2.

Circuit Breakers and Recloser

10/11/16

Dr.Latif Shaikh

Course Outline
Introduction
Circuit Breaker
The Arc
Isolators
Air Circuit Breakers
Air Blast Circuit Breakers
Vacuum Circuit Breakers
Oil Circuit Breakers
Sulfur Hexafluoride Circuit Breakers
Circuit Breaker Ratings
Circuit Breaker Controls
High Voltage Circuit Breakers Comparison
Reclosures
Sectionalizers
Fuses
10/11/16
Fuse application
Dr.Latif Shaikh

Circuit Breaker

A circuit breaker is a piece of equipment which

can Make or break a circuit either manually or by
remote control under normal conditions.
Break a circuit automatically under fault condition
Make a circuit either manually or by remote under
fault condition

10/11/16

Dr.Latif Shaikh

Operating Principle

Circuit Breaker consists of fixed and moving contacts called

electrodes
Under normal operating condition these contacts remain
closed and will not open automatically unless the system
becomes faulty .These contacts can be opened manually or
by remote control.
When a fault occurs in a circuit the trip coils of the circuit
breaker get energized and the moving contacts are pulled
apart by some mechanism ,thus opening the circuit.

10/11/16

Dr.Latif Shaikh

Simplified Diagram of Circuit Breaker Control

10/11/16

Dr.Latif Shaikh

Electric Arc

10/11/16

Dr.Latif Shaikh

Electric Arc
When contacts of circuit breaker starts separating the contact
resistance starts increasing. This increases the (I square r)
loss which is heat produced .
This heat increases the energy of electrons in the contact
areas and the ionized particles tries to maintain the current
when contacts are separated.This flow of charged particles
form one contact to other is called an arc .
The medium surrounding the arc also contains ions .
Due to this charged particles the arc continues even if the
breakers contacts are separated.
The voltage (potential gradient) across the arc is less and so it
continues even for low voltages.

10/11/16

Dr.Latif Shaikh

ARC in AC and DC circuits

DC arcs are to be interrupted by increasing the
resistance interruption method in which resistance of
the arc is increased so that the arc voltage can no
longer maintain the current and the arc is extinguished.
Size of DC circuit breaker increases as the voltage level
increases.
AC arcs current reduces to zero in each cycle (2 times)
If the circuit breaker contacts are opened at time when
the current passed through zero and dielectric strength
of the medium is build up rapidly so that arc cannot
strike again then arc can be extinguished successfully.
Size of AC circuit breaker can be small compared to
same voltage DC circuit breaker.
10/11/16

Dr.Latif Shaikh

Important terms
Arc Voltage It is the voltage that appears across
the contacts of the circuit breakers during the arcing
period as the contacts are opened.
Recovery voltage It is the normal frequency
voltage that appears across the contacts of circuit
breaker after final arc extinction.
Rate of rise of restriking voltage (RRRV) It is the
rate of increase of restriking voltage .RRRV depends
upon 1) recovery voltage and 2) Natural frequency of
oscillation

10/11/16

Dr.Latif Shaikh

Restriking Voltage

It is the transient voltage

that appears across the
contacts at or near current
zero during arcing period.

If dielectric strength rise is

greater than the rise of
restriking voltage then the
arc will not restrike.

10/11/16

Dr.Latif Shaikh

Current Chopping

It is the phenomena of current interruption before natural

current zero is reached. It occurs in air blast circuit breaker
because they retain same extinguishing power irrespective
of the magnitude of current to be interrupted.
When interrupting low inductive current e.g.magnetising
current of transformer, a rapid deionizing effect causes
current , to fall below its zero value before natural current
zero is called current chopping.

10/11/16

Dr.Latif Shaikh

Current Chopping

10/11/16

Dr.Latif Shaikh

Resistance Switching

10/11/16

Dr.Latif Shaikh

Resistance Switching
The switching Resistor (R) is connected in parallel with the CB
contacts. Current chopping produces high voltage
oscillations which can be prevented by this method.
During arc interruption CB contacts separate first and after arc
gets extinguished S opens depending upon the time delay
provided to it.
When the fault occurs the CB contacts open and arc is struck
between them. Since R is in parallel with Cb contacts ,a part
of arc current flows through this resistance so arc current
decreases and deionization rate increases. The arc
resistance also increases so current through R increases.
This continue till the arc current is insufficient to maintain
the arc.

10/11/16

Dr.Latif Shaikh

Circuit Breaker Rating

Breaking capacity It is the current (r.m.s.) that a Circuit
Breaker is capable of breaking at given recovery voltage and
under specified conditions.
Making Capacity The peak value of current (including DC
component) during the first cycle of current wave after closure
of circuit breaker is known as making capacity. Making
capacity = 2.55 symmetrical breaking capacity
Short time rating It is the period for which the CB is able to
carry fault current while remaining closed.
Normal current rating It is the r.m.s. value of current which
the CB is capable of carrying continuously at its rated
frequency under rated specified conditions.

10/11/16

Dr.Latif Shaikh

IEEE Standards for Selection of Circuit Breakers

Step 1.Calculate highest value of initial RMS current
considering symmetrical fault. The current can be obtained by
sub -transient reactance of synchronous generators and
transient reactance of synchronous motors and induction
motors are neglected.
Following Multiplying factors are applied to take into account
dc components and decrement of dc components in current. If
short circuit KVA exceeds 5000,000 ,then add 0.1 to the given
1.0
factors 8 cycles or slow
breaker

10/11/16

5 cycle breaker

1.1

3 cycle breaker

1.2

2 cycle breaker

1.4

Dr.Latif Shaikh

IEEE Standards for Selection of Circuit

Breakers

10/11/16

Dr.Latif Shaikh

1) CB rated 1500A,1000MVA,33kV,3sec,3phase oil CB.Find

a)rated normal current b) breaking capacity c)rated
symmetrical current d)Rated making current e) short time
rating f)rated service voltage

10/11/16

Dr.Latif Shaikh

Problem -A generator connected through a 5 cycle circuit

breaker to a transformer is rated 8000KVAand 13.8kV with the
reactance of Xd=10%,Xd=16%,and Xd=100% .It is operating
at no load and rated voltage when 3 phase short circuit occurs
between breaker and transformer. Find
1.Sustained short circuit current in the breaker
2.The initial symmetrical rms current in the breaker
3.Maximum possible dc component in the breaker
4.Current to be interrupted by the breaker
5.The interrupting KVA

10/11/16

Dr.Latif Shaikh

10/11/16

Dr.Latif Shaikh

Automatic Reclosing
Many faults (80-90%) in the overhead distribution system like
flash over of insulators, crow faults, temporary tree contacts ,
etc are temporary in nature. Thus, taking a feeder or line
permanent outage may lead to unnecessary long loss of
service to customers. Hence, many utilities use fast automatic
reclosers for an overhead radial feeder without synchronous
machines or with minimum induction motor load. Presence of
synchronous machines will require additional problem of
synchro-check to be addressed. The almost universal practice
is to use three and occasionally four attempts to restore
service before lock out .

10/11/16

Dr.Latif Shaikh

 Subsequently, energization is by manual intervention. The initial reclosure

can be high speed (0.2 - 0.5sec) or delayed for 3 - 5 seconds. This allows for
de-ionization time for fault arc. If the temporary fault is cleared, then the
service is restored. Otherwise, the relay again trips the feeder. Then one or
two additional time delayed reclosures are programmed on the reclosing
relay. Typical schedule might be instantaneous, followed by 30sec, or 35sec,
followed by 15sec. If the circuit still continues to trip, the fault is declared as
permanent and the recloser is locked out. Reclosers use three phase and
single phase oil or vacuum circuit breakers for overhead distribution lines.
With underground network, faults tend to be more often permanent and
reclosers are not recommended. In case of large synchronous motors,
distributed generators or induction motor loads, it is recommended that
sufficient time is allowed for underfrequency relays to trip these sources of
back emf out-of-the-circuit.

10/11/16

Dr.Latif Shaikh

Reclosures
Application of reclosers in distribution systems requires
selection of its ratings such as minimum trip current,
continuous current, symmetrical interrupting current etc.
For a single phase system, single phase reclosers can be used
whereas for a three phase system, one three phase recloser or
three single phase reclosers can be used. Reclosers have to be
selected by considering the following factors.
Voltage Rating.
Continuous current Rating : This is the maximum load current
the recloser has to carry.
Maximum Symmetrical Interrupting Rating: The maximum
symmetrical fault current should not exceed this rating.
Minimum Tripping current : This is the minimum fault current
that a recloser will clear. It is equal to two times the
continuous current rating. Usually tolerance is 10%. This
decides the sensitivity of the recloser
10/11/16

Dr.Latif Shaikh

Example on Reclosure Selection

Consider a three phase distribution system with a single

phase tap as shown in fig . Maximum load on this single
phase tap is 40A and that on three phase line is 200A. Fault
currents at F1,F2, F3 and F4 are also shown in the fig. Table
shows the available standard rating of single phase and
three phase reclosers. Select the ratings of reclosers at B.

10/11/16

Dr.Latif Shaikh

IEEE Standard Table for Reclosure Selection

10/11/16

Dr.Latif Shaikh

Answer
Recloser at B
Maximum load current on this single phase line = 40A.
Continuous current rating of this recloser must be 1.25 - 1.5 times the
maximum load current to account for anticipated load growth.
i.e. Continuous current rating of this recloser at B = 40 1.5 = 60A.
From the table 1, any recloser with continuous current rating of 100A and
above is acceptable.
Maximum fault current at B = 1750A.
Interrupting current rating must be greater than 1750A. From the table 1, we
see that recloser with 100A continous current rating has 2000A symmetrical
rms short circuit current rating. Hence, we can choose this recloser.
Minimum tripping current = Continuous current rating 2 10% tolerance
= 100 2 10% of 200 = 220A
Since the minimum trip current 220A is less than the minimum fault current
250A at the line end, it can protect the entire line.
Voltage rating of the line is 11kV. So we can select the maximum voltage rating
of 15.5kV (from the table).

10/11/16

Dr.Latif Shaikh

Sectionalizers

10/11/16

Dr.Latif Shaikh

Sectionalizers
Sectionalizers are used in the bus bars so that fault on any
section of bus bar will not cause complete shut down.
Advantages of sectionalizers
1.If fault occurs on any section of bus bars then that section is
isolated from other sections without affecting the system.
2.Fault current is much lower than in case of un sectionalized
system (as the fault is fed from only one section)
3.Repairing and maintenance on one section can be carried out
by de energizing that section only eliminating the possibility
of complete shut down.
The breaker in the bus bars is acting as sectionalizing breaker
in the shown figure.

10/11/16

Dr.Latif Shaikh