CIRCUIT BREAKERs

Introduction

• During the operation of power system, it is often desirable and necessary

to switch on or off the various circuits (e.g., transmission lines, distributors,
generating plants etc.)
• Under both normal and abnormal conditions. In earlier days, this function
used to be performed by a switch and a fuse placed in series with the
circuit. However, such a means of control presents two disadvantages.
• Firstly, when a fuse blows out, it takes quite sometime to replace it and
restore supply to the customers. Secondly, a fuse cannot successfully
interrupt heavy fault currents that result from faults on modern high-voltage
and large capacity circuits.
• Due to these disadvantages, the use of switches and fuses is limited to low-
voltage and small capacity circuits where frequent operations are not
expected e.g., for switching and protection of distribution transformers,
lighting circuits, branch circuits of distribution lines etc
 Circuit Breakers

• A circuit breaker is a piece of equipment which can

(i) Make or break a circuit either manually or by remote
control under normal conditions
(ii) Break a circuit automatically under fault conditions
(iii) Make a circuit either manually or by remote control
under fault conditions
• Thus a circuit breaker incorporates manual (or remote
control) as well as automatic control for switching
functions. The latter control employs relays and
operates only under fault conditions.
 OPERATING PRINCIPLE.

• A circuit breaker essentially consists of fixed and moving contacts,

called electrodes.
• Under normal operating conditions, these contacts remain closed
and will not open automatically until and unless the system becomes
faulty. Of course, the contacts can be opened manually or by remote
control whenever desired.
• 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.
• When the contacts of a circuit breaker are separated under fault
conditions, an arc is struck between them. The current is thus able to
continue until the discharge causes.
• The production of arc not only delays the current interruption
process but it also generates enormous heat which may cause
damage to the system or to the circuit breaker itself.
 ARC PHENOMENON

• When a short circuit occurs, a heavy current flows through

the contacts of the circuit breaker before they are opened by
the protective system.
• At the instant when the contacts begin to separate, the
contact area decreases rapidly and large fault current causes
increased current density and hence rise in temperature.
• The heat produced in the medium between contacts (usually
the medium is oil or air) is sufficient to ionize the air or
vaporize and ionize the oil.
• The p.d. between the contacts is quite small and is just
sufficient to maintain the arc. The arc provides a low
resistance path and consequently the current in the circuit
remains uninterrupted so long as the arc persists.
 The arc resistance depends upon the following factors:

(i) Degree of ionization:

The arc resistance increases with the decrease in
the number of ionized particles between the
contacts.
(ii) Length of the arc:
The arc resistance increases with the length of the
arc i.e., separation of contacts.
(iii) Cross-section of arc:
The arc resistance increases with the decrease in
area of X-section of the arc.
 PRINCIPLES OF ARC EXTINCTION

Before discussing the methods of arc extinction, it is necessary

to examine the factors responsible for the maintenance of arc
between the contacts.
These are:
(i) p.d. between the contacts
(ii) Ionized particles between contacts

(i) When the contacts have a small separation, the p.d. between
them is sufficient to maintain the arc. One way to extinguish
the arc is to separate the contacts to such a distance that p.d.
becomes inadequate to maintain the arc. However, this method
is impracticable in high voltage system where a separation of
many meters may be required.
 METHODS OF ARC EXTINCTION

There are two methods of extinguishing the arc in circuit breakers viz.
1. High resistance method.
In this method, arc resistance is made to increase with time so that
current is reduced to a value insufficient to maintain the arc.
Consequently, the current is interrupted or the arc is extinguished. The
principal disadvantage of this method is that enormous energy is
dissipated in the arc. Therefore, it is employed only in d.c. circuit
breakers and low-capacity a.c. circuit breakers.
The resistance of the arc may be increased by:
(i) Lengthening the arc
(ii) Cooling the arc
(iii) Reducing X-section of the arc
(iv) Splitting the arc
• Cooling of arc:
The arc resistance can be increased by adding the neutral or cold air
between the contacts.
• Increasing the length of arc:
The resistance of the arc can be increased by increasing the mean length
between the contacts. This decreases the voltage gradient of the contact
and the arc phenomenon can be reduces. But this process is not practical
because this increases the length of the contacts for the high voltage
system.
• Reducing the cross section area:
The cross section of the arc can be reduced by having the small contact
surface area or letting the arc pass through the small hole to reduce the
arc. This process can help to reduce the voltage necessary to maintain the
arc.
• Splitting the arc:
This is the best method of increasing the resistance of the arc. The arcs so
formed are spitted into the small channels to reduce the effect of it. The
provision of splitter is designed in the circuit breaker and the formed arc is
passed through it to form the series of arc into the splitter. This increases
the mean length of the arc and the cooling is better.
2. Low resistance or Current zero method.
This method is employed for arc extinction in a.c.
circuits only. In this method, arc resistance is kept
low until current is zero where the arc extinguishes
naturally and is prevented from restriking inspite of
the rising voltage across the contacts. All modern
high power a.c. circuit breakers employ this method
for arc extinction.
• This phenomenon is explained by the given 2
theories.
• Energy balance or Cassie theory:
This theory states that if the rate of heat
dissipation between the contacts is greater than
the rate at which heat is generated, the arc will be
extinguish, otherwise it will restrike. During the
faults the high heat is produced due to the higher
voltage gradient or the high current densities
between the contacts. Thus if the heat generated
could be removed by cooling, lengthening or by
arc splitter at a higher rate than the generation of
the arc, then the arc will be extinguish.
• Recovery rate or Slepian’s theory:
This theory states that is the rate at which the ions and the
electrons combine to form or are replaced by the neutral
molecules i.e. the rate at which the gap recovers its
dielectrics strength is faster then the rate at which voltage
stress rises, the arc will be extinguished: if otherwise the
arc may be interrupted for a brief period but it again
restrike. So in this process when the current is at zero
value, the fresh air is entered to neutral the electrons.
For this the following process are applied:
(i)lengthening of the gap
(ii) high pressure
(iii) cooling
(iv) blast effect
a) Lengthening the gap:
The dielectrics strength and the length between the contacts are
proportional to each other. Lengthening the contact gap can be the obvious
process. The permissible arc length is limited; however, by other
considerations e.g. arc energy and possibility of transient voltages due to
the current chopping.
b) High pressure :
Increasing the pressure in the vicinity of the arc By increasing the pressure
the density of the particle constituting the discharge also increases. The
increased density of particle causes higher rate of deionization and thus the
dielectric strength of the medium between the contacts is increased.
c) Cooling:
If the particle is allowed to cool the natural combination of ionized
particles will take place more rapidly resulting increase in dielectric
strength of the medium. Cooling by conduction to adjacent parts e.g.
baffles or by the use of gas such as hydrogen that has as high diffusion and
great absorption rate is, therefore, effective.
d) Blast effect:
By blowing a stream of air through the arc ionized particles between the
contacts are swept away and replaced by unionized particles. These
unionized particles increased the dielectrics strength of the, medium
considerably.
 IMPORTANT TERMS
(i) Arc Voltage.
It is the voltage that appears across the contacts of the
circuit breaker during the arcing period. As soon as the
contacts of the circuit breaker separate, an arc is formed.
The voltage that appears across the contacts during arcing
period is called the arc voltage.
(ii) Restriking voltage.
It is the transient voltage that appears across the contacts at
or near current zero during arcing period.
(iii) Recovery voltage.
It is the normal frequency (50 Hz) r.m.s. voltage that
appears across the contacts of the circuit breaker after final
arc extinction. It is approximately equal to the system
voltage.
 RESTRIKING VOLTAGE IN CIRCUIT BREAKER
• In ac circuit breakers, the current interruption takes place invariably at the
natural zeroes of current wave.
• At current zero, a high frequency transient voltage appears across the
breaker contacts and is caused by the rapid distribution of energy between
the magnetic and electric fields associated with the plant and transmission
line of the power system.
• This transient voltage is known as the restriking voltage. This voltage
appearing across the breaker contacts at the moment of final current zero
has a profound influence on the arc extinction process.
• Under the influence of this voltage the arc tries to restrike and hence it is
named as restriking voltage. After current zero, the arc gets extinguished if
the rate of rise of restriking voltage between the contacts is less than the
rate at which dielectric strength of the medium between the contacts
recovered.
• Thus, restriking voltage may be defined as the resultant transient voltage
which appears across the breaker contacts at the instant of arc extinction.
EXPRESSION FOR RESTRIKING VOLTAGE:
 Duties of circuit breakers
• The main Duties of circuit breaker diagram has to perform in
addition to satisfying the rated breaking capacities and rated
making and breaking times are:
• 1. Interruption of Small Inductive Currents, Current
Chopping
• 2. Interruption of Capacitive Currents (Switching of
Unloaded Long Transmission Lines, Unloaded Underground
Cables and Capacitor Banks)
• 3. Interruption of Terminal Faults
• 4. Interruption of Short-Line Faults (or Kilometric Fault)
• 5. Asynchronous or Phase Opposition Switching
1. Interruption of Small Inductive Currents, Current
Chopping:
• The deionization is an important requirement only if it occurs immediately after current zero. The deionization at any other
stage of the arc current cycle is disadvantageous and unnecessary. If a deionizing force is applied in the middle of the current
loop, more voltage will be required to maintain the arc current and it will cause release of energy which is required to be
safely disposed of.
• The other drawback of deionization is that it causes current chopping, the phenomenon of current interruption before the
natural current zero is reached. In order to understand current chopping phenomenon consider that the same deionizing force
is applied by the circuit breaker for all values of the short-circuit current within the capacity of the circuit breaker as in case
of air-blast circuit breakers which retain the same extinguishing force irrespective of the magnitude of the current to be
interrupted.
• The deionizing force to be applied will naturally be high so as to be sufficient to interrupt highest value of short-circuit
current. Now if the current to be interrupted is quite low then the available deionizing force will be sufficient to force the arc
from its high value straight to zero before the arc current actual reaches its natural zero, this phenomenon is termed as current
chopping.
• The current chopping is a serious drawback as it produces high voltage transient across the contacts of the breaker.
• The necessity of interrupting small inductive current arises while disconnecting transformers no load. No-load currents of
transformer, i.e., magnetizing currents are almost at zero power factor lag. The current is smaller than normal current rating
of the breaker but breaking of such a low current presents a severe duty on the circuit breaker because of current chopping.
For example if a 220 kV, 50 MVA transformers is disconnected on no load, it may produce voltage transient of the order of as
high as 10,000 kV.
• he current chopping phenomenon as referring to Fig. 6.12(a), the arc current is seen to approach zero in a normal way
initially with low arc voltage so that there is virtually no capacitance current. At a certain arc current, due to large deionizing
force instability occurs and the arc current immediately collapses to zero or there occurs the first chop. The current in the arc
was flowing from the source through the inductance and the circuit breaker contacts. The energy contained in the
electromagnetic field cannot become zero instantaneously.
• It changes into some other form of energy. The only possibility is the conversion from electromagnetic to electrostatic form
of energy i.e., the energy stored in the inductor will discharge into the stray capacitance C charging the latter to a prospective
voltage v. If i is the instantaneous value of arc current where the chop takes place, the prospective value of voltage to which
the capacitor C will be charged, is given as –

• This prospective voltage may be extremely high as compared to the normal system voltage. For example consider a 220 kV
circuit breaker interrupting a transformer having magnetising current of 10 A (rms value). Let the current be chopped at an
instantaneous value of 5 A. If inductance and capacitance values are 100 H and 0.004 µF, the prospective voltage developed
would be –

• The prospective voltage v is very high, as seen above, as compared to the dielectric strength gain by the breaker gap so that
the breaker restrikes. As the deionizing force is still in action, therefore, chop occurs again but the arc current this time is
smaller than the previous value. This induces a lower prospective voltage to re-ignite the arc. In fact several chops may occur
until a low enough current is interrupted that produces insufficient induced voltage to restrike across the breaker gap.
Consequently the current is finally interrupted as shown in the figure. No further restrike takes place since the gap gets
deionized completely by this time.
• Resistance switching is used to overcome the effect of over-voltages due to current chopping. The value of resistance used for
resistance switching may be of the order of thousands of ohms.
• Current chopping is not common in oil circuit breakers because in most of the oil circuit breakers, arc control is proportional
to the fault current to be interrupted. In other words, the extinguishing power in such breakers is proportional to the current to
be interrupted.
•
2. Interruption of Capacitive Currents (Switching of Unloaded Long Transmission Lines, Unloaded
Underground Cables and Capacitor Banks):
• Another cause of excessive voltage transients across the circuit
breaker contacts is the interruption of capacitive currents. Examples
of such instances are opening of unloaded long transmission lines
and unloaded underground cables and disconnecting of capacitor
banks employed in the network to provide reactive power at leading
power factor.
• The magnitudes of capacitive currents encountered in practice
are:
• Unloaded lines – Charging currents up to 10 A
• Underground cables – Charging currents up to 100 A
• Capacitor banks – Currents up to 1,400 A
• Consider the simple equivalent circuit of an unloaded transmission
line shown in Fig. 6.13 (a). Such a line, although unloaded in the
normal sense will actually carry a capacitive current i on account of
appreciable amount of capacitance C between line and earth. Let us
assume that the line is opened by the circuit breaker at the instant
t1 when line capacitive current is zero [Fig. 6.13 (b)].
• It can be seen from Fig. 6.13 (b) that at instant t1 when capacitive current i is zero, the transmission
line is at negative maximum voltage so that at the instant of current interruption (at t1) the line is left
in a fully charged condition to this negative maximum value of the generated voltage Vg. After
instant t, the breaker gap is subjected to the difference of voltage Vg and Vc. After a time interval of
half cycle from A, i.e., at instant t2 the voltage across the breaker is 2 times maximum value of
Vg i.e., 2Vgm.
• Within such a short interval of half-cycle the breaker has been subjected to a severe condition, with
the result that the breaker might restrike. If such a condition occurs the voltage across the breaker
falls almost instantaneously from two times maximum value of Vg to zero. In doing so high
frequency oscillations are set up which build up the voltage to 3 times maximum value of Vg. The
restrike current ir reaches zero value which provides an opportunity to interrupt. The line is charged
to a voltage of 3 times maximum value of Vg to earth after interruption of restrike current ir.
• At this stage immediately after C the voltage across the breaker contact is twice the maximum value
of V since generated voltage Vg itself is positive maximum. The voltage across the breaker contacts
now continues to increase and at D this reaches a value 4 times maximum value of Vg. If the breaker
restrikes again at this point the events of B will be repeated on an even more formidable scale as the
voltage swing will now be 8 times maximum Vg and the line may then be left isolated at a potential
of 5 times maximum Vg to earth. Theoretically this phenomenon may proceed indefinitely increasing
the voltage by successive increments of 2 times maximum However, due to leakage and corona loss,
the maximum voltage on the line in such cases is limited to 5 Vgm.
• Although these extreme conditions caused due to capacitive current breaking are improbable and
rare, they do sometimes occur causing serious damage. The sole cause of setting up this type of
voltage transients is the inability of the circuit breaker to provide adequate dielectric strength in the
gap after current interruption.
• The circuit breaker employed for a particular application should be capable of performing opening
and closing operations without getting damaged and with over-voltages within specified limits.
• Vacuum, SF6 and air-blast circuit breakers are suitable for capacitor current interruption duty.
•
 Air Circuit Breaker
• This circuit breaker will operate in the air; the quenching medium is an Arc at
atmospheric pressure. In many of the countries air circuit breaker is replaced by
oil circuit breaker. About oil circuit breaker we will discuss later in the article.
Thus the importance of ACB is still preferable choice to use an Air circuit
breaker up to 15KV. This is because; oil circuit breaker may catch fire when
used at 15V
• The two types of air circuit breakers are
• Plain air circuit breaker
• Air blast Circuit Breaker
• Plain Air Circuit Breaker
• Plain air circuit breaker is also called as Cross-Blast Circuit Breaker. In this, the
circuit breaker is fitted with a chamber which basically surrounds the contacts.
This chamber is known as arc chute .
• This arc is made to drive in it. In achieving the cooling of the air circuit
breaker, an arc chute will help. From the refractory material, an arc
chute is made. The internal walls of arc chute are shaped in such a way
that arc is not forced into close proximity. It will drive into the winding
channel projected on an arc chute wall.
• The arc chute will have many small compartments and has many
divisions which are metallic separated plates. Here each of small
compartments behaves as a mini arc chute and metallic separation plate
acts like arc splitters. All arc voltages will be higher than the system
voltage when the arc will split into a series of arcs. It is only preferable
for low voltage application.
• Air Blast Circuit Breaker
• Air blast circuit breakers are used for system voltage of 245 KV, 420
KV and also even more.Air blast circuit breakers are of two types:
• Axial blast breaker
• Axial blast with sliding moving contact.
• Axial Blast Breaker
• In the axial blaster breaker the moving contact of the axial blast breaker
will be in contact. The nozzle orifice is a fixed to the contact of a
breaker at a normal closed condition. A fault occurs when high pressure
is introduced into the chamber. Voltage is sufficient to sustain high-
pressure air when flowed through nozzle orifice.
• Advantages of Air-Blast Circuit Beaker
• It is used where frequent operation is required because of lesser arc energy.
• It is risk free from fire.
• Small in size.
• It requires less maintenance.
• Arc quenching is much faster
• Speed of circuit breaker is much higher.
• The time duration of the arc is same for all values of current.
• Disadvantages of Air-Blast Circuit Breaker
• It requires additional maintenance.
• The air has relatively lower arc extinguishing properties
• It contains high capacity air compressor.
• From the air pipe junction there may be a chance of air pressure leakage
• There is the chance of a high rate rise of re-striking current and voltage chopping.
• Application and Uses of Air Circuit Breaker
• It is used for protection of plants, electrical machines, transformers, capacitors and generators
• Air circuit breaker is also used in the Electricity sharing system and GND about 15Kv
• Also used in Low as well as High Currents and voltage applications.
•
 Circuit Breaker Ratings

• In this, you will learn ratings of circuit breaker and making & breaking capacity of circuit
breaker.A circuit breaker may be called upon to operate under all conditions.However, major duties
are imposed on the circuit breaker when there is a fault on the system in which it is connected.Every
electrical equipment will have rating mentioned on it to avoid the damage of it.In the same
way ratings of circuit breaker are also mentioned by the manufacturers on the circuit
breaker.Under fault conditions, a circuit breaker is required to perform the following three duties :

(i) It must be capable of opening the faulty circuit and breaking the fault current.

(ii) It must be capable of being closed onto a fault.

(iii) It must be capable of carrying fault current for a short time while another circuit breaker
(in series) is clearing the fault.

• Corresponding to the above mentioned duties, the three ratings of circuit breaker are below

(i) Breaking capacity

(ii) Making capacity and
(iii) Short-time capacity.
• (i) Breaking capacity:

• It is current (rms) that a circuit breaker is capable of breaking at given

recovery voltage and under specified conditions (e.g., power factor, rate of rise
of restriking voltage).The breaking capacity is always stated at the r.m.s. value
of fault current at the instant of contact separation.When a fault occurs, there is
considerable asymmetry in the fault current due to the presence of a d.c.
component.The d.c. component dies away rapidly, a typical decrement factor
being 0·8 per cycle. At this instant, the fault current has

x = maximum value of a.c. component

y = d.c. component

∴ Symmetrical breaking current = r.m.s. value of a.c. component

= x/√2
Asymmetrical breaking current = r.m.s. value of total current
• Must Read:
What is a Circuit Breaker and its Operation
• It is a common practice to express the breaking capacity in MVA by taking into account the
rated breaking current and rated service voltage.Thus, if I is the rated breaking current in amperes
and V is the rated service line voltage in volts, then for a 3-phase circuit,

• Breaking capacity = √3 × V × I × 10 -6 MVA

• In India (or Britain), it is a usual practice to take breaking current equal to the symmetrical
breaking current. However, American practice is to take breaking current equal to asymmetrical
breaking current.Thus the American rating of circuit breaker is higher than the Indian or British
rating.

• It seems to be illogical to give breaking capacity in MVA since it is obtained from the product
of short-circuit current and rated service voltage. When the short circuit current is flowing, there is
only a small voltage across the breaker contacts, while the service voltage appears across the
contacts only after the current has been interrupted.Thus MVA rating is the product of two
quantities which do not exist simultaneously in the circuit.

• Therefore, the agreed international standard of specifying breaking capacity is defined as

the rated symmetrical breaking current at a rated voltage.
• (ii) Making capacity:
• There is always a possibility of closing or making the circuit under short
circuit conditions.The capacity of a breaker to “make” current depends upon its ability to
• withstand and close successfully against the effects of electromagnetic forces.These forces are
proportional to the square of maximum instantaneous current on closing.Therefore, making
capacity is stated in terms of a peak value of current instead of rms value.
The peak value of current (including d.c. component) during the first cycle of
current wave after the closure of circuit breaker is known as making capacity.

• It may be noted that the definition is concerned with the first cycle of current wave on
closing the circuit breaker.This is because the maximum value of fault current possibly occurs
in the first cycle only when maximum asymmetry occurs in any phase of the breaker.In other
words, the making current is equal to the maximum value of asymmetrical current.
To find this value, we must multiply symmetrical breaking current by √2 to convert
this from r.m.s. to peak, and then by 1·8 to include the “doubling effect” of maximum
asymmetry. The total multiplication factor becomes √2 × 1·8 = 2·55.
•

• ∴ Making capacity =2·55 × Symmetrical breaking capacity

• (iii) Short-time rating:
• It is the period for which the circuit breaker is able to carry fault current
while remaining closed.Sometimes a fault on the system is of very temporary nature
and persists for 1 or 2 seconds after which the fault is automatically cleared.In the
interest of continuity of supply, the breaker should not trip in such situations.
This means that circuit breakers should be able to carry high current safely
for some specified period while remaining closed i.e., they should have proven
short-time rating.However, if the fault persists for a duration longer than the
specified time limit, the circuit breaker will trip, disconnecting the faulty section.

• The short-time rating of a circuit breaker depends upon its ability to

withstand (a) the electromagnetic force effects and (b) the temperature rise. The oil
circuit breakers have a specified limit of 3 seconds when the ratio of symmetrical
breaking current to the rated normal current does not exceed 40. However, if this
ratio is more than 40, then the specified limit is 1 second.
Apart from all the three ratings of circuit breaker, every circuit handle a
maximum voltage rating and current rating, if the ratings are exceeded then the
circuit breaker may damage.
• In addition to the above rating, the circuit breakers should be specified in terms of
• The number of poles
• Rated voltage
• Rated current
• Rated frequency
• Operating voltage
• These terms are explained below in details.
• Rated voltage – The rated maximum voltage of the circuit breaker is the highest RMS
voltage, above nominal voltage for which the circuit breaker is designed and is the upper
limits for operation. The rated voltage is depicted in KVrms and used phase to phase voltage
for three phase circuit.
• Rated current – The rated normal current of the circuit breaker is the RMS value of the
current with which the circuit breaker shall be able to carry at rated frequency and at rated
voltage continuously, under specified conditions.
• Rated Frequency – The rated frequency of a circuit breaker is the frequency at which it is
designed to operate. Standard frequency is 50 Hz
• Operating Duty – The operating duty of a circuit breaker consists of the prescribed number
of unit operations at stated intervals. The operating sequence refers the opening and closing
operation of circuit breaker contacts
• Breaking Contact – The terms expressed the highest number of short-circuit current that the
breakers are capable of breaking under specified conditions of transient recovery voltage and
power frequency voltage. It is expressed in KA RMS at contact separation. The breaking
capacities are divided into two types.
• Symmetrical breaking capacity of a circuit breaker
• Asymmetrical breaking capacity of a circuit breaker.
• .
• Making Capacity – There is always the possibility that the circuit breaker is closed under
short circuit conditions. The making capacity of the circuit breaker is its ability to withstand
under the effect of electromagnetic forces which are directly proportional to the square of the
peak value of the making current of a circuit breaker.
• The making current of the circuit breaker, when closed on a short circuit, is the peak value of
the maximum current wave (including dc component) in the first cycle of the current after the
circuit is closed by the circuit breaker.
• Short Circuit Current – The short circuit current of a circuit breaker is the RMS value of
current that a breaker can carry in a fully closed condition without damage, for the specified
time interval under prescribed condition. It is normally expressed regarding terms of KA for 1
seconds or 4 seconds. These ratings are based on thermal limitation.
• Low voltage circuit breaker does not have any such short circuit current because these are
normally equipped with straight acting series overload trips.