Circuit Breaker

2- Circuit Breaker
1. Protective relays and circuit breakers (CBs) are used in combination to
detect and isolate faults.
2. CBs are the main making and breaking devices in an electrical circuit.
3. CBs carry the load currents continuously and are expected to be
switched ON with loads (making capacity).
4. CBs should also be capable of breaking a live circuit under normal
conditions as well as under fault conditions carrying the expected fault
current until completely isolating the fault side.
5. Under fault conditions, the CBs should be able to open by instructions
from monitoring devices like relays.
6. The relay contacts are used in the making and breaking control circuits
of a CBs, to prevent CBs getting closed or to trip breaker under fault
conditions as well as for some other interlocks .
 2-1 Protective relay–circuit breaker combination
The protective relay detects and evaluates the fault and
determines when the circuit should be opened.
A closed CBs has sufficient energy to open its contacts stored
in one form or another (generally a charged spring). When a
protective relay signals to open the circuit, the store energy is
released causing the CB to open.
From the protection point of view, the important parts of the CB
are:

1. The trip coil.

2. The arc extinction system.
3. The latching mechanism.
4. The main contacts.
5. The auxiliary contacts.
Figure 2.1
Relay–circuit breaker
combination
The tripping process
The tripping process is clear from Figure 2.1 and the following
step by step procedure takes place while isolating a fault (the
time intervals between each event will be in the order of a few
electrical cycles i.e., milliseconds):

1. The relay receives information, which it analyzes, and

determines that the circuit should be opened.
2. Relay closes its contacts energizing the trip coil of the CB.
3. The CB is unlatched and opens its main contacts under the
control of the tripping spring.
4. The trip coil is deenergized by opening of the CB auxiliary
contacts.
2-2 Purpose of circuit breakers (switchgear)
The main purpose of a CB is to:
• Switch load currents
• Make against a fault
• Break normal and fault currents
• Carry fault current without blowing itself, i.e., no
distortion due to magnetic forces or high temperature
under fault conditions.

2-3 The important characteristics from a protection point of

view are:
1. The speed with which the main current is opened after a
tripping impulse is received.
2. The capacity of the circuit that the main contacts are
capable of interrupting.
The first characteristic is referred to as the ‘tripping
time’ and is expressed in cycles. Modern high-speed CBs
have tripping times between 3 and 8 cycles.

The tripping or total clearing or break time is made up as

follows:
1. Opening time: The time between instant of application
of tripping power to the instant of separation of the
main contacts.
2. Arcing time: The time between the instant of
separation of the main CB contacts to the instant of arc
extinction of short-circuit current.
Figure 2.2 Total fault clearing time
The second characteristic is referred to as ‘rupturing
capacity’ and is expressed in kA and defined as follows.

Rated short circuit breaking current of a CB is the maximum

RMS current that can flow through the CB from time of
occurring of short circuit to the time of clearing the short circuit
without any permanent damage in the CB.

Making capacity of a CB is the maximum peak value of

current which the breaker can conduct at the instant of closing
on a faulty circuit. Normally value of short circuit making current
is about 2.5 times the short circuit breaking current.

The peak value of current is considered in this case since

current is expected to have a large DC component. This the
natural transient behavior of a highly inductive circuit as shown
in Fig. 2.3 .
The ‘rupturing capacity’ may be expressed also in MVA

MVA rating (breaking capacity)

Typical rupturing capacities of modern CBs are as follows:

The selection of the breaking capacity depends on the actual fault

conditions expected in the system and the possible future increase in the fault
level of the main source of supply.
2-4 Behavior under fault conditions

Before the instant

of short-circuit, load
current will be
flowing through the
switch, and this can
be regarded as
zero when
compared to the
level of fault current
that would flow (see
Figure 2.3).

Figure 2.3 Behavior under

fault conditions
 2-4-1 Arc:
The arc has three parts:
Cathode end (–ve): There is approximately 30–50 V drop due to emission of
electrons.
Arc column: Ionized gas, which has a diameter proportional to current.
Temperature can be in the range of 6000–25000 °C.
Anode end (+ve): Volt drop 10–20 V.
When short-circuit occurs, fault current flows, corresponding to the network
parameters. The CB trips and the current is interrupted at the next natural
current zero. The reacts by transient oscillations, which gives rise to the
Transient Recovery Voltage (TRV) across the CB main contacts.
All breaking principles involve the separation of contacts, which initially are
bridged by a hot, highly conductive arcing column. After interruption at current
zero, the arcing zone must be cooled to such an extent that the TRV is
overcome, and it cannot cause a voltage breakdown across the open gap.
Three critical phases are distinguished during arc interruption, each
characterized by its own physical processes and interaction between system
and CB.
1. High current phase
This consists of highly conductive plasma at a very high temperature
corresponding to a low gas density and an extremely high flow velocity. Proper
contact design prevents the existence of metal vapor in the critical arc region.
2. Thermal phase
Before current zero, the diameter of the plasma column decreases very rapidly
with the decaying current but remains existent as an extremely thin filament
during the passage through current zero. This thermal phase is characterized
by a race between the cooling of the rest of the plasma and the reheating
caused by the rapidly rising voltage. Due to the temperature and velocity
difference between the cool, relatively slow axial flow of the surrounding gas
and the rapid flow in the hot plasma core, strong turbulence occurs downstream
of the throat, resulting in effective cooling of the arc.
This turbulence is the dominant mechanism, which determines thermal re-
ignition or interruption.
3. Dielectric phase
After successful thermal interruption, the hot plasma is replaced by a residual
column of hot, but no longer electrically conducting medium. However, due to
marginal ion-conductivity, local distortion of the electrical field distribution is
caused by the TRV appearing across the open break. This strongly affects the
dielectric strength of the CB and must be considered when designing the
geometry of the contact arrangement.
 2-5 Types of circuit breakers

The types of CBs basically refer to the medium in which the CB opens
and closes. The medium could be oil, air, vacuum or SF6. The further
classification is single break and double break. In a single break type
only the busbar end is isolated but in a double break type, both busbar
(source) and cable (load) ends are broken. However, the double break
is the most common and accepted type in modern installations.
 2-5-1 Oil circuit breakers
The oil CB is the oldest type which is being replaced by vacuum and
SF6 breakers. In this design, the main contacts are immersed in oil and
the oil acts as the ionizing medium between the contacts. The oil is
mineral type, with high dielectric strength to withstand the voltage
across the contacts under normal conditions.
Arc energy decomposes oil into 70% hydrogen, 22% acetylene, 5%
methane and 3% ethylene. Arc is in a bubble of gas surrounded by oil.
Oil has the following advantages:
• Ability of cool oil to flow between contacts after current zero and
arc goes out.
• Oil is a good cooling medium that helps arc quenching process.
• It can absorb large amount of energy when it decomposes into
gases.

Disadvantages:
• Inflammability (especially if there is any air near hydrogen)
• Maintenance (changing and purifying oil).
 Oil CBs have 2 designs
1- The plain (bulk) oil CBs
This is the earlier design, where the whole CB unit is immersed oil.
This type had the disadvantage of production of higher hydrogen
quantities during arcing and requires higher maintenance effort.
2-The low oil (minimum oil) CBs
This type had replaced the first type. In this type, arc and the bubble
are confined into a smaller chamber, minimizing the amount of oil
and the overall size of the unit.
 2-5-2 Air Circuit Breaker
• Interrupting contacts situated in air instead of any other artificial
medium (see Figure 2.6). Arc is chopped into several small arcs
by the Arc-chute as it rises due to heat and magnetic forces.
• There are mainly two types of air CB are available.
1. Plain air CB.
2. Air blast CB.
• The plain air CBs are
normally employed for
380-480 V distribution.

Figure 2.6 Air blast CB

 Miniature Circuit Breaker (MCB)
MCB is air CB. There are two arrangement of operation of miniature CB.
1. thermal effect of over current
2. electromagnetic effect of over current.
Molded Case Circuit Breaker (MCCB)
The principle of
operation of MCCB
is similar to that of
MCB.
The differences
between MCB and
MCCB are explained
in the shown table.
2-5-3 SF6 circuit breakers
PROPERTIES OF SF6 GAS
1. Colorless, Odorless and chemically inert.
2. Nontoxic, Pure SF6 gas is not-harmful to health. However impure
SF6 gas contains toxic impurities.
3. Non-inflammable.
4. Gas at normal temperature and pressure.
5. Heavy gas, density 5 time that of air at 20°C and normal pressure.
6. Dielectric strength of SF6 at normal pressure is 2.35 times that of air
and 30% less than that of oil used in oil CBs.
The above excellent dielectric strength and thermal characteristics of SF6
gas qualify it to be increasingly applied in modern switchgear designs. It is
applied as an insulating as well as an arc-quenching medium.

For medium- and low-voltage installations, the SF6 CB remains

constructionally the same as that for oil and air CBs mentioned above, except
for the arc interrupting chamber which is filled with SF6 under high pressure.
Good sealing of the gas chambers is vitally important to prevent gas leaks.
 2-6-4 Vacuum circuit breakers
Vacuum CBs were introduced in the late 1960s. These CBs are also similar in
construction with the other types of CBs, except that the breaking medium is
vacuum, and the arc chamber is completely sealed to ensure good vacuum.
The vacuum CB contacts are enclosed in a vacuum bottle, normally made
from ceramic material. It has pure oxygen-free copper main connections,
stainless steel bellows and has composite weld-resistant main contact
materials. A typical contact material comprises a tungsten matrix impregnated
with a copper and antimony alloy to provide a low melting point material to
ensure continuation of the arc until nearly current zero.
At this point metal vapor cooled very rapidly leaving no conducting medium for
restrike of arc.

Gas insulated switchgear (GIS) is a combination of CB, isolator, busbars,

CT, PT, etc., and are used to replace outdoor substations operating at the
higher voltage levels, namely 66 kV and above.
 2.6 Types of mechanisms
The mechanisms are required to close and break the contacts with
high speed. Following are the types of mechanisms employed.
1. Hand operated spring assisted: Hand movement compresses
spring over top dead-center. Spring takes over and closes the CB.
2. Quick make: Spring charged-up by hand, then released to operate
mechanism.
3. Motor wound spring: Motor charges spring, instead of manual.
Mainly useful when remote operations are employed, which are
common in modern installations because of computer applications.
4. Solenoid: As name implies.
5. Pneumatic: Used at 66 kV and above. Convenient when
compressed dry air is available.
 2-7 Comparison of circuit breaker types
Following tables compare different CBs.