Definition

A circuit breaker is defined as a piece of

equipment which can do any one of the
following tasks:
Makes
or breaks a circuit either
manually or by remote control under
normal conditions
Breaks a circuit automatically under
fault conditions
Makes a circuit either manually or by
remote control under fault conditions

Circuit Breaker with Internal

Structure

Switching Function
Thus a circuit breaker is used for

incorporating manual as well as

automatic control for the switching
function.
The automatic control of the circuit
breaker is incorporated with the
help of relays.
The automatic control is only done
in case of fault conditions

Advantage over Fuse

A fuse operates once and then has

to be replaced.
The main advantage associated
with the use of circuit breaker is
that a circuit breaker can be reset
(either manually or automatically)
to resume normal operation.

Circuit Breaker Contacts

There are two types of contacts:
Primary contact
Arcing contact

Circuit Breaker Contacts

The

primary contact is always

made of a high conductive material
such as copper (Cu).
The arcing contact is made of arc
resistance
material
such
as
tungsten or molybdenum, which
has a much lower conductivity than
those used for primary contacts.

Normal Condition
Under

the
normal
operating
conditions, these contacts remain
closed
and
are
not
open
automatically until and unless the
system becomes faulty.

Faulty Condition
When a fault occurs on any part of

the system, the trip coils of the

circuit breaker get energized and
the moving contacts are pulled
apart by some mechanism, thus
opening the circuit.

Arc Phenomenon
When

the contacts of a circuit

break are separated under fault
conditions, an arc is struck
between them. The current is thus
able to continue until the discharge
ceases.

Categories of Arcs
Arcs in the circuit breakers are
categorized as:
High-pressure arcs:
(with ambient pressures of 1 atm
and above)
Vacuum arcs:
(with ambient pressures below 10-4
torr)

Arc is Useful?
The arc is useful in a way as it provides

a low resistance path for the current

after contact separation. It prevents
current
chopping
and
associated
abnormal switching over-voltages in
the system.
The arc provides a gradual, but quick,
transition from the current-carrying to
the current-breaking states of the
contacts.

Arc Extinction
The arc depends upon the following
factors:
Degree of Ionization
Length of the Arc
Cross-section of the Arc

Classification of Circuit
Breakers
Circuit Breakers

1. Based
on
Voltage
Low
Medium
High/Extra
High
Ultra High

2. Based
on
Location
Indoor
Outdoor

3. Based
on
External
Design
Dead
Tank
Live Tank

4. Based
on
Interrupti
ng Media
Air Blast
Oil
SF6
Vacuum

1. Based on Voltage
On the basis of the voltage levels for
which they are used, the circuit breakers
are classified as:
Category

Range of Voltage

Low voltage

Less than 1 kV

Medium voltage

1 kV to 52 kV

High/Extra High
voltage

66 kV to 765 kV

Ultra High
voltage

Above 765 kV

2. Based on Location
Circuit breakers are, based upon
where they are located, classified
as:
Indoor type
Outdoor type

3.

Based on External Design

From the point of view of their

physical structural design, outdoor
circuit breakers can be identified as
either:
dead tank type
live tank type

4. Based on Interrupting
Media
The circuit breakers may be
classified into following categories:
Oil Circuit Breakers
Air Circuit Breakers
Air-blast Circuit Breakers
Sulphur Hexafluoride (SF6) Circuit
Breakers
Vacuum Circuit Breakers

1. Oil Circuit Breakers

The circuit breakers in which some insulating

oil (i.e., transformer oil) is used as an arc

quenching medium.

Arc Extinction in OCBs

The arc extinction is facilitated

mainly by two processes:

Cont

Arc Extinction in
OCBs

Firstly, the hydrogen gas has

high heat conductivity and

cools the arc, thus aiding the
de-ionization of the medium
between the contacts.

Cont

Secondly,

Arc Extinction in
OCBs

the
gas
sets
up
turbulence in the oil and forces it
into the space between contacts,
thus
eliminating
the
arcing
products from the arc path. This
results in extinguishing the arc and
as a result the circuit current is
interrupted.

Advantages
The oil provides insulation for the

live exposed contacts .

The hydrogen produced during
arcing
has
excellent
cooling
properties and helps extinguish the
arc.
The oil close to the arc region
provides cooling surface.

Disadvantages
Oil is inflammable and may cause

fire hazards.
The hydrogen, when combined with
air, may form an explosive mixture.
During arcing, oil becomes polluted
by carbon particles, which reduces
its dielectric strength. Hence, it
requires periodic maintenance and
replacement.

Types of Oil Circuit Breakers

They can be classified with the
reference to the quantity of oil
used.
Bulk Oil Circuit Breakers
Minimum Oil Circuit Breakers

Bulk Oil Circuit Breakers

These circuit breakers use a

large quantity of oil.

Cont

Bulk Oil Circuit Breakers

The oil has to serve two purposes:

It extinguishes the arc during
opening of contacts.
It insulates the current conducting
parts from one another and from
the earthed tank.

Minimum Oil Circuit Breakers

These circuit breakers use a

small quantity of oil.

In such circuit breakers, oil is
used only for arc extinction; the
current
conducting
parts
insulated by air or porcelain or
organic insulating material.

2. Air-Blast Circuit Breakers

These circuit breakers employ

a high pressure air-blast as an

The contacts are opened in a
flow of air-blast established by
the opening of the blast valve.
arc quenching medium.

Arc Extiction
The air-blast cools the arc and

sweeps
away
the
arcing
products of the atmosphere.
Consequently,
the
arc
is
extinguished
and
flow
of
current is interrupted.

Air-Blast Circuit Breaker

Uses of ABCBs
This type of circuit breaker has

been used earlier for open

terminal HV applications, for
voltages of 245 kV, and 400 kV
up to 765 kV, especially where
faster breaker operation was
required.

Advantages
The risk of fire is eliminated.
The arcing products are completely removed by the

blast, so the expenditure of oil replacement is

avoided.
The size of these breakers is reduced.
Due to the rapid growth of the dielectric strength, the
arcing time is also very small. It causes less burning
of oil.
The arc energy is also very small fraction of that in oil
circuit breakers.
The arc extinction is facilitate by the high pressure
air, and is independent of the fault current to be
interrupted.

Disadvantages
These

circuit breakers are very

sensitive to the variation s in the
rate of rise of restriking voltage.
The air-blast is supplied by the
compressor
plant
that
needs
considerable maintenance.

3.
In

Sulphur Hexafluoride (SF6)

Circuit Breakers

these circuit breakers, Sulpher

hexafluoride gas (SF6) is used as the arc
quenching medium.
The SF6 is an electronegative gas and
has a strong tendency to absorb free
electrons.
This loss of conducting electrons in the
arc quickly builds up enough insulation
strength to extinguish the arc.

Uses of SF6 CBs

These

circuit breakers are

available for complete range of
medium voltage and high
voltage application up to 800
kV and above.
This medium is most suitable
for metal-clad and hybrid HV
sub-stations.

Advantages
Due to the low energy the contact erosion is

small.
The gaseous medium SF6 possesses excellent
dielectric and arc quenching properties.
Due to the superior arc quenching property of
the SF6 gas, such circuit breakers have very
short arcing time. Furthermore, they can
interrupt much larger current.
These breakers give noiseless operation due to
its closed gas circuit and no exhaust to
atmosphere unlike the air-blast circuit breaker.
The SF6 gas is not inflammable, so there is no
risk of fire and explosion in SF6 breakers.

Disadvantages
These circuit breakers are expensive

due to the high cost of SF6 gas.

Since
SF6
gas
has
to
be
reconditioned after every operation
of the breaker, additional equipment
is required for this purpose.
The SF6 gas has been identified as a
greenhouse gas, so can be harmful
for population in its area of operation.

4. Vacuum Circuit Breakers

In these circuit breakers, the

vacuum is used as the arc

quenching medium.
The degree of vacuum in these
circuit breakers is in the range
from 10-7 to 10-5 torr.

Vacuum Circuit Breaker

Advantages
The vacuum circuit breakers are compact in size

and have longer lives.

Because of the very low voltage across the metal
vapor arc, energy is very low.
There is no generation of gases during and after
the circuit breaker operation.
The outstanding feature of these breakers is that
it can break any heavy fault current perfectly
just before the contacts reach a definite open
position.
They can successfully withstand lightning surges.

5. Air Circuit Breakers

Air circuit breaker is defined as

a circuit breaker, in which the

contacts open and close in air
at atmospheric pressure.

Arc Interruption
The principles of arc interruption used in an

air circuit breaker are rather different from

those in any other type of circuit breaker.
This can be achieved in three ways:
1. Intense cooling of the arc plasma, so
that the voltage gradient is very high
2. Lengthening the arc path to increase
the arc voltage
3. Splitting up the arc into a number of
series arcs

Circuit Breakers Ratings

There are three
breakers as:
Breaking Capacity
Making Capacity
Short-time Rating

ratings

for

Breaking Capacity
Breaking capacity is defined as

the r.m.s. current that a circuit

breaker is capable of breaking
at given recovery voltage and
under specified conditions (i.e.
power factor, rate of rise of
restriking voltage).

Cont

Breaking Capacity

It

is a common practice to express the

breaking capacity in MVA by taking into
account the rated the rated breaking current
and rated service voltage.
Thus if I is the rated breaking current in
Amperes and the rated service voltage is V in
volts, the breaking capacity for three-phase
circuit is:

Breaking Capacity = sqrt 3 x V x I x

10-6 MVA

Making Capacity
It is the peak value of current

(including d.c. component) during

the first cycle of current wave
after the closure of circuit breaker.
Mathematically stated, making
capacity is given as:
Making Capacity = 2.55 x
symmetrical breaking capacity

Short-time Rating
The period for which the circuit

breaker is able to carry fault

current while remaining closed is
known as short-time rating.
The short-time rating of a circuit
breaker depends upon its ability to
withstand:
1. The electromagnetic force effects
2. The temperature rise

Thank You !