Arc control in oil circuit breakers

• (i) Self-blast oil circuit breakers— in which arc

control is provided by internal means i.e. the
arc itself is employed for its own extinction
efficiently.
• (ii) Forced-blast oil circuit breakers— in which
arc control is provided by mechanical means
external to the circuit breaker.
 Self-blast oil circuit breakers.
 In this type of circuit breaker, the gases produced
during arcing are confined to a small volume by
the use of an insulating rigid pressure chamber or
pot surrounding the contacts.
 Since the space available for the arc gases is
restricted by the chamber, a very high pressure is
developed to force the oil and gas through or
around the arc to extinguish it.
 The magnitude of pressure developed depends
upon the value of fault current to be interrupted.
As the pressure is generated by the arc itself,
therefore, such breakers are sometimes called
self-generated pressure oil circuit breakers.
 Plain explosion pot.
 It is a rigid cylinder of insulating material
and encloses the fixed and moving
contacts (See Fig. 19.4).
 The moving contact is a cylindrical rod
passing through a restricted opening
(called throat) at the bottom. When a fault
occurs, the contacts get separated and an
arc is struck between them.
 The heat of the arc decomposes oil into a
gas at very high pressure in the pot. This
high pressure forces the oil and gas
through and round the arc to extinguish it.
 If the final arc extinction does not take
place while the moving contact is still
within the pot, it occurs immediately after
the moving contact leaves the pot. It is
because emergence of the moving contact
from the pot is followed by a violent rush
of gas and oil through the throat producing
rapid extinction.
 Cross jet explosion pot
 This type of pot is just a modification of
plain explosion pot and is illustrated in Fig.
19.5.
 It is made of insulating material and has
channels on one side which act as arc
splitters.
 The arc splitters help in increasing the arc
length, thus facilitating arc extinction.
When a fault occurs, the moving contact
of the circuit breaker begins to separate.
 As the moving contact is withdrawn, the
arc is initially struck in the top of the pot.
The gas generated by the arc exerts
pressure on the oil in the back passage.
 When the moving contact uncovers the
arc splitter ducts, fresh oil is forced
*across the arc path.
 The arc is, therefore, driven sideways into
the “arc splitters” which increase the arc
length, causing arc extinction
Self-compensated explosion pot.
 This type of pot is essentially a combination of plain explosion
pot and cross jet explosion pot. Therefore, it can interrupt low as
well as heavy short circuit currents with reasonable accuracy.
Fig. 19.6 shows the schematic diagram of self-compensated
explosion pot. It consists of two chambers, the upper chamber is
the cross-jet explosion pot with two arc splitter ducts while the
lower one is the plain explosion pot.
When the short-circuit current is heavy, the rate of generation of
gas is very high and the device behaves as a cross-jet explosion
pot.
The arc extinction takes place when the moving contact
uncovers the first or second arc splitter duct.
However, on low short-circuit currents, the rate of gas generation
is small and the tip of the moving contact has the time to reach
the lower chamber.
During this time, the gas builds up sufficient pressure as there is
very little leakage through arc splitter ducts due to the
obstruction offered by the arc path and right angle bends. When
the moving contact comes out of the throat, the arc is
extinguished by plain pot action.
 Low Oil Circuit Breakers
 In the bulk oil circuit breakers the oil has to
perform two functions. Firstly, it acts as an arc
quenching medium and secondly, it insulates the
live parts from earth.
 It has been found that only a small percentage of
oil is actually used for arc extinction while the
major part is utilized for insulation purposes.
 For this reason, the quantity of oil in bulk oil
circuit breakers reaches a very high figure as the
system voltage increases.
 This not only increases the expenses, tank size
and weight of the breaker but it also increases
the fire risk and maintenance problems.
Construction of low oil circuit breaker:
There are two compartments separated from each
other but both filled with oil.
The upper chamber is the circuit breaking chamber
while the lower one is the supporting chamber.
The two chambers are separated by a partition and
oil from one chamber is prevented from mixing with
the other chamber.
This arrangement permits two advantages. Firstly,
the circuit breaking chamber requires a small
volume of oil which is just enough for arc extinction.
 Secondly, the amount of oil to be replaced is
reduced as the oil in the supporting chamber does
not get contaminated by the arc.
 Supporting chamber: It is a porcelain chamber
mounted on a metal chamber. It is filled with oil
which is physically separated from the oil in the
circuit breaking compartment. The oil inside the
supporting chamber and the annular space
formed between the porcelain insulation and
bakelised paper is employed for insulation
purposes only.
 Circuit-breaking chamber:
 It is a porcelain enclosure mounted on the top of
the supporting compartment. It is filled with oil
and has the following parts :
 (a) upper and lower fixed contacts
 (b) moving contact
 (c) turbulator
 The moving contact is hollow and includes a
cylinder which moves down over a fixed piston.
The turbulator is an arc control device and has
both axial and radial vents. The axial venting
ensures the interruption of low currents whereas
radial venting helps in the interruption of heavy
currents.
 Top chamber : It is a metal chamber and is
mounted on the circuit-breaking chamber. It
provides expansion space for the oil in the circuit
breaking compartment. The top chamber is also
provided with a separator which prevents any loss
of oil by centrifugal action caused by circuit
breaker operation during fault conditions.
 Operation:
Under normal operating conditions, the moving
contact remains engaged with the upper fixed contact.
 When a fault occurs, the moving contact is pulled
down by the tripping springs and an arc is struck. The
arc energy vaporizes the oil and produces gases
under high pressure. This action constrains the oil to
pass through a central hole in the moving contact and
results in forcing series of oil through the respective
passages of the turbulator.
The process of turbulation is orderly one, in which the
sections of the arc are successively quenched by the
effect of separate streams of oil moving across each
section in turn and bearing away its gases.
 Advantages:
 (i) It requires lesser quantity of oil.
 (ii) It requires smaller space.
 (iii) There is reduced risk of fire.
 (iv) Maintenance problems are reduced
 Disadvantages:
 (i) Due to smaller quantity of oil, the degree of
carbonization is increased.
 (ii) There is a difficulty of removing the gases
from the contact space in time.
 (iii) The dielectric strength of the oil
deteriorates rapidly due to high degree of
carbonization.
 Maintenance of Oil Cir Maintenance of Oil Circuit
Breakers

The maintenance of oil circuit breaker is generally

concerned with the checking of contacts and dielectric
strength of oil.
After a circuit breaker has interrupted fault currents a
few times or load currents several times, its contacts
may get burnt by arcing and the oil may lose some of
its dielectric strength due to carbonisation.
 This results in the reduced rupturing capacity of the
breaker. Therefore, it is a good practice to inspect the
circuit breaker at regular intervals of 3 or 6 months.
During inspection of the breaker, the following points
should be kept in view :
 (i)Check the current carrying parts and arcing
contacts. If the burning is severe, the contacts
should be replaced.
 (ii) Check the dielectric strength of the oil. If the
oil is badly discoloured, it should be changed or
reconditioned. The oil in good condition should
withstand 30 kV for one minute in a standard oil
testing cup with 4 mm gap between electrodes.
 (iii) Check the insulation for possible damage.
Clean the surface and remove carbon deposits
with a strong and dry fabric.
 (iv) Check the oil level.
 (v) Check closing and tripping mechanism
 SF6 CIRCUIT BREKERS
 Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) has a good dielectric
strength and excellent arc quenching property.
 It is an inert, nontoxic, non-inflammable and heavy gas.
 At atmospheric pressure its dielectric strength is bout
2.5 times that of air.
 It is an electronegative gas i.e it has high affinity for
electrons.
 SF6 is particularly suitable for use in metal clad switch
gear which is becoming increasingly popular under the
aspects of high compatibility with the environment.
 SF6 offers many advantages such as compactness,
less maintenance of EHV circuit breakers.
 SF6 breakers are manufactured in the voltage range of
3.3 kv to 765 kV, however they preferred for voltage
 Properties of SF6 gas

 (i) Physical properties

 (ii) Chemical Properties
 (iii) Electrical Properties
Physical properties
Chemical Properties
Construction & working
Advantages
Disadvantages
Vacuum Circuit Breaker
• Principle.
• The production of arc in a vacuum circuit breaker
and its extinction can be explained as follows : 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 ionisation of metal vapours of
contacts*.
• However, the arc is quickly extinguished because the
metallic vapours, electrons and ions produced
during arc rapidly condense on the surfaces of the
circuit breaker contacts, resulting in quick recovery
of dielectric strength. The salient feature of vacuum
as an arc quenching medium. 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.
• Construction.
• It consists of fixed contact, moving contact and
arc shield mounted inside a vacuum chamber.
The movable member is connected to the
control mechanism by stainless steel bellows.
This enables the permanent sealing of the
vacuum chamber so as to eliminate the
possibility of leak.
• A glass vessel or ceramic vessel is used as the
outer insulating body. The arc shield prevents the
deterioration of the internal dielectric strength by
preventing metallic vapours falling on the inside
surface of the outer insulating cover.
• Working.
• When the breaker operates, the moving
contact separates from the fixed contact and
an arc is struck between the contacts. The
production of arc is due to the ionisation 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 a 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 (say 0·625 cm).
 Advantages
 (i) They are compact, reliable and have longer life.
 (ii) There are no fire hazards.
(iii) There is no generation of gas during and after
operation.
(iv) They can interrupt any fault current. The
outstanding feature of a VCB is that it can break any
heavy fault current perfectly just before the contacts
reach the definite open position.
(v) They require little maintenance and are quiet in
operation.
(vi) They can successfully withstand lightning surges.
(vii) They have low arc energy.
(viii) They have low inertia and hence require smaller
power for control mechanism
• Applications. For a country like India,
where distances are quite large and
accessibility to remote areas difficult, the
installation of such outdoor, maintenance
free circuit breakers should prove a
definite advantage. Vacuum circuit
breakers are being employed for outdoor
applications ranging from 22 kV to 66 kV.
Even with limited rating of say 60 to 100
MVA, they are suitable for a majority of
applications in rural areas.
 Isolator
• The isolator can be defined as; it is one type of mechanical
switch used to isolate a fraction of the electrical circuit
when it is required. Isolator switches are used for opening
an electrical circuit in the no-load condition. It is not
proposed to be opened while current flows through the line.
Generally, these are employed on circuit breaker both the
ends thus the circuit breaker repair can be done easily
without any risk.
• Isolators are just like switch, only can be operated under off
load condition. Isolators are mostly used in industry level
applications. It cannot protect the circuit under fault
condition. Thus Isolators are provided to physically isolate
equipment from the circuit.
Isolator and Circuit breaker
 Plug setting and Time setting multipliers
• Pick-up current. It is the minimum current in the relay coil at
which the relay starts to operate. So long as the current in the
relay is less than the pick-up value, the relay does not operate
and the breaker controlled by it remains in the closed position.
However, when the relay coil current is equal to or greater than
the pickup value, the relay operates to energies the trip coil
which opens the circuit breaker.
• Current setting. It is often desirable to adjust the pick-up
current to any required value. This is known as current setting
and is usually achieved by the use of tapings on the relay
operating coil.
• The taps are brought out to a plug bridge as shown in Fig.
21.14. The plug bridge permits to alter the number of turns on
the relay coil. This changes the torque on the disc and hence
the time of operation of the relay.
• The values assigned to each tap are expressed in terms of
percentage full-load rating of C.T. with which the relay is
associated and represents the value above which the disc
commences to rotate and finally closes the trip circuit.
• Pick-up current = Rated secondary current of C.T. × Current setting

• For example, suppose that an over current relay

having current setting of 125% is connected to a
supply circuit through a current transformer of
400/5. The rated secondary current of C.T. is 5
amperes. Therefore, the pick-up value will be 25%
more than 5 A i.e. 5 × 1·25 = 6·25 A. It means that
with above current setting, the relay will actually
operate for a relay coil current equal to or greater
than 6·25 A.
• The current plug settings usually range from 50%
to 200% in steps of 25% for over current relays
and 10% to 70% in steps of 10% for earth leakage
relays. The desired current setting is obtained by
inserting a plug between the jaws of a bridge type
socket at the tap value required.
• Plug-setting multiplier (P.S.M.). It is the ratio of fault
current in relay coil to the pick-up current i.e.
• P.S.M. = (Fault current in relay coil) /(Pick - up current)
• = Fault current in relay coil /(Rated secondary current of
CT X Current setting)
• For example, suppose that a relay is connected to a
400/5 current transformer and set at 150%. With a
primary fault current of 2400 A, the plug-setting multiplier
can be calculated as under : Pick-up value = Rated
secondary current of CT × Current setting = 5 × 1·5 = 7·5
A Fault current in relay coil = 2400 5 400 × = 30 A ∴ P.S.M.
= 30/7·5 = 4