Air circuit breakers are most commonly found in large industrial facilities. They are typically controlled electronically.

An important characteristic of air circuit breakers is that they are almost always set up to facilitate easy maintenance.The ease of access for maintenance purposes is important, especially if your air circuit breakers control the electrical supply for a large facility or hospital. If something goes wrong with one of the circuit breakers, you want your maintenance personnel to be able to quickly identify the problem and get to the parts they need to reach to fix it. Air circuit breakers are made for this sort of ease of access, making them a desirable choice for large-scale business operations.

MAINTENANCE of AIR CIRCUIT BREAKERS - Ensure the breaker is in the open position - Record the number of operations - Perform general inspection of the breaker and note any unusual signs or problems - Put breaker in test position and use a test coupler to operate breaker electrically - Check the operation of all relays, solenoid switches, charging motor, control switches - Remove breaker from switchgear enclosure - Wipe away carbon or grease deposit and dust from all insulating parts by using clean, dry lint-free cloth and vacuum cleaner - Inspect condition of bushings, finger clamps, arc chutes, operating mechanism - Inspect and test under voltage coils, shunt trip coils etc. - Sand throat area of arc chutes with non-conductive and abrasive paper - Ensure that arc chutes are clear of contamination and have no significant damage on grids or ceramics. Replace the arc chutes if ceramics are broken - Ensure all Brazed, soldered or bolted electrical connections are tight - Inspect the breaker contacts for uneven wear or damage. - Smoothen contacts with a crocus cloth or sand light. Replace badly pitted or damaged contacts. - Grease contacts lightly with an approved contact grease. - Measure contact resistance. - Inspect all moving mechanism to ensure that the cams, rollers, latches, bearings, etc. are in good condition - Replace bearings and worn parts if required - Apply light lubrication with SAE 20 or 30 machine oil on metal moving joints - Check for proper operation function by closing & opening breakers a few times - Oil circuit breakers should be maintained on a periodic basis similar to the ACBs - Clean oil tank, barriers and tank linings to remove carbon deposit - Analyse the dielectric strength of an oil sample. If visible carbon particles are evident

in the oil, replace it with new transformer oil (mineral oil) and fill up to the indicated oil level.