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uring its 20-40 year service life, a circuit breaker must be constantly
prepared to operate. Typically, long periods of inactivity often elapse
during which the breakers mechanical and electrical components never
move. The circuit breaker is the active link in a fault clearance situation. When a
fault occurs on the electrical system, the associated fault current must be interrupted quickly and reliably. This action is referred to as fault clearing. If a breaker
fails to clear a faulted circuit, the resulting damage can be very serious in terms
of both personnel injury and equipment damage. Even though circuit breakers
are comparatively reliable, circuit breaker failures can and do occur. Therefore,
circuit breakers must be tested and maintained to ensure proper operation during these faults.
Many circuit breakers provide longer service lives than expected. If you can
ascertain that a breaker is in good condition, you can continue to use it rather
than replace it at its estimated end-of-life. For the remainder of this discussion,
we will concentrate on medium-voltage (1 kV up to 35 kV) circuit breakers
utilized within an industrial environment.
Air Circuit Breaker Air circuit breakers are the prevalent type of medium voltage
breaker in an industrial environment due to the typical age of the equipment and
their lower cost; however, very few of this type of breaker are still being manufactured. Air circuit breakers are commonly used in medium-voltage electrical
distribution systems and include operating mechanisms that are mainly exposed
to the environment. Since the air circuit breakers are rated to carry current continuously, the exposure to convection cooling air assists in keeping the operating
components within reasonable temperature limits. A typical air circuit breaker
includes a main contact assembly, which is either opened (tripped), interrupting
a path for power to travel from the source to the load, or closed, providing a
path for power to travel from the source to the load. In many air circuit breakers,
the force necessary to open or close the main contact assembly is provided by an
arrangement of compression springs. In many air circuit breakers, the mechanism
for controlling the compression springs comprised of a configuration of mechanical
linkages between a latching shaft and an actuation device. The actuation device may
be manually operated, or electrically operated with trip and close coils. In a comwww.netaworld.org
and to an external electrical conductor which is interconnected with the circuit to be controlled by the circuit breaker.
The other separable main contact is movable. The moveable
contact assembly is usually comprised of a stem of circular
cross-section having the contact at one end enclosed within
a vacuum bottle and a driving mechanism at the other end
which is external to the vacuum bottle. An operating rod
assembly comprised of a push rod, which is fastened to
the end of the stem opposite the moveable contact, and a
driving mechanism provide the motive force to move the
moveable contact into or out of engagement with the fixed
contact. Compression springs are provided in connection
with the operating rod assembly in order to be able to
separate the moveable contact from the fixed contact and
to assure the necessary force so that the contacts will not
accidentally open under inappropriate conditions. As with
the air circuit breaker, the actuation device may be manually
or electrically operated by trip and close coils triggered by
a protective relay. These protective relays may also be used
to provide auxiliary functions along with over-current protection. Vacuum circuit breakers offer many advantages as
compared to other types, including: relatively long life due
to controlled contact erosion; maintenance-free operation
provided by enclosure of the contacts within the hermetically sealed housing; excellent operational reliability due to
the use of hard contact materials; little or no atmospheric
contact contamination, which contamination can detrimentally form oxides and corrosion layers on the contacts;
little or no noise during operation due to containment of
arcing within the hermetically sealed housing; relatively few
environmental effects; and very low current chop, resulting
in a minimal induced transient voltage spike during circuit
interruption so that surge suppressors are typically not
required. A medium-voltage vacuum circuit breaker in an
industrial environment is also typically a draw-out type.
Oil Circuit Breaker Oil circuit breakers, which are
typically located outdoors, were the past standard but are
becoming more rare in the industrial environment as they
are being replaced with air or vacuum circuit breakers. Oil
circuit breakers have all contacts and mechanism housed
within an oil-filled tank, which provides for both an insulation and arc-quenching capability. A typical oil circuit
breaker includes the same operational characteristics as an
air circuit breaker. A medium-voltage oil circuit breaker in
an industrial environment is typically a stand-alone type
and requires that oil be drained and the breaker de-tanked
to perform maintenance.
Minimum Test
Voltage, DC
2,500
1,000
8,000
2,500
5,000
Recommended
Minimum
Insulation Resistance
in Megohms
500
2,500
1,000
15,000
2,500
5,000
15,000
25,000
5,000
2,000
20,000
100,000
Maximum Field
Applied AC Test
(kV)
Maximum Field
Applied DC Test
(kV)
1.2
6.0
8.5
4.8
11.4
14.4
20.4
2.4
8.3
18.0
25.0
34.5
9.0
12.7
15.6
22.1
24.0
30.0
42.0
16.1
28.8
33.9
42.4
59.4
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