PDHengineer.

com
Course E-4013

Fuses and Circuit Breakers

Thisdocumentisthecoursetext.Youmayreviewthismaterialat yourleisurebeforeorafteryoupurchasethecourse.Ifyouhavenot alreadypurchasedthecourse,youmaydosonowbyreturningtothe courseoverviewpagelocatedat: http://www.pdhengineer.com/pages/E4013.htm (Pleasebesuretocapitalizeandusedashasshownabove.) Oncethecoursehasbeenpurchased,youcaneasilyreturntothe courseoverview,coursedocumentandquizfromPDHengineersMy Accountmenu. Ifyouhaveanyquestionsorconcerns,rememberyoucancontactus byusingtheLiveSupportChatlinklocatedonanyofourwebpages, byemailatadministrator@PDHengineer.comorbytelephonetoll freeat1877PDHengineer. ThankyouforchoosingPDHengineer.com.

PDHengineer.com,aservicemarkofDecaturProfessionalDevelopment,LLC.E4013C1

Fuse and Circuit Breaker Operation and Coordination

Robert J. Scoff, PE Copyright 2009, Robert J. Scoff, PE

Copyright 2009 Robert J. Scoff, PE

Table of Contents
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. Introduction Fuses Voltage Ratings of Alternating Current Fuses Current Ratings of Alternating Current Fuses I2t Ratings of Fuses Amps Interrupting Capacity (AIC) Fusing for DC Circuits Selective Coordination for Fused Circuits Circuit Breakers Arc Dissipation Techniques Amps Interrupting Capacity Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters (GFCIs) Arc Flash Protection Circuit Breakers Single Phase 120/240 Volt Breakers for Residential Construction Time Current Characteristic Curves Circuit Breaker Selective Coordination for Home Wiring Industrial 480 Volt Three Phase Systems Selective Coordination for Three Phase Circuit Breakers Conclusions

Page
4 4 6 8 11 11 12 13 15 16 17 18 19 19 20 22 22 26 28

Copyright 2009 Robert J. Scoff, PE

List of Illustrations
Figure Number 2.1 2.2 2.3 3.1 3.2 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 6.1 7.1 8.1 8.2 Title Page

9.1 9.2 9.3 10.1 10.2 10.3 11.1 12.1 13.1 14.1 15.1 17.1 17.2 17.3 17.4 18.1 18.2

Basic Idea of a Fusible Link Time Current Characteristic Curve for Buss LPS-RK Fuses Approximate List Prices for Motor Protection Fuses Model Showing What Must Happen When a Fuse Blows Model of How a Higher Voltage Fuse Is Constructed Possible Shape for a Fusible Link Diagram of 1 Circular Mill (CM) Resistivities of Materials Used in Fusible Links in English and Metric Units Melting points of Various Materials Used In Fusible Links English System of Determining Resistance of a Fusible Link Metric System of Determining Resistance of a Fusible Link Chart Expanded to Show Temperature Coefficient of Resistance Diagram Showing How Current Is Limited in an Electric Circuit Diagram Showing How a Reverse Biased Diode Helps Limit Load Turn Off Arc Single Line Diagram of a Typical Fuse Protected System Chart Taken from the Bussman Website to Show Selective Coordination Ratios of Various Types of Fuses. (Given for reference. Only as an example) Sketch Showing How a Magnetic Trip Circuit Breaker Operates Sketch Showing How a Thermal Trip Circuit Breaker Operates Sketch Showing a Breaker with both Thermal and Magnetic Breaks Using Arc Dissipation Plates to Help Extinguish an Arc Sketch Showing How a Blowout Coil Works Sketch Showing Spring Assisted Mechanism to Separate Contact Points Sketch Showing Why a Circuit Breaker Needs to Have an AIC Rating Sketch Showing How a GFCI Works Sketch Showing How an Arc Could Form In a Circuit Element Such as A Switch Drawing Showing Typical Single Phase 120/240 Volt Circuit Breaker Protection Time Current Characteristic for a Siemens EQ Frame Two Pole Circuit Breaker One Line Diagram for Typical Industrial Plant Pictures of Typical Siemens Three Phase Breakers Square D NW Series Circuit Breaker Showing Available Options Chart Showing How the Cost of Circuit Breakers Increases With Current Rating Example of Typical Time Current Trip Curves for 10 and 100 Amp Breakers One Line Drawing of a 100 Amp Breaker Feeding a 10 Amp Breaker

4 5 6 6 7 8 8 9 9 9 10 10 11 12 13

14 15 16 16 16 17 17 18 18 19 20 21 23 24 25 26 27 28

Copyright 2009 Robert J. Scoff, PE

1. Introduction Circuit protection methods have been with us as long as there has been the useful utilization of electrical power. Thomas Edison suggested the use of fuses as safety elements in 1879. He also suggested parallel circuits, as used in modern electrical distribution systems, at that time. The same principles of modern fuses were used in the early designs. However, as the needs of circuit protection have changed over the years, modern fuses have become more and more sophisticated. Fuses, by their very nature, are one time devices that need to be replaced after they have done their job of protecting a circuit. When a fuse does its job of protecting a circuit, it is said to be blown. An early form of circuit breaker was described in an 1879 patent of Thomas Edison. However, in Edisons first power systems, fuses were used for circuit protection. This is probably because, at the time, fuses were considered more reliable. What could be more reliable than a piece of wire that burns out because too much current flows through it? The circuit breaker not only has to detect the current, but also cause the circuit to be interrupted. Therefore it needs contact points and a way of separating them. Circuit breakers have the real advantage of being resettable. When a circuit breaker does its job of protecting a circuit is said to be tripped. 2. Fuses Fuses are really small pieces of wire that get hot and melt if too much current flows through them. Figure 2.1 shows the basic theory that applies to all fuses.

Figure 2.1 Basic Idea of a Fusible Link The fusible link is a piece of wire with a certain length and cross sectional area. Determining that length and cross sectional area is far beyond the scope of this course. However, we can know that every wire has a certain resistance, and if current flows through that resistance, it will get hot. To add to the complexity, as the wire gets hotter, its resistance increases. This causes it to dissipate more power, and get hotter. When the fusible link finally melts, the current flow is interrupted, and an arc will form. Then, when the arc is extinguished, the circuit is interrupted and current flow is stopped. As a mater of interest, an arc has a voltage drop of 30 to 40 volts across it.

Copyright 2009 Robert J. Scoff, PE

For most fuses, the fusible link is enclosed in an insulating tube of some sort. This keeps the heat generated by the current flowing in the fuse from dissipating into the surrounding air. This affects the time-current curves of fuses. The time-current curve of a fuse shows how long it takes for a fuse to blow a certain current levels. Figure 2.2 shows a typical characteristic curve for a Buss LPS-RK fuse.

Figure 2.2 Time Current Characteristic Curve for Buss LPS-RK Fuses Using the 60 amp dual element time delay fuse as an example, note that in 300 seconds, 100 amps will cause the fuse to blow. X marks that place on the curves. This is actually a dual element, time delay, motor protection fuse. Other applications include transformers, branch circuits, and solenoids. Many of these circuits have a large inrush current on turn on that decreases rapidly afterwards. Motors, for example, have about a 6 times running current on turn on. Looking again at the 60 amp fuse curve, notice that it takes 0.1 seconds to blow the fuse at 600 amps. Y marks that place on the curves. Since that is 10 times the rated current, there should be plenty of time to start a motor and have the current drop to less than 60 amps. Also, as a matter of interest, The National Electric Code allows motors to be fused at 125 % of the full load rated motor current. That means that if a motors FLA (Full Load Amps) is 50 amps, it can be fused at 62.5 amps, or the next larger standard size. For most fuse types, that would be 70 amps. For cost considerations, a 60 amp fuse would probably be selected. The reason is that 60 amps is the high end of a smaller (and less expensive) fuse body. The 70 amp fuse would be the low end of the 100 amp size fuse body. The standard breaks in fuse sizes for LPS-RK are as follows: 0 to 30 amps, 31 to 60 amps, 61 to 100 amps, 101 to 200 amps, 201 to 400 amps, and 401 to 600 amps. The higher current rating sizes are physically bigger and more expensive. The enclosures for the larger fuses are also more

Copyright 2009 Robert J. Scoff, PE

expensive. List prices for FRS motor protection fuses were obtained from an electrical distributor. They are shown below in Figure 2.3.

Fuse Type
FRS-R-30 FRS-R-60 FRS-R-100 FRS-R-200 FRS-R-400 FRS-R-600

Approximate List Price

$8.45 $14.48 $29.92 $59.86 $119.69 $173.70

Figure 2.3 Approximate List Prices for Motor Protection Fuses Notice that each larger fuse body size is approximately double the price of the next smaller fuse body. FRS and LPS fuses are both motor protection, time delay fuses. To qualify as a time delay fuse, the fuse must not open in less than 10 seconds at 500 % current rating. The LPS fuses are also current limiting fuses that will blow before a certain current limit is reached. One bit of information that can be gotten from the fuse pricing chart is that bigger fuses are very expensive. This would encourage maintenance people to determine the cause of a fuse failure before replacing a blown fuse with another good one. If a fault is not removed, the only result of replacing a fuse with a new one would be that the new one will also blow. A 100 Horsepower motor would draw 124 amps at full load and be protected by 150 amp fuses. These 150 amp fuses would cost about $60 each. Blowing 2 of these fuses would quickly cost $120. 3. Voltage Ratings of Alternating Current Fuses When a fuse blows, an arc forms where the fuse link melts. This arc must be extinguished in some way. If the circuit being protected is a low voltage, there is no problem. An arc needs 30 to 40 volts to be sustained. Extinguishing the arc is of very little concern for low voltage fuses. However, as circuit voltage is increased, some means must be established for extinguishing the arc that can form when a circuit is interrupted. Obviously, the higher the voltage, the more difficult this becomes. If a short circuit exists, the problem is compounded because the possibility of a very large current exists. Figure 3.1 shows a model of a fuse protected circuit with a short circuit.

Fuse

VAC

Load

Short Circuit

Figure 3.1 Model Showing What Must Happen When a Fuse Blows Copyright 2009 Robert J. Scoff, PE 6

If a short circuit happens, the fuse must blow, or open, and an arc will almost certainly happen. For AC voltages and lower current ratings, the arc will self extinguish in air. This is because the voltage, and hence the current will go through zero twice every cycle. The arc will be contained within the case of the fuse. When a fuse blows, it will often sound as if someone has fired a gun. The arc could cause the entire fusible link to vaporize, and thus make the air gap longer. This will also make it easier for the arc to extinguish. Some fuses are filled with sand, which fills the air gap when the fuse blows. This also helps to extinguish the arc. Some fuses, especially higher voltage fuses, are spring loaded, so that the air gap is made longer when the fuse blows. Figure 3.2 shows a model of how this might happen.

Insulated Frame Incoming Power Connection Case Fusible Link Mechanical Spring

Outgoing Power Connection

Figure 3.2 Model of How a Higher Voltage Fuse Is Constructed This particular design has the advantage of being able to see at a glance when the fuse is blown. The mechanical spring will pull some of the wire out of the case and thus give a blown fuse indication. Many power line fuses in the range of 2300 to 23,000 volts are of this design. AC Fuses are made in voltage ratings from 25 Volts to 115,000 volts. When protecting a circuit, a fuse of the proper voltage or a slightly higher rating must be used. If the voltage rating is too low, the fuse may form an arc and not self extinguish. If a too high of a voltage rating fuse is chosen, the cost will be significantly more, and may not operate properly. Higher voltage fuses are often filled with a gas evolving substance such as boric acid. When the high voltage fuse blows, the boric acid decomposes into a large quantity of gas, cools the arc, blows it out, and the gas is released out of the ends of the fuse. This mechanism is different from sand (silicon dioxide) filled fuses which absorbs the energy, and quenches the arc. Quite often, hollow glass tubes called fulgurites are formed. In any case, a large amount of energy is released when a fuse blows. The surrounding tube of a fuse is necessary to keep the energy contained. If a fuse is run at a high current for a long period of time, the tube can get hot enough to start burning. Also, if the fuse connections to the holder are not clean and tight, high resistance connections could cause hot spots that will heat the fuse. These hot spots will change the fuse operating characteristics by heating the fusible link.

Copyright 2009 Robert J. Scoff, PE

4. Current Ratings of Alternating Current Fuses Fuses come in current ratings of a fraction of an amp to at least 6000 amps. When a fractional ampere fuse blows, there is very little energy released in the fuse. As the fuse size increases, more and more energy is released in the blowing process. The fusible link is physically larger for larger fuses, and the link must not melt for the rated current. The material chosen for the fusible link is also very important. It must have a low enough melting point to actually melt on over current conditions. Some materials that are used are various alloys of tin and lead. Large power fusible links may also be made of silver or copper. The fusible link can be a wire or a strip of metal. Some fusible links are in the form of a coil or are made longer by forming the link into an S shape as shown in Figure 4.1.

Figure 4.1 Possible Shapes for a Fusible Link The design of the fusible link depends upon a number of factors. The right material must be chosen so that it melts at a certain temperature. It must have a high enough resistance so that it will get hot at the desired current. The arc must self extinguish. Some fuses, called current limiting fuses, must blow at a certain current to prevent high currents from flowing on short circuit conditions. Lets cover these issues one at a time. All materials have a property called resistivity. In English units, resistivity is given in Ohm Circular Mills per foot. A Circular Mill is the area of a circle 0.001 inches in diameter. Figure 4.2 shows this.

Figure 4.2 Diagram of 1 Circular Mill (CM) Resistivities of various materials at 20 degrees C used in fusible link construction are as shown in Figure 4.3. Note that the most common materials used in fusible links, tin and lead, also have higher resistivities. Alloys of tin and lead are also commonly used. This helps give the fusible links a higher resistance for a certain length and cross sectional area. Tin and lead and their alloys also have lower melting temperatures. Figure 4.4 shows the melting points of some materials commonly used for fusible links. The eutectic alloy 63 % tin, 37% lead is shown because it has a definite melting point, and it is the lowest melting point for any tin lead alloy. This makes it a good material to use as the fusible link.

Copyright 2009 Robert J. Scoff, PE

Material

Resistivity in Resistivity Ohm-Meter in Ohm CM per ft

2.65 * 10 exp -8 1.725 * 10 exp -8 20.6 * 10 exp -8 1.59 * 10 exp -8 11.0 * 10 exp -8 15.93 10.37 123.84 9.558 66.128

Aluminum Copper Lead Silver Tin

Figure 4.3 Resistivities of Materials Used in Fusible Links in English and Metric Units

Melting Points of Various Materials Used In Fusible Links

Metal Tin Lead Aluminum Silver Copper 63/37 Tin Lead Alloy Degrees F Degrees C 450 232 621 327 1220 660 1761 961 1981 1085 361 183

Figure 4.4 Melting points of Various Materials Used In Fusible Links Both English and Metric units are shown for convenience. Figure 4.5 shows an example for English units.
Fusible Link

Length in feet Area in CM

Figure 4.5 English System of Determining Resistance of a Fusible Link If Metric units were used, the drawing would look like Figure 4.6.

Copyright 2009 Robert J. Scoff, PE

Figure 4.6 Metric System of Determining Resistance of a Fusible Link The reason that this is important is that when current flows through a fusible link, heat is dissipated and causes the link to get hotter. Remember that the link is enclosed in a tube that holds the heat in. The heat energy will slowly move to the area outside of the fuse, but this is a slow process. The power being dissipated is equal to:

P = I2 * R = E2 / R
Another effect that takes place is that as the fusible link heats up, its resistance increases. This is because in most materials that are used as fusible links, the resistance increases as the temperature of the material increases. This too follows a very predictable pattern. The effect is called The Temperature Coefficient of Resistance. The real effect is to cause the fusible link to get hotter faster as the temperature of the link increases. This poses a significant design problem for the fuse manufacturers. The actual ambient temperature also needs to be taken into account. Because of these effects, a fuse will take different lengths of time to blow for different over current conditions. Fuse blow/time curves will be addressed later. Figure 2.2 also shows how the time current fuse blow characteristics are affected. Figure 4.7 shows the Temperature Coefficient of Resistance for the most commonly used fuse materials.

Material

Resistivity in Ohm-Meter

Resistivity in Temperature Ohm CM Coefficient of per foot Resistance 1/Degree C

15.93 10.37 123.84 9.558 66.128 0.00429 0.00429 0.0039 0.0061 0.0045

Aluminum Copper Lead Silver Tin

2.65 * 10 exp -8 1.725 * 10 exp -8 20.6 * 10 exp -8 1.59 * 10 exp -8 11.0 * 10 exp -8

Figure 4.7 Chart Expanded to Show Temperature Coefficient of Resistance Using an (Temperature Coefficient of Resistance) of 0.004, a 20 degree C rise in temperature causes about an 8% increase in resistance. This affects the fuse characteristic. Of course, most circuits do not run the current to the limits. But the fuse designer must take these effects into account. Thermal Copyright 2009 Robert J. Scoff, PE 10

expansion will also have to be taken into account. The mounting of the fusible link has to be designed to take care of the expansion and contraction of the metals used in the fusible link. There is a lot more to these simple circuit elements than is seen at first glance. 5. I2t Ratings of Fuses A very important characteristic of fuses is their I2t rating. This is a measure of the amount of energy needed to cause a fuse to blow. If we think about the power equation, P = I2*R, and the energy equation, W = P * t, we can see how this idea of I2t as a measure of energy came about. In these two equations, P is power in watts, I is current in amps, R is resistance in ohms, and W is energy in joules. Resistance is just assumed to be a constant. And, as was shown earlier, this is only approximately true. Resistance does change with temperature, but this was not taken into account. When fuses are tested for their I2t ratings, the resistance change does change the real energy released, but the time to blow for certain currents is found by testing. The reason that this is an important concept is that some fuses need to blow slowly, as for motor starting applications, and some fuses need to blow quickly, as in semi-conductor protection fuses. For motor starting applications, the fuse needs to have a high I2t rating so that the short time high currents that motors have on starting does not blow the fuse. This can be 6 to 10 times the FLA (full load amps) of the motor. To help in this area, the National Electric Code allows fuses used in motor applications to be 125 % of the full load current of the motor. Semi conductor protection fuses, on the other hand, need to have a small I2t rating. Semi conductor protection fuses are quite often called I2t or current limiting fuses. When failures occur on solid state circuits it is desirable to have the fuse blow quickly to protect the semi conductors in the circuit. These fuses are quite often used to protect solid state AC and DC motor speed controllers 6. Amps Interrupting Capacity (AIC) Another important parameter of circuit protection devices is Amps Interrupting Capacity or AIC. What this means is that the circuit protection device is able to operate properly or blow when the power supply is able to supply a certain amount of short circuit current. For example, if a power source is able to supply 10,000 short circuit amps, the fuse must have an AIC rating of at least 10,000 amps. All power supplies are inherently capable of supplying a certain current limited by the series impedance of the source. This can be seen by looking at Figure 6.1.

Total Series Impedance Generated Voltage

Fuse

Figure 6.1 Diagram Showing How Current Is Limited in an Electric Circuit

Copyright 2009 Robert J. Scoff, PE

Load

Short Circuit

11

If the fuse is not capable of stopping the current that the source is capable of supplying through the total series impedance, it could fail and become an arc or even a short circuit itself. The short circuit available current can be determined by an analysis of the electrical supply. That is beyond the scope of this course. 7. Fusing for DC Circuits Everything that is true for fusing alternating current circuits is true for direct current circuits. There is one more thing that needs to be taken into account. DC voltages do not go through zero volts twice a cycle like AC voltages do. That means that they do not break a DC circuit as easily as they would an AC circuit. The current wants to keep flowing and sustain the arc that exists when a fuse blows. Often, a fuse will have two voltage ratings, one for alternating current, and one for direct current. The direct current voltage rating is typically lower for these dual rated fuses. Not only does the voltage not go through zero volts, but an inductive load will want to keep the current flowing whenever the circuit is opened. This process can often be addressed by placing a reversed biased diode in parallel with the load. An example of how this is done is shown in Figure 7.1.

Figure 7.1 Diagram Showing How a Reverse Biased Diode Helps Limit Load Turn Off Arc I` shown in Red will flow whenever the disconnect switch opens, or the fuse blows. In each case, the energy of the inductive load will be dissipated by the current flowing through the reverse biased diode. This happens because the current flowing in the inductive load cannot instantly change magnitude or direction. The basic reason that this is true is that it is impossible to instantly change the energy level of an inductor. And that energy level depends on the current flowing through the inductor. The energy equation is:

W = * L * I2
Where W is energy in Joules, L is the inductance in Henries, and I is the current in Amperes. If the reverse biased diode is not present, whatever energy is stored in the inductor will cause an arc to form at the place where the circuit is opened. This could be the switch or the fuse. The arc will be sustained until the energy in the inductor is dissipated. DC fuse design has to take into account the possibility that the reverse biased diode is not present in the circuit. If the load is a motor, it is definitely an inductor. Real DC circuits are becoming less and less common in the workplace, as AC circuits are

Copyright 2009 Robert J. Scoff, PE

12

taking their place wherever possible. This is especially true in the motor speed control world where Variable Frequency Drives are taking the place of DC Drives. 8. Selective Coordination for Fused Circuits In most circuits there is more than one fuse in the path of current flow. There are upstream fuses which are larger and protect branch circuits. Then there are downstream fuses which are smaller and protect individual loads. The definition from Article 100 of the 2008 National Electric Code is as follows: Localization of an overcurrent condition to restrict outages to the circuit or equipment affected, accomplished by the choice of overcurrent protective devices and their ratings or settings. Another way to think of this is to say that when an overcurrent or short circuit occurs, only the nearest upstream fuse will blow, and no other upstream fuse will blow. An example of a single line diagram of a fused system is shown in Figure 8.1 The whole idea is to select fuses that will not only protect the loads and wiring, but will not cause any other upstream fuses to blow. In Figure 8.1, if load J fails and causes fuse # 14 to blow, fuses 11, 4 and 1 are selectively coordinated (Chosen) to not blow. There are charts given for different types of fuses that give ratios for the upstream fuse to the downstream fuse. These ratios vary from 1.5 to 1 to 8 to 1, depending upon the fuse types. A fuse coordination calculator is available on-line at: http://www.edreference.com/images/SelectiveCoord.jpg The various fuse manufacturers also publish charts for determining the ratios needed to insure selective coordination. A chart was taken from the Bussman website to show a typical chart of this type. It is shown in Figure 8.2. If it is ever necessary to selectively coordinate a fuse protected circuit, you will need to look up your specific fuse types and do your design from there. One thing to notice is that FRS motor protection fuses have a very high (8 to 1) ratio. This affects the total design, as much bigger switchgear and wiring will need to be used where the upstream fuse is required to be 8 times the size of the downstream fuse.

Figure 8.1 Single Line Diagram of a Typical Fuse Protected System Copyright 2009 Robert J. Scoff, PE 13

Copyright 2009 Robert J. Scoff, PE

14

Figure 8.2 Chart taken from the Bussman Website to Show Selective Coordination Ratios of Various Types of Fuses. This is given for Reverence only, as an Example.

To show another example, if a short circuit occurred at Load J, and Fuse 4 blew, this would cause Loads E, F, G, H, I, and J to be turned off. Not only does this make trouble shooting more difficult, but a lot of unnecessary outages occur. As an extreme example, Fuse 1 could even blow if the selective coordination were done particularly badly. Then the whole system would shut down. Troubleshooting this failure would then be a real nightmare, and a whole system would be shut down, while the maintenance crew searched for and corrected the cause of the problem. 9. Circuit Breakers Circuit breakers are resettable circuit protection devices. This means that they co not have to be replaced when they open because of an over current condition. Generally, they co not operate as quickly as fuses used in similar applications. And, like fuses, they are made in a wide range of voltage and current ranges. This paper will only cover a small number of the available types, but will give a general overview of what is available. Most circuit breakers operate on one of two principles. The first is Magnetic Trip circuit breakers. In these devices, a coil carries all of the current going to the load, and when the current is too high for too long a period of time, a rod will be caused to move, and make a switch open. How this works is illustrated in Figure 9.1.

Figure 9.1 Sketch Showing How a Magnetic Trip Circuit Breaker Operates Notice that there is some sort of locking mechanism to prevent the switch from reclosing after the breaker trips. If a breaker trips, or if a fuse blows for that matter, the reason for the tripping should be found. Circuit breakers can be reset without additional cost, but new fuses must be purchased if they blow. However, even though it costs nothing extra to reset a circuit breaker if it trips, the cause of the failure should be found and corrected. Another way for a circuit breaker to operate is by means of a Thermal Trip device. A bi-metallic strip is one way for this to work. Two metals with different thermal coefficients of expansion are welded or riveted together. Current can either flow through the bi-metallic strip or through a resistor that heats the bi-metallic strip. In either case, the strip bends and causes a switch to open. This is illustrated in Figure 9.2. Some breakers have both a magnetic trip and a thermal trip built into them. These breakers are commonly used on motor protection circuits. The thermal trip then protects against long term motor overloads, while the magnetic trip protects against short circuits and too high of a starting current. This could happen if the

Copyright 2009 Robert J. Scoff, PE

Load

15

motor rotor is blocked in some manner. A sketch of how a breaker with both thermal and magnetic trips is shown in Figure 9.3. Either the thermal device or the magnetic device will cause the breaker to trip.
Bi-Metalic Strip That Bends When Heated to Activate Switch

Heater

Figure 9.2 Sketch Showing How a Thermal Trip Circuit Breaker Operates

Figure 9.3 Sketch Showing a Breaker with both Thermal and Magnetic Breaks 10. Arc Dissipation Techniques Circuit breakers, as well as fuses, have a problem with extinguishing the arc that forms when the breaker operates. Fuses can be designed so that sand or a gas evolving substance, such as boric acid, flows into the space where the fusible elements melts. Either substance helps extinguish the arc. This technique will not work for circuit breakers, unless some way is found to add more sand or boric acid each time the breaker trips. Therefore other methods to extinguish arcs in circuit breakers were developed. One way is to use arc dissipation plates as shown in Figure 10.1.

Figure 10.1 Using Arc Dissipation Plates to Help Extinguish an Arc Copyright 2009 Robert J. Scoff, PE 16

Load

Load

Voltage Source

Latching Mechanism

Another thing that is done is to put a small coil in series with the breaking contacts. This will generate a magnetic field whenever current flows through it. The separating contacts are placed in a location so that the magnetic field that is generated causes the arc to distort and blow out. This is shown in Figure 10.2. Quite often, a circuit breaker will contain both arc dissipation plates and a blowout coil.
Tripping Mechanism Magnetic Field Arc in Process of Being Blown Out

Figure 10.2 Sketch Showing How a Blowout Coil Works Another thing that is done on circuit breakers is that the contact points are held in position with a latching mechanism, and when the breaker trips, the contacts are pulled apart with a spring loaded device. Figure 10.3 shows a sketch of how this is accomplished. Of course, in actual practice, these are three dimensional devices and are best seen by actually taking different breakers apart and looking at the actual construction. Some very ingenious engineering has gone into the design of these devices.

Figure 10.3 Sketch Showing Spring Assisted Mechanism to Separate Contact Points 11. Amps Interrupting Capacity Along with fuses, circuit breakers also have an Amps Interrupting Capacity (AIC). This means that the circuit breaker must be able to trip and disconnect the load (or short circuit) from the source that is capable of supplying a certain current. One way to think of this is to consider a circuit that has a certain line impedance. If a short circuit is placed across the load (or if the load becomes a direct short circuit), the source will be able to supply a certain current limited only by the source voltage and the total line impedance. Figure 11.1 shows a circuit whose maximum current is only limited by the total of the line and source impedance. If the breaker can not disconnect the source from the short circuit, it could fail in the shorted Copyright 2009 Robert J. Scoff, PE 17

Load

Arc Blowout Coil Voltage Source

condition and cause a serious arc flash to occur. Two failure modes are the points could actually weld together or an arc could be established between the points and not be extinguished. Either condition would cause the breaker to fail. On high power circuits, serious explosions could occur.

Total Impedance Source and Lines Circuit Breaker Voltage Source

Figure 11.1 Sketch Showing Why a Circuit Breaker Needs to Have an AIC Rating 12. Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters (GFCIs) A special type of breaker has been developed to help prevent death by electrocution. These breakers are called Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters or GFCIs. They work by measuring the current in both the hot wire and the neutral wire and comparing the two currents. If the currents are different by even a small amount, the trip mechanism in the breaker will cause the breaker to open. As an example of how small of a difference in currents will cause the GFCI to trip, a 20 amp breaker will trip with as little as .05 amps difference between the hot and neutral currents. Figure 12.1 shows how a GFCI circuit breaker works.
c ovo Black Wire Voltage Source White Wire GFCI Trip Circuit Green Wire Trip Linkage ( Earth Ground Ground Fault Current c

Figure 12.1 Sketch Showing How a GFCI Works When the load is operating properly, the black wire current is equal to the white wire current. If, for some reason, such as a person touching the hot wire while grounded, the white wire current becomes not equal to the black wire current, the GFI trip circuit will cause the breaker to open. This will prevent the person, whose hand was where it shouldnt have been anyway, from being seriously shocked or even killed. The low current limit of about .05 amps (50 milliamps) was chosen because it is thought that this low a current can cause the heart to go into ventricular fibula ion. When that happens the heart starts beating erratically, the blood pressure drops to zero, and shortly thereafter, the patient dies. GFCIs are required by the Copyright 2009 Robert J. Scoff, PE 18

Load

Load Short Circuit

National Electric Code in many applications where a person could be easily shocked. These areas include wet areas, areas near swimming pools, kitchens, bathrooms, crawl spaces, unfinished basements, and outdoor areas. 13. Arc Flash Protection Circuit Breakers Arc flash protection circuit breakers, often called Arc Flash Circuit Interrupters (AFCI), are now being required in many locations. They work by detecting a fast rise and fall of electrical current, as an arcing connection could do. They are now required by The National Electric Code for bedrooms in new construction. This has been true since the 2002 issue of The NEC. These devices do not protect against ground faults or shorts, but to arcs that could occur at a connection point in a circuit. This could occur in a switch or circuit device. An arc could also form at a connection point in the circuit, such as a point where wires are connected together, or where wires are connected to a circuit device. Figure 13.1 shows how an arc could occur without tripping either a regular circuit breaker or a ground fault interrupter circuit breaker.
Switch ACFI Circuit Breaker Voltage Source

Small Gap or Dirty Connection Where an Arc Could Form

Figure 13.1 Sketch Showing How an Arc Could Form In a Circuit Element Such as a Switch The arcs energy would be limited by the load, but the temperature could be up to 6000 degrees Centigrade. Enough energy might be available to cause a fire. It is important to note the difference of energy levels between an arcing connection and an arc flash. An arc flash, which is caused by a short circuit, releases a great amount of energy in a short time (pdhengineer has a course on ARC Flash), while an arcing connection would release a small amount of energy over a much longer period of time. An arcing connection would only occur when the circuit is completed, such as when a switch to a load is closed. An arcing connection could be happening for weeks or months before the energy got high enough to cause a fire to start. Loose connections such as could occur at wire nuts, switch contacts, or screw connections could cause arcing conditions to occur. Checking for arcing conditions would require either looking for intermittent noise on the voltage supply or fast turn ons and turn offs in the current supply. Most AFCIs work by detecting fast changes of current. It is possible to build circuit breakers that incorporate normal over current trip, GFCI trip and AFCI trip. 14. Single Phase 120/240 Volt Breakers for Residential Construction The most common power supply that people are exposed to is the house wiring 120/240 single phase system. The power supply, often called the source, consists of two 120 volt supplies connected in series. The center tap of the two 120 volt sources is connected to ground. Thus, there is never more than 120 volts to ground in a system of this type. Figure 14.1 shows how this system is designed. Note that there is a double pole breaker, called the Main Breaker, feeding two buss bars. The grounded conductor, which is connected solidly to earth ground, is not protected by a breaker pole. Since it is at zero volts, or Copyright 2009 Robert J. Scoff, PE 19

ground, it is not necessary to protect it. In Figure 14.1, a double pole breaker and a single pole breaker are shown. Note that the transformer primary also has a protection fuse. It will be of a voltage rating of the power companys high voltage and a current rating to match the volt ampere rating of the transformer.
High Voltage from Power Company

Primary Fuse Protection

Power Company Earth Ground

120 VAC

120 VAC 240 VAC

Power Company Earth Ground

Double Pole Main Breaker

Double Pole Circuit Breaker

To 120/240 Volt Single Phase Load Such As an Electric Dryer Note: Safety Ground Not Shown
Single Pole Circuit Breaker

Grounding and Neutral Bar

To 120 Volt Single Phase Load Note: Safety Ground Not Shown Customer Earth Ground

Main Buss Bars

Figure 14.1 Drawing Showing Typical Single Phase 120/240 Volt Circuit Breaker Protection Note that the breakers in a panel such as shown in Figure 14.1 can be standard over current breakers, GFCIs, or AFCIs. The breaker type will be determined by The National Electric Code and any local codes that might be applicable. In any case, the AHJ (Authority Having Jurisdiction) has the final say in what is approved or not. In a typical application, the main breaker is commonly 100 to 200 amps, and the individual circuit breakers are from 15 to 30 amps for one pole (120 Volt) applications and 15 to 60 amps for two pole (240 Volt) applications. 15. Time Current Characteristic Curves Time Current Characteristic Curves are a very important consideration when applying circuit breakers. Copyright 2009 Robert J. Scoff, PE 20

Figure 15.1 Time Current Characteristic for a Siemens EQ Frame Two Pole Circuit Breaker Copyright 2009 Robert J. Scoff, PE 21

Figure 15.1 shows a Time Current Characteristic Curve for a Siemens 200 amp EQ Frame Circuit Breaker. It is a log curve with time on the vertical axis and current on the horizontal axis. One of the things to notice is that there is a range of trip currents at a given time. For instance, from 0.02 seconds to 1 second, the trip current could be anywhere from about 1200 to 2000 amps. The maximum clearing time for this breaker is 1 cycle or about 0.016 seconds. This will happen at currents above 2000 amps. The AIC (Amps Interrupting Capacity) is 22,000 amps. This is shown as the sharp vertical line on the bottom right hand side of the characteristic curve. For a better view of the characteristic curve, it can be downloaded at:

http://www.murrayconnect.com/NR/rdonlyres/3819A875-0CD2-48C5-98AB07EF9E3A9165/0/M2150A225A.pdf
Circuit breakers do not trip instantaneously at their rated current. For this breaker it takes at least 10,000 seconds (about 3 hours) of full load current to cause a trip to occur. At 300% of rated current (600 amps), the maximum trip time is 63 seconds. Since these are thermal breakers, ambient temperature is also important. The NEMA (National Electrical Manufacturers Association) says that the time current trip data is to be taken at 25 degrees Centigrade. 16. Circuit Breaker Selective Coordination for Home Wiring When a main circuit breaker is feeding a buss bar where a number of other circuit breakers are used, as in a typical home panel, it is important that the tripping of one of the auxiliary circuit breakers does not cause the main breaker, or any other upstream circuit protective device to trip or open. In other words, the downstream (and usually smaller) device needs to open before any upstream (usually larger) device. This is to keep the circuits affected by a failure or short circuit as the only ones to be turned off. This helps in maintenance and troubleshooting also. If the main breaker trips before one of 15 or 20 downstream devices, finding the real problem could be difficult. In Figure 15.1, the single and double pole circuit breakers need to always trip before the double pole main breaker trips. When selective coordination is applied, the curves of the individual breakers need to be drawn on the same graph, and they should not intersect anywhere on the time current graph. For home wiring 120/240 volt circuit breaker panels this is not usually a problem. However, if a branch circuit of 70 amps were used on a panel with a 100 amp main, both breakers might trip on a short circuit on the 70 amp circuit. 17. Industrial 480 Volt Three Phase Systems Industrial power supply systems are a lot more complicated than home wiring systems. They also handle a lot more power. The voltages and currents are higher. In addition, there can be several layers of protection equipment before the power gets to the place where it is actually used. To make this easier to see, single line diagrams will be used to show a typical distribution system. Note that only one 480 volt line and breaker symbol will be shown. Figure 17.1 is a one line diagram of a typical factory power supply. The current to the 20 amp loads has to go through a 100 amp breaker, then through a 400 amp breaker, then through a 1000 amp breaker and all this is supplied by a transformer protected by the power company fuse. For selective coordination to apply, all of the upstream devices have to carry the short circuit current of the downstream devices until the proper device opens. The Article 100 definition from The National Electrical Code defines Selective Coordination as: Localization of an over current condition to restrict outages to the circuit or equipment affected, accomplished by the choice of over current protection devices and their ratings or settings. Copyright 2009 Robert J. Scoff, PE 22

Supply from Power Company

High Voltage Disconnect High Voltage Fuse High Voltage to 480 Volt Transformer Distribution Panel 5 - 400 Amp Three Phase Distribution Breakers Main Circuit Breaker 1000 amps Three Phase

Spare To MCC # 1 To Building B

To MCC # 2 Panel With 4 - 100 Amp Three Phase Breakers

To Office Circuits Panel A Panel B

To Various Loads

To Various Loads

Panels A and B Are All 20 Amp Three Phase Breakers

Figure 17.1 One Line Diagram for Typical Industrial Plant There are many types of three phase circuit breakers available. They are easily available in ratings from 10 Amps to 5000 Amps. The smaller ones are physically smaller than the bigger ones. Frame size is an indication of the physical size of breakers. Obviously, higher current rated breakers must be physically bigger. This is not only to handle the larger currents, but also the forces that exist between the current carrying parts of the devices. And when short currents of as much as 200,000 amps are interrupted, an arc will be established which must be extinguished. These devices must be able to do this, and then reliably reclose when the short circuit condition is removed. And there are times when a circuit breaker is reclosed on a short circuit. It the breaker is not strongly constructed, an electrical explosion could result, with possible injury or death. All of these factors must be taken into account when designing and Copyright 2009 Robert J. Scoff, PE 23

building these devices. Even the small breakers that are used in home wiring single phase systems have to be designed with all of these factors in mind. Figure 17.2 shows some typical three phase circuit breakers.

Figure 17.2 Pictures of Typical Siemens Three Phase Breakers The only way that I know of to get a real feel of circuit breakers, or almost anything else for that matter, is to actually work with, and even touch these devices. The pictures above do not, and can not, do circuit breakers justice. In the past, bigger low voltage Thermal magnetic trip circuit breakers just had an extension handle and would trip on long term over current or short term short circuits. It took quite a bit of force to turn one of these breakers on. The extension handle made it possible. Turning them off was somewhat easier, but still required some strength. The Sentron and VL lines shown in Figure 18.2 are examples of this type of breaker. Modern circuit breakers with current ratings of up to 6000 amps can do so many more things than just interrupt a circuit under overload or short circuit conditions. Many have a display to show operating conditions. This includes the ability to display present voltages and currents. They can have built in Ground Fault Detectors. It is possible to order them with the capability to meter electrical usage, including demand. Some can come with built in power quality measurement meters similar to what power analyzers do. This includes the measurement and recording of voltage, current, watts, voltCopyright 2009 Robert J. Scoff, PE 24

amperes, power factor, and even harmonics. Since they have a built in micro-processor with memory, they can even record and save trip and alarm history, and even do waveform capture. And, now all this information can be sent to a central station by means a communications capability. Trip and reset is now done manually by pushing a button. The breakers have some sort of energy storing mechanism, such as a spring, that takes the place of an extension handle to trip and reset the breaker. To make sure that the spring can be recharged, an external power supply can be utilized. Some breakers have a way to manually recharge the spring if power is not available. With all of this computing ability, the time current trip characteristics of the breakers can be changed to meet individual needs. This helps with selective coordination. The technology has come a long way since the breakers that needed an extension handle was needed to turn a large breaker on. And I can tell you from personal experience, that if the extension handle was misplaced, it was quite an adventure to operate a 1200 amp circuit breaker. Now, we just push the red or green pushbutton to operate one of these breakers up to 6000 amps.

Figure 17.3 Square D NW Series Circuit Breaker Showing Available Options Figure 17.3 shows the available options for a Square D NW series breaker. These devices obviously cost a lot more than circuit breakers whose only function was to open a circuit on overload conditions. Pricing can be obtained from an electrical supply house for these more advanced circuit breakers with prices for the various options and add-ons.

Copyright 2009 Robert J. Scoff, PE

25

For information purposes, Figure 17.4 shows the approximate list prices for Siemens molded case circuit breakers. This list is given for information purposes only, to show the relative cost of circuit breakers as the current rating increases. Discounts are usually offered on these items.

Type
ED FD JD LD MD ND PD RD STD

Current Rating
125 Amps 250 Amps 400 Amps 600 Amps 800 Amps 1200 Amps 1600 Amps 2000 Amps 3200 Amps

List Price
$1,594.00 $2,456.00 $7,841.00 $6,290.00 $8,491.00 $17,120.00 $24,776.00 $24,808.00 $35,466.00

Figure 17.4 Chart Showing How the Cost of Circuit Breakers Increases With Current Rating There is a big jump when going from 800 amps to 1200 amps because GFI (Ground Fault Interrupter) protection is required at ratings of 1000 amps and above. On these large breakers there is a current transformer to measure current flowing in the grounding wire. Care must be taken to run the grounding wire through this current transformer. Otherwise GFI protection will be inoperable. Engineers whose job is to inspect and approve installations should be careful to note this possible code violation. It is very easy to bypass the Ground Fault Current Detector and thus make the GFI circuit useless. If the GFI current detector is by passed, a ground fault condition could occur and injure someone or cause equipment damage. Also, a properly operating GFI trip will open a circuit on a low level ground fault current before a fault can escalate into a high level phase to phase fault. A high level phase to phase fault can easily turn into an arc flash incident with a possibility of death or injury and a great deal of property damage. Pdhengineer has a course on NFPA 70E concerning Arc Flashes that shows how much energy can be released in an Arc Flash incident. 18. Selective Coordination for Three Phase Circuit Breakers The manufacturers of circuit breakers make available these curves so that engineers and designers of power systems can design systems that continue to operate as effectively as possible when one part or the other of the system has a fault condition. This is done by an overlay process whereby the time current trip curves of the breakers in series in the system are drawn on the same graph. If the curves do not overlap, the system is said to be selectively coordinated. Copyright 2009 Robert J. Scoff, PE 26

Figure 18.1 Example of Typical Time Current Trip Curves for 10 and 100 Amp Breakers Copyright 2009 Robert J. Scoff, PE 27

Figure 18.1 shows typical time current trip curves for 10 and 100 amp breakers. They were purposely drawn so that they would be selectively coordinated. Figure 18.2 shows a one line drawing of how these two breakers might be used in a power system.
100 Amps Input Power CB 2 Load B CB3 Load C 10 Amps Load A

Figure 18.2 One Line Drawing of a 100 Amp Breaker Feeding a 10 Amp Breaker To be selectively coordinated, the curves for the 10 amp breaker must not overlap the curves for the 100 amp breaker. Notice that for very short times and high currents, such as would exist for a short circuit, the 10 amp curves overlap the 100 amp curves. Since the 100 amp curves show that the 100 amp breaker is slower than the 10 amp breaker, the 10 amp breaker should trip before the 100 amp breaker for all cases. The coordination study becomes a lot more complicated for large systems, where 3 or 4 or more breakers could be in series. This simple example was given so that the concept could be shown. Modern microprocessor based circuit breakers can have the time current curves modified to suit special applications. Coordination could then be achieved by changing the shape of the time current trip curves. The 2008 revision of the National Electric Code (NFPA 70) introduced article 708, Critical Operation Power Systems (COPS). It is concerned with the need to isolate shutdowns to only the part of a system that fails. This is important in places like hospitals and nursing homes, and emergency power systems. In these cases the most important thing to do is to keep the power on for critical loads. As a matter of interest, selective coordination requirements first appeared in the 1993 NEC and concerned circuits supplying power to elevators. 19. Conclusions There are many circuit protection devices on the market today. Each is designed to fill a certain need. This paper is written to give an idea of how these devices operate, and the factors that need to be looked at when selecting and applying fuses and/or circuit breakers to any particular circuit protection scheme. This paper is not designed to be a comprehensive study of circuit protection coordination, but only to introduce the general concept.

Copyright 2009 Robert J. Scoff, PE

28

References and Bibliography http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761563582_2/Thomas_Alva_Edison.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circuit_breaker http://www.bussman.com/2/Products.html http://www.bussmann.com/pdf/1064.pdf Fuse and circuit breaker pricing from Emerson Electric in Farrell, PA http://host1.publiquik.com/bussmann_web/inv1.cgi?sectionId=4 http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/melting-points-mixtures-metals-d_1269.html http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/resistivity-conductivity-d_418.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resistivity#Table_of_resistivities http://www.cooperbussmann.com/pdf/246a75ec-0c87-4ef6-b0c6-41306a99360b.pdf http://www.handymanwire.com/articles/AFCI.html http://www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PUBS/afcifac8.pdf http://www2.sea.siemens.com/Products/Residential-Electrical/Product/CircuitBreakers/Thermal_Magnetic_Product_Page.htm http://www.murrayconnect.com/NR/rdonlyres/3819A875-0CD2-48C5-98AB07EF9E3A9165/0/M2150A225A.pdf http://www2.sea.siemens.com/Products/PowerDistribution/Product/Circuit-Breakers/Circuit-BreakerOverview.htm http://www.us.schneiderelectric.com/us/products/circuit_breakers.nsf/unid/00B2016F9430468B85256A68004F68E9/$file/lvpowe rcbsFrameset.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_elements_by_melting_point http://www.saltlakemetals.com/MeltingPoints.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solder

Copyright 2009 Robert J. Scoff, PE

29