8/2/2010

ELEC 4302/7311
POWER SYSTEM PROTECTION:
FUSES AND CIRCUIT BREAKERS

EXPULSION FUSES
The expulsion fuse is a protection method for
medium voltage level with lower cost than circuit
breakers.

They are typically mounted at the top of the pole
for 11-33kV systems.

The fuse element is kept in tension with spring.

Arc extinguished by expanding gases which blow
out of end of tube.

The use of expulsion fuses is limited since there
cannot be any automatic reclosure.

The duration of outages can be thus several
hours.

Dr. Ramesh Bansal

School of Information Technology and Electrical
Engineering, Axon Bldg, 47/212
The University of Queensland, St Lucia, 4072 Australia
bansal@itee.uq.edu.au
Ph: +61 (07)33653394
Fax: +61 (07) 336 54999
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FUSES

CIRCUIT BREAKERS

The simplest form of protection.

If the current through a small section of conductor
exceeds a rating, the metal will melt and an open
circuit will be created.

For low voltage applications, fuses are very common.

Easiest are the wire in porcelain holder, which are
easy to replace.

Other types of fuses are HRC (High rupturing
capacity) and Miniature Circuit breakers (MCB)

Porcelain (Rewireable)

HRC

MCB

The function of a circuit breaker (CB) is to switch on

and switch off electrical circuits during normal as
well as abnormal operating conditions.

The heavy short-circuit current is sensed by

protective relaying, which energizes the trip circuit of
the circuit breaker causing its moving poles to
separate from the fixed poles at high speed.

Expulsion drop-out fuse

TYPES OF CIRCUIT BREAKERS

Depending upon the various quenching media
employed in circuit breakers can be classified as:
Air Circuit Breaker (ACB); air at atmospheric
pressure

Oil Circuit Breaker (OCB)

Vacuum Circuit Breaker (VCB)

Air blast Circuit Breaker (ABCB) (air at high
pressure)

SF6 Circuit Breaker

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AIR-BREAK CIRCUIT BREAKERS (ACB)

Oil Circuit Breakers (OCB)

These are used for low and medium voltage ac circuits,

usually up to 6.6 kV, 400-2400 A and rupturing
currents of 13-20 kA.

Fig. 1 shows construction details

The arc is lengthened in the breaker by the magnetic
field and arc runners, and is finally extinguished by
arc splitters.

There are two sets of contacts - main and arcing
contacts. The main contacts are first to dislodge, while
the arcing contacts are still closed under spring
pressure.

Thus the main contacts do not open any current and
have long life. Arcing contacts made of hard copper
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alloy are easily replaceable.

Fig. 2 Oil Circuit Breakers

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Oil Circuit Breakers (OCB)

AIR-BREAK CIRCUIT BREAKERS

Advantages:

Ability of cool oil to flow into the space after current
zero and arc goes out

Action of oil as an insulator lending to more compact
design of switchgear.
Disadvantages of OCB

Arc products are inflammable.

Oil is hygroscopic, and must be sealed air-tight in
the chamber.

Dielectric strength of oil is reduced by carbonization
during the arcing process.
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Oil deteriorates over a period of time.

Fig. 1 AIR-BREAK CIRCUIT BREAKERS

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Vacuum Circuit Breakers (VCB)

Oil Circuit Breakers (OCB)

In OCB, transformer (mineral) oil is employed as
the quenching medium.

In earlier designs, bulk oil breakers, a large oil
tank was used for quenching the arc.

Modern practice is to use minimum-oil circuit
breakers in which the arc is extinguished in a
small arc control device filled with oil.

OCB can be used for following voltage ratings.
3.6 kV, 7.2 kV, 12 kV, 36 kV, 72.5 kV, 145 kV,
245 kV.

In higher voltage ratings SF6 and ABCB are
used.

VCB's require smaller space than OCBs, and are

employed both indoors and outdoors.

Their advantages are being increasingly apparent

over a widening application range.

Fig. 3 shows the constructional details of a VCB.

The contacts are enclosed in a sealed glass or
ceramic bottle whose space is evacuated to a high
degree of vacuum.

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Vacuum Circuit Breakers (VCB)

Air-Blast Circuit Breakers (ABCB)

Advantages

Reliable operation
Clean and noninflammable.
Fresh medium is used every time.
There is faster contact travel because of pneumatic operation,
no stored spring energy is needed, and these are suitable for
repeated use.
Small contact travel is involved

Disadvantages

High air noise while operating, making them unsuitable for

urban use.
Chopping possibility

Independent pressure system needed for ABCB

G-fixed electrodes; N-moving electrode; F,M-arcing contacts; S-metal shield;

E-ceramic of glass bottle; B-bellows; T-bellows shield
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Fig. 3 Vacuum Circuit Breakers

Air-Blast Circuit Breakers (ABCB)

Blast of air at high speeds (supersonic) directed at
the arc is very effective in cooling it. The highspeed air blast is produced by externally generated
pressure (inside a pressure vessel), the pressure
being of the order of 2-6 MN/m2.

The breaker is designed to direct a jet of air derived
from the high-pressure source to the contact space
at the instant of contact separation.

For EHV circuit breakers, several interrupters have
to be employed in series. In a modern 275-kV
ABCB, four interrupters in series may be needed.

ABCB is receiving stiff competition from SF6
breakers in all ranges of application.

SF6 CIRCUIT BREAKERS

Sulphur-hexaflouride (SF6) is an inert insulating gas, which is

becoming increasingly popular in modern switchgear designs both
as an insulating as well as an arc-quenching medium.
Gas insulated switchgear (GIS) is a combination of breaker,
isolator, CT, PT, etc., and are used to replace outdoor substations
operating at the higher voltage levels, namely 66 kV and above.

For medium- and low-voltage installations, the SF6 circuit

breaker remains constructionally the same as that for oil and air
circuit breakers, except for the arc interrupting chamber which is
of a special design, filled with SF6.

The pressure of the SF6 gas is generally maintained above

atmospheric; so good sealing of the gas chambers is vitally
important. Leaks will cause loss of insulating medium and
clearances are not designed for use in air.

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Air-Blast Circuit Breakers (ABCB)

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Comparison of insulating methods for CBs

Comparison of features for different types of circuit breakers

Fig. 4 Air-Blast Circuit Breakers (ABCB)

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SOME OF THE TERMINOLOGY ASSOCIATED

WITH CIRCUIT BREAKERS
Recovery Voltage

The voltage appearing across the poles when the arc
extinguishes is known as recovery voltage.

TRANSIENT RECOVERY VOLTAGE

Substituting Eq. (4) in (3),

(5)

Prospective Current

The current, which would have flown if the breaker did
not open, is called the prospective current.
Solving, we get

Transient Recovery Voltage

At the instant of current interruption (arc extinction) an
LC transient occurs involving generator inductance and
stray capacitance causing high frequency damped
oscillations. The recovery voltage with this transient is19
known as transient recovery voltage (TRV).

(6)

From Eq. (6),

(7)
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TRANSIENT RECOVERY VOLTAGE

TRANSIENT RECOVERY VOLTAGE

The per phase circuit of the short-circuit generator is shown in

Fig. below, where L is the generator reactance and 1/C the
capacitive reactance of the stray generator capacitance. At power
frequency 1/C is negligible but becomes of significance at high
frequency oscillations. This is equivalent to switching the
generator voltage in the series LC circuit.

Differentiating Eq. (6), the rate of rise of recovery voltage is

(8)

Its maximum value is

(9)

Fig. 4 TRV

where
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TRANSIENT RECOVERY VOLTAGE

fn =

1
2 LC

is the natural frequency of oscillations.

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TRANSIENT RECOVERY VOLTAGE

The generator EMF and short-circuit current are

In the above discussion the pf of the short-circuit is assumed to be
zero. In general, for pf angle .

(1)

(10)

(2)

The average RRRV

The CB opens at t = 0 (when i = 0). We need to solve LC transient

when ac voltage e = Em cos t is switched on at t = 0 with i(0+) = 0.
The governing differential equation of the circuit is then simplified to

2Em
Peak of restriking voltage
=
Time taken to reach the peak value LC

(3)

(11)

(4)
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RESISTANCE SWITCHING

DOUBLE FREQUENCY TRANSIENT

To eliminate the restriking voltage and to introduce damping into

the LC circuit at the time of CB opening with a view to reduce the
oscillation frequency, a resistance is placed in parallel with the
poles of the circuit breaker as shown in below Fig.

L and C may be present on both sides of the circuit breaker as

shown in Fig. below, in which case each circuit oscillates at its own
natural frequency and the difference of these two oscillating
voltages appears across the circuit breaker poles as these open.
This phenomenon is called double frequency transient.

Resistance switching
Fig. Double Frequency Transient

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SHORT-LINE FAULT-KILOMETRIC FAULT

RESISTANCE SWITCHING
As the circuit breaker opens, the current continues to flow through
the resistance. For determination of the natural frequency, the
voltage source is assumed short circuited (e = 0). Thus

The situation is shown in Fig. (a) , wherein the fault is located a

few kilometers from the circuit breaker. As the CB opens, a
triangular voltage wave is present on the line. It is equivalent to
two equal triangular waves - one travelling forward and the other
backward. The forward travelling wave gets reflected at the shortcircuit (SC) end and the back- ward wave gets reflected at the
open end (CB side). These waves are illustrated in Fig. (b). As a
result the voltage at the CB end oscillates triangularly through V
(the original voltage at CB end of the line), the time of half
oscillation being 2T, i.e. twice the time of wave travel on the line
from CB to SC. This time being very small (in s), the voltage
across the open CB poles has an extremely high rate of rise (V/T)
which can result in are restriking.

(1)
(2)
(3)

These equations yield

(4)
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RESISTANCE SWITCHING

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. SHORT-LINE FAULT-KILOMETRIC FAULT

The natural frequency of oscillations is given by

(5)

It is seen from Eq. (5) that the inclusion of r reduces the natural
frequency and, therefore, (RRRV)max. From Eq. (5) it is also evident
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that if the resistance is given a value equal to, or less than 2 L / C
the oscillatory nature of the transient will vanish. Hence for critical damping
(6)
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Fig. Kilometric fault

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INTERRUPTION OF LOW MAGNETIZING

CURRENT - CURRENT CHOPPING

INTERRUPTION OF LOW MAGNETIZING

CURRENT - CURRENT CHOPPING

The opening of magnetizing current of an unloaded transformer (or line

reactor) leads to current chopping or sudden reduction of current to
zero before the natural current zero.
This is very likely to happen in fast acting air-blast circuit breakers.
Current chopping has associated high rate of voltage rise phenomenon
as illustrated below.

The energy trapped in the transformer inductance because of current

chopping oscillates between this L and the transformer stray
capacitance C. The peak of the oscillatory voltage is given by 1 Li 2 = 1 Cv 2
0
or
2
2
Consider110-kV, 20-MVA transformer. For this transformer

Fig. (a) shows the circuit diagram of a generator feeding an opencircuited transformer through a CB. The transformer's stray capacitance
shown in the figure plays an important role in high frequency oscillation
upon CB opening.

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INTERRUPTION OF LOW MAGNETIZING

CURRENT - CURRENT CHOPPING

INTERRUPTION OF LOW MAGNETIZING

CURRENT - CURRENT CHOPPING

The opening of magnetizing current of an unloaded transformer (or line

reactor) leads to current chopping or sudden reduction of current to
zero before the natural current zero. This is very likely to happen in fast
acting air-blast circuit breakers. Current chopping has associated high
rate of voltage rise phenomenon as illustrated below.
Figure (a) shows the circuit diagram of a generator feeding an opencircuited transformer through a CB. The transformer's stray capacitance
shown in the figure plays an important role in high frequency oscillation
upon CB opening.
The magnetizing current drawn by the transformer is very low (2-5% of
full-load current) and is almost purely reactive (lagging system voltage
by 900) as shown in Figs. (b) and (c). As the CB is opened, the current
at value io is suddenly reduced to zero by the arc extinguishing
mechanism of the CB.

Thus the transformer phase rated 110/3 = 63.5 kV is subjected to 400

kV, which is dangerous to transformer insulation. In fact, before the
voltage reaches such high level, the arc restrikes (which protects the
transformer).

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INTERRUPTION OF LOW MAGNETIZING

CURRENT - CURRENT CHOPPING

CIRCUIT BREAKER RATING

Some of the circuit breaker ratings are defined below:

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Rated voltage-standard values.

Rated insulation level- power-frequency withstand voltage and
impulse withstand voltage.
Rated frequency.
Rated (normal) current-rms current the breaker can carry without
overheating of its parts; standard values.
Rated short-circuit (SC) breaking current (MVA) = Prefault line
voltage in kV Short Circuit current in kA
Rated SC making current = subtransient SC current.
Rated duration of SC-KA for a period of 1 s; the breaker should be
able to carry rated breaking current for 1 s without damage to its
parts.
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