Presentation on

CIRCUIT BREAKER

Name- Neeraj Kr Maurya

 Presentation flow
• Why CB needed ?
• What is CB
• Principal of
operation
• Formation of arc
• Type of circuit
breaker
 What is circuit breaker and needed ?
• It is necessary to less damage of faulted apparatus.
• Fault should not spread into the system.
• Quick recovery of fault.
• Less interruption of service to the consumers.

• A circuit breaker is an equipment that break or make

circuit either manually or automatically under all
conditions at no load, full load or short circuit
condition.
 Operating Principle
• Two contacts called electrode remains closed
under normal operating conditions. When
fault occurs on any part of the system, the trip
coil of the circuit breaker get energized and
contacts are separated.
 Formation of Arc
• An arc is struck when contacts are separated. The
current is thus able to continue. Thus the main duty of
a circuit breaker is to distinguish the arc within the
shortest possible time.

• The arc provides the low resistance path to the current

and the current in the circuit remains uninterrupted.

• The arc resistance depends upon the following factors.

 Degree of ionization

 Length of the arc

 Cross Section of the arc

 Types of Circuit Breaker
• According different criteria there are different types of circuit breaker. According to
their arc quenching media the circuit breaker can be divided as
According to their arc quenching media the circuit breaker can be divided as-
1. oil circuit breaker
2. Air circuit breaker
3. SF6 circuit breaker
4. Vacuum circuit breaker

According to their services the circuit breaker can be divided as-

1. Outdoor circuit breaker
2. Indoor breaker.

According to the operating mechanism of circuit breaker they can be divided as-
1. Spring operated circuit breaker.
2. Pneumatic circuit breaker.
3. Hydrolic circuit breaker.

According to the voltage level of installation types of circuit breaker are referred as-
• High voltage circuit breaker.
• Medium voltage circuit breaker.
• Low voltage circuit breaker.
 Air Blast Circuit Breaker
• These types of air circuit breaker were used for the system voltage of 245 KV, 420
KV and even more, especially where faster breaker operation was required.
• Most suitable for high voltage.
• Compressed air use for arc extinction.
• Oil circuit breaker replaced by ACB due to risk of oil fire.

Air blast circuit breaker has some specific advantages over oil circuit breaker which are
listed as follows.
1. There is no chance of fire hazard caused by oil.
2. The breaking speed of circuit breaker is much higher during operation of air blast
circuit breaker.
3. The duration of arc is same for all values of small as well as high currents
interruptions.

There are also some disadvantages of air blast circuit breakers-

1. In order to have frequent operations, it is necessary to have sufficiently high
capacity air compressor.
2. Frequent maintenance of compressor, associated air pipes and automatic control
equipments is also required.
3. Chance of air pressure leakage from pipe junction
Type of air blast circuit breaker
Axial blast air circuit breaker
•Two contacts (fixed and
moving)
•A air valve connected the air
reservoir with arching
chamber.
•Normal condition( valve
closed) but automatically open
when fault accurse
•The high pressure entering the
arcing chamber through the air
valve forces to moving contact
to move in the direction
opposite to spring pressure.
•The moving contact separate
from fixed contact.
•High pressure air take way
ionised gas and arc.
Cross blast air circuit breaker
•This type of circuit
breaker , a blast is done to
the normal of the arc
supplied.
• the cross blast lengthen
the arc and force to move
into arc splitter
•When the moving contact
separated from fixed
contact arc stuck between
them.
By the mean of high
pressure cross blast it
forced into arc splitter.
• it is use for high current
up to 100kA
At lower voltage
Redial blast air circuit breaker
•It works on the double blast
breaking principal. Air blast
is done radically
•While the flow of arcing
region is axial i.e. Along the
direction of the arc
formation.
• increase the number of
break , increase the
efficiency of breaker at super
high voltage application.
• suitable for extra high
voltage
 Sulphur hexafluoride SF6 circuit
breaker
• A circuit breaker in which the current carrying contacts operate in sulphur
hexafluoride or SF6 gas is known as an SF6 circuit breaker.

• SF6 has excellent insulating property. SF6 has high electro-negativity. That
means it has high affinity of absorbing free electron. Whenever a free electron
collides with the SF6 gas molecule, it is absorbed by that gas molecule and
forms a negative ion.

• its high dielectric strength and high cooling effect SF6 gas is approximately 100
times more effective arc quenching media than air.

• Types of SF6 Circuit Breaker

• There are mainly three types of SF6 CB depending upon the voltage level of
application- Single interrupter SF6 CB applied for up to 245 KV(220 KV) system.
• Two interrupter SF6 CB applied for up to 420 KV(400 KV) system.
• Four interrupter SF6 CB applied for up to 800 KV(715 KV) system.
 Disadvantages of SF6 CB
• The SF6 gas is identified as a greenhouse gas.
• Puffer type design of SF6 CB needs a high mechanical
energy which is almost five times greater than that of
oil circuit breaker.

Advantages of SF6 CB
• No compressed-air plant is required to maintain blast
air pressure.
• High dielectric strength allow compact design and
larger interrupting rating.
• Vacuum circuit breakers have limited availability and
are not made for transmission voltages, unlike
SF6 breakers available up to 800 kV.
Non puffer type
• arc interruptionchamber (
fix and moving contact and
SF6 gas)
• chamber connected with
reservoir and high pressure
SF6 gas passes when
separation of contact take
place. Gas flows to reservoir
to arc interruption chamber
• breaker closed pressure of
SF6 is 2.8 kg per cm2..
• 14 kg per cm2
• it absorbs free electrons
present in arc path. And
charge carrier are removed
• so dialectic medium
increases and arc
extinguished.
 Vacuum Circuit Breaker
• A vacuum circuit breaker is such kind of circuit breaker where
the arc quenching takes place in vacuum.
• suitable for mainly medium voltage application.
• The vacuum pressure inside a vacuum interrupter is normally
maintained at 10- 6 bar.
• The material used for current carrying contacts plays an
important role in the performance of the vacuum circuit
breaker . Cu/Cr is the most ideal material to make VCB
contacts

• Advantages of Vacuum Circuit Breaker or VCB

1. Environment friendly
2. User friendly
Vacuum circuit breaker

• vacuum circuit breaker is

sealed flask with contacts
called as vacuum interrupter
• Vacuum acts as the
medium of insulation and arc
extinguishing.
•The moving contact moved
by the particular mechanism
and arc gets extinguished at “
first crossing of current”
through zero amplitude.
• as vacuum has highest
insulating strength, the arc
quenching properties of
vacuum are the best compare
to all media use for arc
quenching.