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Miniature Circuit Breakers (MCBs) For Beginners


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Miniature Circuit Breakers (MCBs) For Beginners

Dual functions of a switch and a fuse


This technical article focuses on the widely used miniature circuit breakers rated for 240 V or less. These are
smaller and lower-rated versions of industrial-grade molded-case circuit breakers rated for 600 V or less. These
miniature breakers, called air circuit breakers, are based on thermal, magnetic, or combined thermal-magnetic
principles.
They are now almost exclusively installed in all new residences, small businesses, and offices as well as updates
of existing older electrical systems. They are rated for: amperes, voltage, and short-circuit or fault-current
interruption.
Miniature circuit breakers perform the dual functions of a switch and a fuse . They can open a circuit for safety
or maintenance reasons simply by switching their toggle levers to the OFF position. As substitutes for fuses, they
provide automatic circuit protection and need not be replaced after a dangerous overcurrent has passed or a short
circuit has been corrected.
Lets continue this article with following topics important for fully understanding MCBs:

MCB Rating

The ampere rating defines the maximum current the circuit breaker can carry without tripping. For typical miniature
circuit breakers this rating is 2 to 125 A. In residential applications, single-pole breakers protect 20V branch
circuits, and two-pole breakers protect 240V branch circuits.

Miniature circuit breakers mounted on DIN rail

The voltage rating of a circuit breaker can be higher than the circuit voltage, but never lower.
The fault current interruption rating (or short-circuit interrupting rating) is the maximum available fault current that
could be expected from the overhead or pad-mounted distribution transformer outside a residence. If the
transformer can produce 10,000 A of current, each breaker in the loadcenter should be rated for at least 10,000 A
While residential breakers have ratings of 10,000, 22,000, 42,000, and 65,000 A, the available fault current for
most single-family homes rarely exceeds 10,000 A (10 kA) .
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Construction
Each miniature or branch circuit breaker, as shown in the cutaway view Figure 1 below, includes a bimetal strip or
element. When this strip is heated to its threshold temperature, it bends enough to unlatch a mechanism and open
the breakers electrical contacts.
When the contacts open, the toggle on the circuit breaker automatically switches to the OFF position.
This, in turn, opens the branch circuit.
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Operation and working principle


These small circuit breakers can be reset manually after they have tripped. As with fuses, the ampere rating of the
breaker must match the ampacity of the circuit it protects. These circuit breakers are also called plug-in breakers,
because they are connected to the loadcenter by plugging them into the busbar tabs or stabs.
A high quality thermal circuit breaker will open a 10,000 A fault at 240 V AC in 40 to 50 ms, or even faster.
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Under simple overload conditions, the deflection of a bimetal thermal sensing element within the circuit breaker
causes the circuit to open when a preset temperature
threshold is reached. Rising temperature in a bimetal
element is caused principally by load current (I 2R)
heating.

The thermal element also factors in the


heating or cooling effects caused by nearby
heating or cooling sources (furnaces or air
conditioners), as well as changes in the
ambient temperature.

The size of the bimetal thermal element and its


Figure 1 Internal view of a thermal circuit breaker
configuration, shape, and electrical resistivity
determine the current capacity of a circuit breaker. The
most common element is a sandwich of two or three different metals. The low-expansion side, for example,
might be Invar, the center might be copper or nickel, and there is a wide choice of metals for the high-expansion
side.
Some thermal circuit breakers rated for 5 A or lower contain heater coils adjacent to or in series with the bimetal
element. These heater coils compensate for the lower anticipated heating action of a fault in a low-current circuit.
They augment element self-heating to maintain the temperature of the thermal element closer to the preset
threshold temperature, to speed up the trip response in the presence of overcurrent.
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Some miniature thermal circuit breakers also contain a magnetic element to accelerate tripping in the presence
of an exceptionally fast rising overload. That condition increases current flow fast enough to create a magnetic
field in a small electromagnet or solenoid that pulls in a mechanical linkage to unlatch the contacts and trip the
breaker before the bimetal element can respond and deflect.
The basic elements of a thermal-magnetic circuit breaker are shown in the simplified diagram Figure 2.
The normal condition of the circuit breaker is illustrated in Figure 2a. The bimetal element in these breakers
responds the same way to overcurrent as the element in a simple thermal breaker. As shown in Figure 2b, the
bimetal element deflects in proportion to the heating effect of the current passing through the wire in close
proximity to it.
As in thermal breakers, the bimetal element will open a 10,000 A fault at 240 V AC in 40 to 50 ms . The bending
element unlatches the contact mechanism, opening the contacts.
By contrast, the small solenoid magnetic element has a few turns of low-resistance wire in series with the wire
adjacent to the thermal element, which has little effect on the impedance of the breaker. In the presence of rapidly
rising current, a magnetic field forms around the solenoid, causing it to pull in the trip bar, which unlatches the
contacts and opens them.
This element responds 4 times faster than the bimetal element, or in about 10 ms.
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Temperature
Molded-case and miniature circuit breakers are designed to operate in elevated temperature environments such

as those encountered inside a breaker panel carrying load . If the panel door is left open for a long period of
Figure 2 Thermal-magnetic circuit breaker trip latch operation:
time or is removed, the interior of the panel will cool to a
lower temperature.
This additional cooling will allow the breakers thermal
element to exceed its rated continuous current. This could
mean that the load it is protecting could overheat.
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Mounting MCBs
Circuit breaker manufacturers have different methods for
attaching their breakers to the hot bus bars. Most
breakers have some form of notch on one end of their
lower surfaces and conductive clips on the other ends.
Typical loadcenter hot bus bars have projections
alternating from the inner sides of the bars. As stated
earlier, the ends of these projections are bent outward at
right angles to form stabs.
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The breakers are installed by hooking the notch at one end
under a rail and pressing the conductive clips down over
the stabs to make low-resistance contacts with the hot
busbars.
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(a) normal; (b) overcurrent condition

Applications
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Single and double-pole breakers are beside common home electrical panels most widely used also in loadcenters.
Single-pole units, rated for 120/240 V AC, are designed to be plugged onto a single bus stab to obtain 120 V
between one of the hot bus legs and the neutral bus, as shown in Figure 3. These breakers are available in
ratings from 15 to 70 A , but ratings of 15 and 20 A are most commonly used in homes.
They are available in 1-in.-wide full-size, dual 1-in. widths, and half-size 1/2-in widths.

Figure 3 Backpan includes buses for terminating the hot, neutral, and ground wires, and space for
installing circuit breakers and wiring branch-circuit connections

Some single-pole units are UL listed as HACR type, for air-conditioning, heating, and refrigeration equipment
service, as well as being UL listed for SWD (switching duty) for switching 120-V AC fluorescent lighting loads. Twopole breakers are rated 120/240 or 240 V AC.
Standard sizes are plugged onto two adjacent stabs to obtain 240 V between both parallel hot bus bars. They
are available with 10- to 125-V ratings. These breakers have a single common trip, and many are HACR type.
Some circuit breaker applications by current rating are:
15 and 20 A - Protection of baseboard heaters and pumps
30 A Protection of water heaters, dryers, and air-conditioning equipment s 40 to 50 A: Protection of
ranges and stoves
50 A or more Protection of electric heaters
Three-pole breakers rated for 240 V require three spaces for contact with three stabs, and they also have common
toggle trips. They are typically listed as HACR type for use with air-conditioning, heating, and refrigeration
equipment.
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Reference: Handbook of electrical design details Neil Sclater, John E. Traister (purchase book here)

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