CIRCUIT BREAKER

The circuit breaker serves two basic purposes

Switching during normal operating conditions for the purpose

of operation and maintenance.

Switching during abnormal conditions such as short circuit and

interrupting fault currents.
CLASIFICATION OF CIRCUIT BREAKERS

ƭBased on Voltage
Low -less than 1kV
Medium - 1kV to 52kV
High/Extra High- 66kV to 765kV
Ultra High -above 765kV

ƔBased on location
Indoor
Outdoor

Based on External design

dead tank
Live tank

Based on Interrupting media

Air break
Air blast
Bulk oil
Minimum oil
SF6 gas insulated
vacuum
 Classification of Breakers

Outdoor breakers (AIS)

Indoor Switchgear (GIS)
CLASIFICATION OF AIS BREAKERS

DEAD TANK TYPE LIVE TANK TYPE

Axial blast - Contraction chamber principle in MOCB
Cross blast in MOCBs
 BHEL MOCB Breaker details
Type: HLR –E with BLG Mechanism
Closing Speed: 8 to 9.2 m / s
Opening speed: 6.8 to 7.8 m/s
Closing Time : 130 ms
Opening Time : 25 =/- 3 ms
Contact stroke ; 460 to 490 mm
Grading Capacitor value: 800 pF
N2 opening Pr: 5.5 to 6.5 ksc
Resetting Pr: 4.5 to 5.5 ksc
 Protective measures :

• Breaker should be dead

• Breaker should be earthed
• Closing springs to be discharged
 MOCBs Pre commissioning
Checks
1. Oil sampling , testing for BDV and replacing ,if
needed.
2. Nitrogen gas pressure checking and topping up.
PRV checking
3. Terminal clamp tightness checking
4. Phase to phase and phase to earth clearances are
to be checked
5. Termination of power and control supplies
6. Slow operations of CB
7. Checking sinking gap of main contacts
symmetrical movement of operating insulators
8. Mechanical interlock for spring charging
9. Mechanical interlock to avoid second closing
10. Check for all split pins,dowels pins, circlips,
check nuts etc.
11. Lubrication of all moving parts
12. Checking operations of CB (local & remote)
13. Checking pole discrepancy relay and anti
pumping features
14. Check all possible trippings
15. Interlocks between CB ,isolators,earth switches
etc.
 Important Measurements:
• Sinking Gap – 50 mm at close position
• Symmetrical movement – 34 mm
• End Spring measurement
• M measurement 254 mm ( 260 mm)
• Moving Contact tip ; 18 / 7 mm (Good)
12 / 1 mm (bad)
• S measurement : 28.5 to 30.5 mm ( arc
control device)
Vacuum Interrupter
 Electrical Properties
1. Electron Affinity
SF6 + e- ------ SF6 –
SF6 + e - ----- SF5 - + F
2. Dielectric Strength: 2.5 to 3 times stronger than
air.Air has limited influence on BDV.
• 10 % air by volume reduces BDV of SF6 by 3%
• 30 % air by volume reduces BDV of SF6 by 10%
• BDV of SF6 reaches that of Oil at a pressure of 3 Bar
3. Arc Quenching Capacity:
• Arc quenching time is about 100 times less than
that of using air.
4. Loss dissipation factor is low less than
2 x 10 12
5. Very low arc time constant –time between
current zero and the instants the conductance
of contact space reaches zero value.
SF6 GAS PROPERTIES
First generation interrupter-Double pressure type

Closed Position

Opening Position

Open Position
Second generation interrupter-Single pressure type

Conducting Nozzle design Insulated Nozzle design

Second generation interrupter-Single pressure type

A. Closed Position B. Opening Position C. Open position

Arc interruption in duel flow conducting nozzle interrupter
(Second generation)
Arc-quenching in duel flow conducting nozzle interrupter
 245 kV and 400kV SF6 Breakers

Preparation of hydraulic oil systems

a. Open all the air venting screws,PRV
b. Fill aero shell fluid-4 through 60 micron filter
c. Start the oil pump and priming of the pump
d. Close venting screws and PRV
e. Check priming pressure of Nitrogen in
accumulator
f. Venting of oil at accumulator inlet and at drive
assemblies of all 3 poles
g. Connect standard pressure gauge
h. Check for a. General Lock out
b. Closing Lock put
c. Auto reclosure lock out
d. Pump on and off pressures
i. Check for any oil leaks in pipe lines,in
pilot valve/ main valve
j. Topping up of oil
Preparation of Pneumatic Pressure System

i. Start the motor and check for direction of

rotation
ii. During building up pressure,check for leaks by
listening / soapy water
iii. Venting and draining
iv. Check for all pressure settings as above
v. Leak Test: Note P0 at T0.After 24 hrs note Pe at
Te.Then P = Pe X (273+T0/273+Te centigrade
Peff = Po-P < 2.0 bar
vi. Air consumption measurement for c-o-co-
oco operations
 Preparation of SF6 gas system
1. Charging of filters
2. Making density monitor operational
3. Evacuation of the CB up to 20mbar
4. Filling of SF6 gas up to 1bar
5. Connect the standard pressure gauge
6. Filling SF6 gas up to lock out pressure
7. Check for vanishing/appearance of lock out
signal
8. Continue filling SF6 gas till loss of gas pressure
9. Check for vanishing / appearance of loss
of gas signal
10. Check for SF6 gas leak test with detector
11. Dew point measurement
 EHV SF6 Breaker operating
values
400kV SF6 CIRCUIT BREAKERS:
• Oil: Pump Start : 313 +/-3 bar
• Stop : 325 +/-3 bar
• Pressure Low : 303 +/- 3 bar

Closing Lock Out Oil pressure

  Less than 273 +/- 3 bar
Loss of SF6 :Less than 6.7 bar       
General Lock out
• Oil Pressure : Less than 253 bar
• SF6 gas pressure : Less than 6.5 bar

        230kV SF6 CIRCUIT BREAKERS:

AIR:
• Compressor Start : 19.5 bar
• Stop : 20.5 bar
• Low air pressure : Less than 19 bar
      
Auto Reclosure Lock Out:
Air : Less than 18 bar
Closing Lock Out:
• Air Pressure : Less than 17.5 bar
•         Loss of SF6 : Less than 6.2 bar 
General Lock out:
• Air Pressure : Less than 16.7 bar
• SF6 gas pressure : Less than 6.0 bar
Blast cylinder assembly
145kV hydraulic mechanism operated SF6 gas breaker
OPERATION OF CLOSING RESISTOR
RESISTOR STACK ASSEMBLY HOUSED
INSIDE CLOSING RESISTOR UNIT
TERMINAL SIDE RESISTOR ASSEMBLY
Third Generation SF6 Gas Circuit Breakers
Contacts after 15 short circuit fault
current clearing of 31.5kA
Spring operated mechanisms
Hydraulic operating mechanism
Pneumatic mechanism
Solenoid operating mechanism
SF6 gas circuit breaker with SF6 gas operated mechanism
SF6 gas operated mechanism
 Comparison of Operating Mechanisms
Sl. Feature Spring Hydraulic SF6 Pneumatic
No. Dynamic
1 Energy stored Medium Very high Medium High
2 Mechanism fluid - Required Required Required
monitoring
3 Noise Medium Low Medium High
4 Mechanism fluid - Operation Operation Operation
leakage affected Affected may be
affected
5 Corrosion of May be Not present Not present May be
components present present
6 Cost Low High Medium Medium
7 Interposing Required Not required Not Required
mechanism required
8 Damping device Required Built-in Built-in Required
800kV Type 3AT4/5
SF6 gas circuit breaker
 HV Circuit Breakers

• No likely alternative to SF6 as arc quenching medium

• Key development objectives

• Increased operational Reliability & Availability
• Reduced in-service Attention
• Ability to meet increasing Network Switching Demands
Mastering of the current
interrupting technology
Thermal blast
Auto puffer
Self blast
Double Motion
Double motion principle
The self-blast technology was further
optimized by using the "double-rnotion"-
principle. This leads to a further reduction
of the operating energy by reducing the
kinetic energy consumed during opening.
The method consists of displacing the two
arcing contacts in opposite directions. With
such a system it was possible to reduce the
necessary opening energy for circuit
breakers drastically.
 Interruption

with with
with small
small
with short-circuit
short-circuit
current current
current
current
Spring mechanisms - a necessity
now
10’000
operations in a
Low number of
operations in 40
few years years

• Long life time

• High reliability
Operations
with max.
• High availability Temperature
s up to +50
energy • High repeatability
content °C
• Low maintenance

Operations with Temperatures

min. energy down to -50
content °C

 Convergent and divergent criteria

of an operating mechanism - Spring is the best
fit
Closing Operation -GL318
Pole A
Closing Time (ms)
Chamber 1 Chamber 2 Chamber 3 Chamber 4
Pole A 105.2 105.0 105.4 104.2
Pole B 103.8 103.6 103.8 104.4
Pole C 104.0 104.2 103.6 103.6
Time spread within a pole (ms) 1.2
Pole B Time spread between poles (ms) 1.8

Pole C
Opening Operation -GL318
Pole A
Opening Time (ms)
Chamber 1 Chamber 2 Chamber 3 Chamber 4
Pole A 22.5 22.7 21.9 22.1
Pole B 22.1 22.1 22.2 21.7
Pole C 21.7 21.7 22.2 22.0
Time spread within a pole (ms) 0.8
Time spread between poles (ms) 1.0
Pole B

Pole C
SF6 gas insulated substation
SF6 gas insulated substation
 Present & future developments

# Development of cost effective low energy modules

with thermal assist design
# Development of multi-functional equipment Highly
Integrated Switchgear (HIS) for compact substations
leading to space saving and an alternative to high
cost GIS
# Introduction of explosion proof composite insulators
# Built-in Breaker condition monitoring through digital
Optical Instrument transmitters
# Microprocessor based control panels with fibre optic
signal transmission
# Thrust to improve the reliability of the breaker
# HVDC transmission
# Controlled Switching
 Compact switchgear

Compact switchgear
Compact switchgear
Circuit breakers with composite insulators

•Explosion proof
•Light weight
•Single piece of any length
•No L/D constraint
•Higher creapage can be achieved
•Comparatively costly
•No of joints can be reduced
Composite insulator- weight comparison
 HVDC Transmission

•Advantages
•Low line costs
•Lower losses
•Asynchronous connection
•Better controllability

Applications
•Long distance Bulk Power Transmission
•Interconnection between Power systems/Grids
•High power Underground(submarine)distribution feeders
•Reconfiguration of old AC lines to DC
Motor Operated Mechanism
Integrated Switchgear
Integrated Switchgear
Optical Current Transmitter
Optical Current Transmitter
Optical Current Transmitter
Optical Voltage Transmitter
Optical Voltage Transmitter
Optical Voltage Transmitter
SF6 gas leak detection
Thank you