Energy and Power / Low Voltage / Protection

4 important factors related to proper application of a LV circuit

breaker

By Edvard   October, 15th 2018

Beyond voltage, current & interrupting rating

Consideration of all the factors related to proper application of a low-voltage

circuit breaker goes beyond voltage, current, and interrupting rating. The
performance of a specific type of circuit breaker may be influenced by
nonelectrical factors related to the installation environment, such as ambient
temperature, humidity, elevation, or presence of contaminants.

4 important factors related to proper application of a LV circuit breaker

Enclosure type and size, service conditions, loads and their characteristics,
outgoing conductors, characteristics of the electrical distribution system, other
protective devices on the line side and load side of the circuit breaker under
consideration, and even frequency of operation and maintenance should all be
taken into account.

For this technical article, application considerations are limited to conditions

involving abnormal current and to providing protection and selective
coordination under these conditions.

Contents:
1.
1. Protection
2. Selective coordination
3. Power factor considerations
4. Voltage considerations
5. Conclusions
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1. Protection

The function of system protection may be defined as the detection and prompt
isolation of the affected portion of the system when a short circuit or other
abnormality occurs that might cause damage to, or adversely affect, the
operation of any portion of the system or the load that it supplies.

Treatment of the overall problem of system protection and coordination of

electrical power systems is restricted to the selection, application, and
coordination of devices and equipment whose primary function is the
isolation and removal of short circuits from the system.
Short circuits may be phase-to-ground, phase-to-phase, phase-to-phase-to-
ground, three-phase, or three-phase-to-ground. Short circuits may range in
magnitude from extremely low-current faults having high-impedance paths to
extremely high-current faults having very low-impedance paths.

However, all short circuits produce abnormal current flow in one or more

phase conductors or in the ground path. Such disturbances should be detected
and safely isolated.
Two types of overcurrent protection are emphasized:

1. phase-overcurrent and
2. ground-fault.
At the present state of the art, phase-overcurrent conditions are detected on the
basis of their magnitudes. Response time is dependent upon the particular
overcurrent time-current characteristic (TCC) curve.

Ground-fault currents of a sufficient magnitude may be detected by phase-

overcurrent devices. Currents below the minimum current sensitivity of phase-
overcurrent devices, such as arcing ground faults, are not cleared.

A separate means (either internal to the circuit breaker or externally mounted)

should be provided to detect these low-level arcing ground faults.  This means
of detection commonly consists of current sensors that monitor each
phase and the grounding conductor separately or one current sensor that
monitors all phase conductors.

A single current sensor that monitors the ground-fault current in a transformer

or generator neutral grounding conductor may be used. Circuit breakers have
the advantage of providing a convenient means for opening all phase
conductors in response to a signal from either the phase-overcurrent or ground-
fault detection device. They have the additional advantage of having the current
sensors and logic circuitry located internally within the breaker.

This location minimizes the need to make external connections to control

components.

A fundamental rule necessary for system protection is to apply circuit breakers

within their interrupting or short-circuit current ratings. The determination of
available short-circuit current at the various levels throughout the electrical
distribution system is a necessary step to be completed prior to selecting circuit
breakers for system protection.
MCCBs are available with various interrupting ratings in the same physical
frame size. Selection by frame size or continuous-current rating alone is not
sufficient. The interrupting rating should also be considered.

Current-limiting fuses, integrally fused circuit breakers, or current-limiting circuit

breakers may be provided to lower the let-through short-circuit current. Curves
depicting let-through current and I 2t are available from manufacturers to assist
in the application of these circuit breakers as shown in Figure 1a and Figure 1b.

Figure 1a – Limited peak let-through

current characteristics

Figure 2b – Limited let-through I2t

characteristics
An alternate method is the series connection of MCCBs, that is, two MCCBs
electrically in series sharing fault interruption duties.

This protection scheme is viable, provided performance is verified by

testing. UL recognizes series-connected short-circuit ratings and prescribes
test procedures to verify performance. Series ratings are a consequence of
certain tests that are defined by UL standards, and only combinations of
devices that have been appropriately tested should be used in series
applications.
See Figure 3 for an example of a test setup. Selectivity is not provided at any
current level where the breaker trip characteristic curves  overlap, that is, both
circuit breakers trip.

Series-connected ratings should be based on tests and are only valid for the
specific circuit breaker types listed in the test reports.

Individual manufacturer’s series-connected ratings may be found in the UL

Recognized Component Directory. Fuse and breaker coordinated combinations
are also tested by UL and are applicable within their established ratings.
 Figure 3 – Series
connection test circuit from UL 489
Determination of available fault-current levels, specification of circuit breakers
and associated equipment rated for those levels, and inspection to verify that
properly rated equipment has been installed satisfy the basic requirement of
providing adequately rated equipment for system protection.

Selection of appropriate trip unit functions and their settings  to provide protection
and coordination is the next consideration.

Basic rules applicable to phase overcurrent protection are as follows:

Rule #1
Select continuous-current ratings and pickup settings of long-time delay
characteristics, where adjustable, that are no higher than necessary without
causing nuisance tripping and that meet applicable code requirements.

The amount of time delay provided by the long-time delay characteristics should
be selected to be no higher than necessary to override transient overcurrents
associated with the energizing of load equipment and to coordinate with
downstream protection devices.

Rule #2
Take advantage of the adjustable instantaneous trip characteristic on
MCCBs and LVPCBs. Set the instantaneous trip no higher than necessary to
avoid nuisance tripping. Be sure that instantaneous trip settings do not exceed
the maximum available short-circuit current at the location of the circuit breaker
in the system.

This point is frequently overlooked, particularly in service entrance

applications.

Rule #3
Provide ground-fault protection in accordance with the NEC, where
required. Ground-fault current settings should be set to minimize hazard to
personnel and damage to equipment.

Time-delay adjustments of ground-fault protective devices should be set so that

ground faults are cleared by the nearest device on the supply side of the ground
fault.

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2. Selective coordination

When protection is being considered, the performance of a circuit breaker with

respect to the connected conductors and load is a primary concern.

To achieve coordination, consideration is also given to the performance of a

circuit breaker with respect to other protective devices on the supply side or
load side of it.

The objective in coordinating protective devices is to make them selective in

their operation with respect to each other. In so doing, the effects of short
circuits on a system are reduced to a minimum by disconnecting only the
affected part of the system. Stated another way, only the circuit breaker nearest
the short circuit should open, leaving the rest of the system intact and able to
supply power to the unaffected parts.
Generally, coordination is demonstrated by plotting the time-current
characteristic (TCC) curves of the circuit breakers involved and by making sure
that the curves of adjacent circuit breakers do not overlap, as illustrated in
Figure 4.
 Figure 4
– Coordinated tripping by overlapping TCC curves
Often selective coordination is possible only when circuit breakers with short-
time delay characteristics are used in all circuit positions except the one closest
to
the load.
This setting arrangement is particularly true when little or no circuit
impedance exists between successive circuit breakers.

This condition often exists in a main switchboard or load center unit

substation between the main and feeder circuit breakers. In these cases,
for all levels of possible short-circuit current beyond the load terminals of the
feeder circuit breakers selectivity requires that the main circuit breaker be
equipped with a combination of long-time delay and short-time delay trip
characteristics.
The withstand rating of associated circuit components and assemblies should
not be exceeded.

Moving toward the load, on many feeder circuits sufficient impedance exists in
the distribution system to appreciably lower the available short-circuit current at
the next load-side level circuit breaker.

If the available short-circuit current at this circuit breaker is less than the
instantaneous trip setting of the  feeder circuit breaker, then selectivity is
achieved (see Figure 5 below).

Figure 5 – Coordinated tripping due to impedance in circuit

The preceding discussion forms the basis for judging selective coordination
between two circuit breakers in series. If the fault current being interrupted by a
circuit breaker flows through the line-side circuit breaker for a period equal to or
greater than its tripping time, the line-side circuit breaker trips. Under these
conditions, the circuit breakers are not selective.

However, if because of impedance between the circuit breakers, the maximum

current that can flow during short-circuit conditions is insufficient to initiate
tripping of the line-side circuit breaker, selectivity exists.

An alternate method of achieving selective coordination is by selective

interlocking of two or more levels of electronic trip units in a system. In
a selectively interlocked system, the circuit breaker nearest to and toward the
supply side of the  fault senses the fault and signals other line-side circuit
breakers that it is tripping.

That signal restrains circuit breakers farther to the line-side from reacting until
they time out according to their settings. Because it does not receive such a
restraining signal from a load-side circuit breaker, the circuit breaker nearest
the fault continues to trip with minimum delay.

This method significantly limits the damaging energy delivered to a fault by

permitting the circuit breaker nearest the fault to react without the short-
time delay that is necessary to provide coordination by the time and pickup
level method. The limitation of fault energy is even greater when the circuit
breakers involved are current-limiting.
Some circuit breakers with electronic trip units incorporate an instantaneous
override set above their tripping characteristic for self protection. If fault current
through the circuit breaker reaches this level, the circuit breaker trips with no
intentional delay even in selectively interlocked systems.

This feature should be considered in  selectivity studies.

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3. Power factor considerations

Normally the short-circuit power factor of a system need not be considered

when applying either LVPCBs or MCCBs. This practice is based on the fact that
the test circuit power factors on which ratings have been established are
considered low enough to cover most applications.

Test circuits with lagging power factors no greater than in Table 1 are used
to establish interrupting ratings.

Table 1 – Test circuit power factors

Available short- Lagging power factor (%)
circuit current
LVPCB
(A, rms
MCCB (a)
symmetrical) Unfused (b) Fused (b)

10 000 or less 50 15 20

10 001 – 20 000 30 15 20

Over 20 000 20 15 20

(a) UL 489
(b) ANSI C37.50

Where the power factor or X/R ratio for a specific system has been

determined and is more inductive than the power factor used to establish the
interrupting rating, the multiplying factor tabulated in Table 2 may be applied to
the calculated, available short-circuit current.

These multiplying factors adjust the short-circuit current to a value equal to the
maximum transient offset in the initial half-cycle of short-circuit current flow
using the relation in Elements of Power System Analysis, as follows:

where
  t is time and is 0 when voltage is applied,
 α is the electrical angle after t = 0 at which point the circuit is closed,
 θ is the power angle and equals tan–1(ωL / R),
 Z is √(R2 +(ωL)2)
By making the simplifying assumption that the circuit is closed at a time t = 0
when the instantaneous voltage is zero, the following multiplier is derived:

where

 CIRC is the circuit under consideration,

 TEST is the circuit used to test the circuit breaker.
Table 2 – Short-circuit current multiplying factor for circuit breakers
Ta
These multiplying factors are based on calculated values for peak currents
rather than on laboratory tests. Individual manufacturers may have additional
information.

Example

For example, consider a 225 A MCCB with an interrupting rating of 35 000

A to be applied on a circuit with a short-circuit availability of 24 000 A and
a power factor of 10%. Select the multiplying factor of 1.13 and multiply
the 24 000 A short circuit by it to arrive at the new short circuit of 27 100 A.

In this case, the MCCB is suitable for the 27 100 A short circuit because of

its 35 000 A rating.

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4. Voltage considerations

The most common industrial and commercial utilization voltage by far is the
solidly grounded 480Y/277 V system. Yet, a number of 600 V and 480 V delta
systems are in service of both ungrounded and corner-grounded configurations.

Further, a growing number of industrial systems are using resistance-

grounded 480Y/277 V systems.

Special attention should be given to resistance-grounded wye systems and

delta systems with respect to ground faults and single-pole interrupting
performance.
Consider the single fault to ground in View (a) of Figure 6 and the double fault
to ground in View (b) of Figure 6 in delta systems. In each case, the voltage
across the interrupting pole is just below line-to-line voltage.

The magnitude of the fault depends on the prospective current and the

value of the impedances to ground at the respective faults.
 Figur
e 6 – Systems requiring special consideration for single-pole faults
Then, consider the resistance-grounded wye system in View (c) of Figure 6.
With a single fault to ground, the fault current is severely limited by the
resistance grounding connection.

With two faults to ground, voltage across the interrupting pole is at some value
between phase voltage and line voltage. Again, the magnitude of the fault
depends on the prospective current and the value of the impedances to ground
at the respective faults.

For the systems shown in Figure 6, straight-rated (or delta-rated) circuit

breakers should be used. Referring to Table 3 and testing standards, it is
known that each circuit breaker pole is tested at phase voltage at full
prospective current as part of the three-phase test.
Also, each pole is tested individually at line voltage with test currents indicated
in Table 3. When system conditions are beyond these test values, use of
MCCBs tested specifically for cornergrounded delta systems and use of
LVPCBs are options.

Table 3 – Single-pole short-circuit test values for MCCBs

Ta
ble 3 – Single-pole short-circuit test values for MCCBs

These test values are the minimum required for certification to UL 489. They
are not marked ratings and are printed here to aid the system designer who
may need them for single-phase short-circuit analysis. Single-pole circuit
breakers are tested at values equal to their interrupting ratings.

Table test values are the minimum required for certification to UL 489. They are
not marked ratings and are printed here to aid the system designer who may
need them for single-phase short-circuit analysis. Single-pole circuit breakers
are tested at values equal to their
interrupting ratings.
Table 4 is provided as a guide for applying the appropriate voltage rating of the
MCCB to each system.

Table 4 – MCCB voltage rating by system configuration

System configuration Three-pole MCCB voltage rating

Voltage Grounding 480Y/277 480 600Y/347 600

480Y/277 Solid • • • •

480Y/277 Resistance • (a) •

480 Ungrounded • •

480 Corner ground • (a) •

600Y/347 Solid • •

600 Ungrounded •

600 Corner ground •

(a) Codes and standards allow 480 V rated MCCBs in these applications. Some
manufacturers provide MCCBs specially rated for the corner-grounded delta
system to satisfy user preference. These ratings may also be applied to
resistance-grounded wye systems. LVPCBs are also an option.

Individual poles of multipole MCCBs are tested at short-circuit levels indicated

in Table 4 for all values of multipole interrupting ratings. These tests are in
addition to multipole tests in which the individual poles are required to interrupt
under transient conditions that are more demanding than single-phase tests of
the same pole at phase voltage.

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5. Conclusions

The following considerations apply to low-voltage circuit breakers for

system protection:

1. They combine a switching means with an overcurrent protective device in

a compact,  generally self-contained unit
2. No exposure to live parts is involved during operation when installed in an
approved enclosure.
3. They are resettable. Normally after tripping (and removal of the fault or
overload that caused tripping), service may be restored without replacing
any part of the assembly.
Inspection of the circuit breaker assembly after fault current interruption is
required to verify suitability to return the circuit breaker and/or other
parts of the system to service. Inspection of the circuit breakers may
require replacement of fuses or fuse assemblies after interruption of high-
magnitude fault currents.
In LVPCBs, most designs allow for replacing components, such as contacts
or arc chutes, using instructions from the manufacturer.
4. They provide simultaneous disconnection of all phase conductors.
5. High short-circuit interrupting ratings, the availability of current-limiting circuit
breakers, and series-connected interrupting ratings permit application on
systems with high available fault currents.
6. The advent of highly complex and technologically advanced electronic trip
units has increased circuit breaker versatility and made selective
coordination easier.
7. Selection of MCCBs should include consideration of interrupting rating
because more than one interrupting rating may be available in the same
frame size.
8. Selective coordination of ground-fault protective devices requires time-
delay and pickup adjustments and may be enhanced by the presence of
adjustments that provide inverse TCCs.
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Source //  IEEE Recommended Practice for Protection and Coordination of

Industrial and Commercial Power Systems