Presented By:

Poonam Kaur
Lecturer
EE Department
Baddi University
What is a circuit breaker?
 A circuit breaker is an automatically-operated
electrical switch.

 It is designed to protect an electrical circuit

from damage caused by overload or short-
circuit.
 A circuit breaker is
 a device used to open/close electric circuits.
 an ideal conductor in closed position.
 an ideal insulator in open position.

 Circuit breakers are made in varying sizes, from small

devices that protect an individual household appliance
up to large switchgear designed to protect high voltage
circuits feeding an entire city.
Why use a circuit breaker?

 Fault current switching.

 Load current switching .

 Where does one use circuit
breakers?
HV circuit breakers

GENERATION TRANSMISSION DISTRIBUTION

System voltage: 12-24 kV System voltage: 72-800 kV MEDIUM AND LOW
Rated current: 6000-24000 A Rated current: 2500-4000 A VOLTAGE
Max. short-circuit current: 50-500 kA Max. short-circuit current: 25-63 kA
Types of circuit breakers

 Low voltage circuit breakers

 High-voltage circuit breakers
 Bulk oil
 Minimum oil
 Air blast
 Vacuum
 SF6
Breakers for protections against
earth faults
 ELCB
 RCBO
Use of Circuit Breakers

 Miniature Circuit Breakers (MCB’s)

 Moulded Case Circuit Breakers(MCCB’s)

 Air Circuit Breakers (ACB’s)

From Supply Transformer

to Final Circuits, i.e.
decreasing breaking
capacity
Operation of a circuit breaker
 Once a fault is detected, contacts within the circuit breaker
must open to interrupt the circuit; some mechanically-
stored energy (using something such as springs or
compressed air) contained within the breaker is used to
separate the contacts, although some of the energy
required may be obtained from the fault current itself.
 The circuit breaker contacts must carry the load current
without excessive heating, and must also withstand the
heat of the arc produced when interrupting (opening) the
circuit. Contacts are made of copper or copper alloys, silver
alloys, and other highly conductive materials.
 Service life of the contacts is limited by the erosion of
contact material due to arcing while interrupting the
current. Miniature and molded case circuit breakers
are usually discarded when the contacts have worn,
but power circuit breakers and high-voltage circuit
breakers have replaceable contacts.
 When a current is interrupted, an arc is generated.
This arc must be contained, cooled, and extinguished
in a controlled way, so that the gap between the
contacts can again withstand the voltage in the circuit.
Different circuit breakers use vacuum, air, insulating
gas, or oil as the medium the arc forms in.
Arc interruption mechanism in
various CBs
 Miniature low-voltage circuit breakers use air alone to extinguish the
arc. Larger ratings have metal plates or non-metallic arc chutes to
divide and cool the arc.
 In larger ratings, oil circuit breakers rely upon vaporization of some of
the oil to blast a jet of oil through the arc.
 Gas (usually SF6) circuit rely upon the dielectric strength of the sulfur
hexafluoride (SF6) to quench the stretched arc.
 Vacuum circuit breakers have minimal arcing (as there is nothing to
ionize other than the contact material), so the arc quenches when it is
stretched a very small amount (<2–3 mm). Vacuum circuit breakers are
frequently used in modern medium-voltage switchgear to 66,000 volts.
 Air circuit breakers may use compressed air to blow out the arc, or
alternatively, the contacts are rapidly swung into a small sealed
chamber, the escaping of the displaced air thus blowing out the arc.
 Circuit breakers are usually able to terminate all
current very quickly: typically the arc is extinguished
between 30 ms and 150 ms after the mechanism has
been tripped, depending upon age and construction of
the device.
Faults in an Electrical System

 Overload:
 An overload current is where too much current is drawn down an
electrically healthy circuit e.g. too many appliances are plugged in;
there is no fault in the circuit. A properly designed circuit will
interrupt an overload before any damage is done to the circuit.

 Short Circuits
 This is where a fault of negligible impedance (resistance) occurs
between live conductors. The value of current, which will flow, will
depend on where the fault occurs.
Circuit Breakers
10kV Supply

Single line diagram illustrating the sequence in which

CBs are employed
 Low Voltage Breakers
Miniature Circuit Breaker Handle Position -
Contact Position

DIN Rail Clip

Miniature Circuit Breakers (MCB’s)
 Categories of MCB’s:

 MCB’s types; B,C,D,K,Z

 MCB Tripping:
 Thermal Tripping
 Magnetic Tripping
Types of MCB
 MCB Characteristics

 Thermal tripping:
 In this type of tripping mechanism the current is passed through a bimetal strip
connected in series with a magnetic coil.

 Magnetic tripping:
 When a short circuit occurs, the heavy current in the magnetic coil produces a
strong magnetic field which instantly opens the breaker

 Arc Extinction:
 Facilitated by guiding the arc on splitter plates .The metal splitter plates increase
the length of the arc, splits it up, cools it.
MCB Characteristics
Thermal-Magnetic Tripping

Arc Extinction
Advantages of MCB’s over Fuses

 Advantages of MCB’s :

 Tripped MCB readily identified even in darkness

 Cannot be switched back on while fault exists – trip free mechanism

 Enables supply to be restored immediately and easily even by untrained

personnel

 Accepted as a circuit isolator

 Do not normally require replacement

 Do not age in service

 Tamperproof
Ratings of MCB
 1A
 2A
 3A
 4A
 6A
 10A
 16A
 20A
 32A
 40A
 50A
 63A
 100A
 Earth Fault Breakers
 The ELCB

It operates on the following principle. Under normal conditions the

closed contacts of the ELCB feed the supply current to the load. The
load conductors are passed through a current transformer (CT), a
doughnut shaped device. The load conductors act as primary windings
of the transformer. The CT is fitted with a secondary winding.

Under normal conditions, the total current flowing from the supply to
the load will be the same as the total current flowing back to the supply
from the load. As the current in both directions is equal but opposite, it
has no effect on the CT. However, if some current flows to earth after
the ELCB, possibly due to an earth fault, the current flowing to the load
and from the load will be different.

This differential current will cause a resultant output from the CT. This
output is detected and if above a predetermined safe level, it will cause
the ELCB to trip and disconnect the supply from the load.
Residual Current Devices (RCD’s)
Single Phase RCD
Phase
LOAD

Detection Coil

Neutral

Relay
Test Button

Three Phase RCD Test Button

Test Resistor

LOAD
L1

L2
L3
Earthed
Neutral Metalwork
Detection Coil
Magnetic Core

Trip Relay Amplifier

COMPARISION OF TECHNICAL DATA
Rated Short
Residual Current Circuit Characteristics
Brand Name Range offered
Offered Breaking Curve
Capacity

10,30,100,300
GE 6~40A 6kA B&C
mA

Hager 6~40A 30mA 6kA B&C

ABB 6~40A 10,30mA 6kA B&C

6 kA
Legrand 6-40A 30,300mA C

B&C
Schneider 6-40A 30mA 6kA

Havell's 6~40A 30mA 6kA/10kA B &C

High Voltage Circuit Breakers
Fixed Fixed
contact contact
ARC ARC IS QUENCHED
ARC
BY MEDIUM

Moving Moving
contact
contact

OPERATING
PRINCIPLE OF
BREAKER IN A CIRCUIT BREAKER
 OVERVIEW OF ARCS IN BREAKERS-:

During the separation of

contacts, due to large fault
current and high current density
at the contact region the
surrounding medium ionizes
and thus a conducting medium
is formed. This is called the
ARC.
 PRINCIPLES OF ARC
EXTINCTION
Factors responsible for arc:-

Potential difference between the contacts

Ionised particles between the contacts

By removing any one of these the arc can be

quenched.
 CLASSIFICATION OF
CIRCUIT BREAKERS

OIL AIR VACCUM SF6

OIL AIR VACCUM SF6

CIRCUIT BLAST CIRCUIT CIRCUIT
BREAKER CIRCUIT BREAKER BREAKER
BREAKER
Air Blast Circuit Breakers
These type of breakers employ ‘air blast’ as the quenching
medium.
The contacts are opened by air blast produced by the
opening of blast valve.
 The air blast cools the arc and sweeps away the arcing
products to the atmosphere.
 This rapidly increases the dielectric strength of the
medium between contacts and prevents from re-
establishing the arc.
So the arc is extinguished and the flow of current is
interrupted.
Types of Air blast circuit breaker
(1) Axial-blast type
(2)Cross-blast type
(3)Radial-blast type
1) Axial-blast type:-

In which the air-blast is

directed along the arc path as
shown in Fig.
 2) Cross-blast type:-

In which the air-blast is

directed at right angles to the
arc path as shown in Fig.
Types of Air blast circuit breaker
(3) Radial-blast type:-

In which the air-blast is

directed radially as shown
in Fig

35
1) Axial blast Air blast circuit breaker
2) Cross-blast air breaker
 Advantages
 The risk of fire is eliminated.
 The arcing products are completely removed by the blast
 The growth of dielectric strength is so rapid that final
contact gap needed for arc extinction is very small. This
reduces the size of device.
 The arcing time is very small due to the rapid build up of
dielectric strength between contacts
 Due to lesser arc energy, ABCB are very suitable for
conditions where frequent operation is required
 The energy supplied for arc extinction is obtained from high
pressure air & independent of the current to be interrupted
 Disadvantages
 Air has relatively inferior arc extinguishing properties.

 Considerable maintenance is required for the compressor

plant which supplies the air blast .
 Application
The air blast circuit breakers are finding wide
applications in high voltage installations. Majority of
the circuit breakers for voltages beyond 110 kV are of
this type.
 SF6 Circuit Breaker
 In this circuit breaker, sulphur hexaflouride ( SF6 ) gas
is used as the arc quenching medium. The SF6 gas is an
electro negative gas and has a strong tendency to
absorb free electrons. The contacts of the breaker are
opened in a high pressure flow of SF6 gas and an arc is
struck between them. The conducting free electrons in
the arc are rapidly captured by the gas to form
relatively immobile negative ions. This loss of
conducting electrons in the arc quickly builds up
enough insulation strength to extinguish the arc. The
SF6 circuit breakers are very effective for high power
and high voltage service.
Working of SF6 CB
 In the closed position of the breaker the contacts
remained surrounded by SF6 gas at a pressure of about 2.8
kg/cm2. When the breaker operates the moving contact is
pulled apart and an arc is struck between the contacts. The
movement of the moving contact is synchronized with the
opening of a valve which permits SF6 gas at 14 kg/cm2
pressure from the reservoir to the arc interruption
chamber. The high pressure flow of SF6 rapidly absorbs the
free electrons in the arc path to form immobile negative
ions which are ineffective as charge a carriers. The result is
that the medium between the contacts quickly builds up
high dielectric strength and causes the extinction of the
arc. After the breaker operation the valve is closed by the
action of a set of springs.
SF6 CIRCUIT BREAKER
OVERVIEW OF SF6 GAS:-
Electrical properties
1. High dielectric strength

2. Excellent arc quenching ability

3. Excellent thermal stability

4. Good thermal conductivity

Advantages of SF6 gas:-

1. Increased safety

2. Reduced size

3. Easy installation

4. Low maintenance
 SF6 breakers are costly due to high cost of SF6
SF6 gas has to be reconditioned after every operation
of the breaker, additional equipment is
required for this purpose

 Applications: SF6 breakers have been used for

voltages 115kV to 230 kV, power ratings 10 MVA to 20
MVA
Advantages of SF6 CB
 Due to superior arc quenching property of SF6 , such
breakers have very short arcing time
 Dielectric strength of SF6 gas is 2 to 3 times that of air,
such breakers can interrupt much larger currents.
 Gives noiseless operation due to its closed gas circuit
 Closed gas enclosure keeps the interior dry so that
there is no moisture problem
 SF6 breakers are totally enclosed and sealed from
atmosphere, they are particularly suitable where
explosion hazard exists
Vacuum Circuit Breaker
 In this breaker, vacuum is being used as the arc quenching medium.
Vacuum offers highest insulating strength, it has far superior arc
quenching properties than any other medium. When contacts of a
breaker are opened in vacuum, the interruption occurs at first current
zero with dielectric strength between the contacts building up at a rate
thousands of times that obtained with other circuit breakers.
 When the contacts of the breaker are opened in vacuum (10 -7 to 10 -5
torr), an arc is produced between the contacts by the ionization of
metal vapours of contacts. The arc is quickly extinguished because the
metallic vapours, electrons, and ions produced during arc condense
quickly on the surfaces of the circuit breaker contacts, resulting in
quick recovery of dielectric strength. As soon as the arc is produced in
vacuum, it is quickly extinguished due to the fast rate of recovery of
dielectric strength in vacuum.
Working of VCB
 When the breaker operates the moving contacts
separates from the fixed contacts and an arc is struck
between the contacts. The production of arc is due to
the ionization of metal ions and depends very much
upon the material of contacts. The arc is quickly
extinguished because the metallic vapours, electrons
and ions produced during arc are diffused in short
time and seized by the surfaces of moving and fixed
members and shields. Since vacuum has very fast rate
of recovery of dielectric strength, the arc extinction in
a vacuum breaker occurs with a short contact
separation.
Advantages of VCB
 They are compact, reliable and have longer life
 There are no fire hazards
 They require little maintenance and are quiet in
operation
 Low inertia and hence require smaller power for
control mechanism.
 Applications of VCB: For outdoor applications
ranging from 22 kV to 66 kV.
Oil Circuit Breaker
 The oil in OCBs serves two purposes. It insulates between the phases
and between the phases and the ground and it provides the medium
for the extinguishing of the arc. When electric arc is drawn under oil,
the arc vaporizes the oil and creates a large bubble that surrounds the
arc. The gas inside the bubble is around 80% hydrogen, which impairs
ionization. The decomposition of oil into gas requires energy that
comes from the heat generated by the arc. The oil surrounding the
bubble conducts the heat away from the arc and thus also contributes
to deionization of the arc.

 Main disadvantage of the oil circuit breakers is the flammability of the

oil, and the maintenance necessary to keep the oil in good condition
(i.e. changing and purifying the oil)
 Air at atmospheric Low voltage Up to
1. Air break C.B.
pressure l000 V

Tank type oil circuit

2. Dielectric oil Up to 33 kV
breaker

Minimum oil 36 kV, 1500 MVA

3. Dielectric oil
circuit breaker 132 kV, 3000 MVA

Compressed air
132 kV, 220 kV
4. Air blast C.B. (pressure 20 to 30
400 kV, 760 kV
atmospheres)

132 k V, 220 kV
5. SF6 C.B. SF6 gas
400 kV, 760 kV.

6. Vacuum C.B. Vacuum 11 kV. 33 kV

High voltage direct

7. Vacuum or SF6 ± 500 kV DC.
current C.B.
THANK YOU