
is equally efficient at low as well as at high currents. Such chambers, however, suffer from the
disadvantages of longer arcing periods which can be eliminated by providing oil injection devices
in addition to the self-blast. The contacts are usually operated by pull rods or rotating insulators
actuated in turn by solenoid or pneumatic mechanisms. This type of C.B. is available up to
8000 MVA at 245 kV with a total break time of 3 to 5 cycles.

15.5 AIR CIRCUIT BREAKERS

The arc interruption in oil is due to the generation of hydrogen gas because of the decomposition
of oil. This fact prompted the investigators to study the interruption in air. No doubt, arc
interruption properties of hydrogen are much superior to air, but air has several advantages
as an arc extinguishing medium as compared to oil. They are:
1. Fire risk and maintenance associated with the use of oil are eliminated.
2. Arcing products in air are generally completely removed whereas oil deteriorates
with successive breaking operation. Therefore, the expense of regular oil replace-
ment is avoided.
3. Heavy mechanical stresses set up by gas pressure and oil movement are absent.
4. Relatively inferior arc extinguishing properties of air may be offset by using various
principles of arc control and operating air at high pressures.
This is why except for a certain medium range of voltages, air circuit breakers are
widely used for the low voltage circuits as well as the highest transmission voltages.

Arcing
contacts

Main
contacts

(a) (b)

Fig. 15.7 The use of additional contacts for arcing:

(=) Fully closed; and (>) Main contacts open and arcing contacts closed.

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Simple air circuit breakers which do not incorporate any arc-control devices are used
for low voltages, below 1 kV. The oil C.Bs. are not used for heavy fault currents on low voltages
due to carbonization of oil and unduly rapid current collapse. These breakers usually have two
pairs of contacts per phase. The main pair of contacts carries the current under normal operating
conditions and is made of copper. The additional pair actually becomes the arcing electrode as
the circuit breaker is opened and are made of carbon because the vaporization and distortion
of the contacts due to the heat of the arc are confined to these contacts and, therefore, the
material used for the contacts should be non-volatile. The main contacts separate while the
arcing pair is still in contact and the arc is, therefore, initiated only when the arcing pair
separates (Fig. 15.7).
The principle of operation of these breakers is based on the high resistance method
discussed earlier.
Arc Chute Air Circuit Breakers: In this case the arc is extinguished by lengthening and
increasing the voltage gradient i.e., power loss of the arc. The arc discharge is moved upward
by both thermal and electromagnetic effects as shown in Fig. 15.8. This is then driven into a
chute consisting of splitters and baffles. The splitters increase the length of the arc even further
and the baffles give improved cooling. In this breaker relatively high arc resistance is obtained
near current zeros. This effect plays an important role in obtaining high breaking capacity by
modifying the circuit p.f. near current zero such that the voltage available to restrike the arc
is appreciably less than the peak value. A disadvantage of arc chute principle is the inefficiency
at low currents where the electromagnetic fields are weak. The chute itself is not necessarily
less efficient in its lengthening and de-ionizing action than at high currents, but the movement
of the arc into the chute tends to become slower and high speed interruption is less assured.

Arc
chute
Splitter
plates

Arc
runner Arc
Arcing
contact

Main
contact

Fig. 15.8 Diagram of an arc chute air circuit breaker.

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15.6 AIR BLAST CIRCUIT BREAKERS

The most common method of arc control in air circuit breakers is that of subjecting the arc to
high pressure air blast. There are two types of air blast circuit breakers: (i) Axial blast types,
and (ii) Cross blast types.
The designations refer to the direction of the air blast in relation to the arc.
Axial Blast Circuit Breaker
The fixed and moving contacts are held in closed position by spring pressure (Fig. 15.9). The
breaker reservoir tank is connected to the arc chamber when a tripping impulse opens the air
valve. The air entering the arc chamber exerts pressure on the moving contacts which moves
when the air pressure exceeds the spring force. The air moves with sonic velocity near the
nozzle and the arc is subjected to high pressure and there is considerable heat loss due to
forced convection. With this the diameter of the arc is reduced and the core temperature is
very high. The temperature gradients set up within the arc are very steep which results in
greater heat losses.

Arcing
chamber
Moving
Piston contacts

Fixed Spring
contact closing

Series
Air valve opened isolator
by tripping impulse

Air reservoir

Fig. 15.9 Axial blast air circuit breaker.

When the current passes through zero, the air blast is more effective because the residual
column is very narrow and the high rate of heat loss becomes increasingly effective. It is
known that with a given arc length and heat loss per unit surface area, the total rate of heat
loss is proportional to the arc diameter, whereas the total energy content of the arc is roughly
proportional to the square of the diameter. The narrower the residual column, the more effective
are the heat losses in reducing the temperature and conductivity. Such conditions may allow
the column to recover dielectric strength very rapidly at current zeros.

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It is important to note here that the air pressure from the reservoir is maximum initially
and falls thereafter. It is known that for a particular reservoir pressure there is a certain
optimum contact gap at which the breaking capacity is a maximum. This gap is usually small
(in mm) and may reach very quickly if the inertia of the moving parts is kept to a minimum.
The shorter the gap, relatively smaller amounts of energy are released in the arcing chamber.
The arc is kept in the high velocity blast of air converging into the nozzle throat. The falling
reservoir pressure and short optimum gap result in three important features of the axial blast
principle.
1. The interruption must take place at the first current zero after the optimum gap has
reached otherwise restrikes may take place at subsequent zeros due to falling air pressures. It
is to be noted here that the chances of interruption in case of O.C.B. increase if arcing persists
beyond the first current zero.
2. The axial blast circuit breaker gives high speed clearance because of the short gap
needed for interruption. This is desirable for improving transient stability on high voltage
transmission and interconnection networks.
3. The small contact gap after interruption constitutes inadequate clearance for the
normal system voltage; therefore, an auxiliary switch known as an isolating switch is
incorporated as part of this C.B. and opens immediately after fault interruption to provide the
necessary insulation clearance. The moving contact is allowed to return and engage the fixed
contact as the air pressure in the chamber falls below the spring pressure. The air pressure on
the moving contact must be maintained until the isolator is fully open.
For low voltages the isolating switch is not required and an adequate travel is provided
instead for the moving contact.
The arcing time of arc controlled circuit breaker varies considerably depending upon
the breaking current. The higher the breaking current (within the rating of the breaker), the
smaller the arcing time. The arcing time in case of air blast circuit breaker is independent of
the breaking current because of the fixed air pressure and the optimum short gap. The arc
duration as a function of breaking current is almost flat as can be seen in Fig. 15.10. The short
gap along with an isolating switch gives a total break time of 2 to 5 cycles.

2.0
Arc duration in cycles

Controlled oil
1.5

1.0

- 0.5 Air
blast

0 20 40 60 80 100
% of breaking current

Fig. 15.10 Short circuit performance characteristic.

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The operation of the air blast circuit breaker is very much affected by the circuit natural
frequency. When the current is passing through zero value the residual column has relatively
high resistance which reduces the likelihood of the restriking voltage transient being damped.
Now the effect of rate of rise of restriking voltage during this zero current condition is more
serious especially where the chance of extinction decreases after the optimum gap has reached.
It is to be noted that the chance of extinction in case of oil circuit breaker increases form one
current zero to the next. The effect of natural frequency on the performance of the air blast
circuit breaker is overcome by shunting the arc with resistors of suitable values.
The Cross Blast Air Circuit Breakers
In this case the blast is directed transversely, across the arc and the physical conditions are
different from the axial blast. The cross blast lengthens and forces the arc into a suitable
chute and serves rather the same purpose as electromagnetic force in the low voltage air C.B.
discussed earlier. The final interruption gap is good enough to provide normal insulation
clearance so that a series isolating switch is unnecessary. Consistent high speed operation is
not usually obtained to the extent possible with the axial blast air C.Bs.
Air blast C.Bs. can also be of (i) live tank type, and (ii) dead tank type. Live tank has a
metal tank insulated from ground and compressed air is used for insulation between contacts.
The tank is supported by a porcelain insulator. In case of dead tank type, the tank is held at
ground potential. The breaker contacts are insulated from the tank by compressed air in parallel
with solid insulation immersed in the air.
Most of the circuit breakers up to 11 kV are either of the air break type or of the oil
break type. Between 11 kV and 66 kV mainly oil C.Bs. are in use while between 132 kV and
275 kV the market is shared by oil (both minimum as well as bulk oil) and gas blast breakers.
At the highest system voltages i.e., between 400 kV and above the C.Bs. are of the gas blast
type.

15.7 VACUUM CIRCUIT BREAKERS

A vacuum system is one in which the pressure maintained is at a value below the atmospheric
pressure and is measured in terms of mm of mercury. One standard atmospheric pressure at
0°C is equal to 760 mm of mercury. One mm of Hg pressure is also known as one torr after the
name of Torricelli who was the first to obtain pressures below atmospheric, with the help of
mercury barometer. Sometimes 10–3 torr is known as one micron. It is now possible to obtain
pressures as low as 10–8 torr.
In a Townsend type of discharge, in a gas, the mean free path of the particles is small
and electrons get multiplied due to various ionization processes and an electron avalanche is
formed. In a vacuum of the order of 10–5 torr the mean free path is of the order of few metres
and thus when the electrodes are separated by a few mm an electron crosses the gap without
any collision. Therefore, in a vacuum the current growth prior to breakdown cannot take place
due to formation of electron avalanches. However, if it could be possible to liberate gas in the
vacuum by some means, the discharge could take place according to Townsend process. Thus,
a vacuum arc is different from the general class of low and high pressure arcs. In the vacuum

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