CIRCUIT BREAKER

Introduction
Acircuit breakeris an automatically

operatedelectrical switchdesigned to protect

anelectrical circuitfrom damage caused
byoverloadorshort circuit.
It makes or breaks the circuit under normal conditions
& automatically under fault conditions.
There are two contacts:
Primary contact-It is made of high conductive material
such as copper.
Arcing contact-It is made of arc resistance material
such as tungsten ,which has much lower conductivity
than primary contact.

Operating principle
Circuit breaker consists of two contacts:

Fixed contact.
Moving contact.
Fixed coil contains a spring which holds the
moving contact after closing.
Moving contact is used to make and break the
circuit using stored energies in the form of
spring or compressed air.
The speed of moving coil is controlled by
spring, pneumatic or oil.

Electric arc
During the separation of contacts, due to a

large fault current & high current density at

the contact region the surrounding medium
ionizes & thus a conducting medium is
formed. This is called an ARC.
FACTORS RESPOSIBLE FOR ARC: Potential difference between the contacts.
Ionized particles between the contacts.

Electric arc
During the separation of contacts, due to a

large fault current & high current density at

the contact region the surrounding medium
ionizes & thus a conducting medium is
formed. This is called an ARC.
FACTORS RESPOSIBLE FOR ARC: Potential difference between the contacts.
Ionized particles between the contacts.

Types of circuit breaker

Oil circuit breaker.
Air blast circuit breaker.
Vacuum circuit breaker.
Sulphur hexafluoride circuit breaker.

Principle of arc extinction

Arc quenching is achieved by:

Greater dielectric strength than restriking
voltage.
Faster rate of heat removal than rate of heat
generation.
Arc extinction methods are:
Degree of ionization.
By lengthening the arc.
Cooling the arc
By increasing the Cross section of arc.
Inserting medium of high dielectric strength.

Oil circuit breaker

Here oil is used as an insulating medium for arc

quenching.
Heat of the arc evaporates the surrounding oil &
dissociates it into a substantial volume of
gaseous(hydrogen) at high pressure.
The arc extinction is facilitated mainly by two process:
1. The hydrogen gas has high heat conductivity & cools
the arc i.e. it de-ionizes the medium between the
contacts.
2. The gas setup turbulence in the oil & forces it into the
space between the contacts ,thus eliminating the arc.

oIt uses a large quantity of

Bulk Oil-Circuit Breaker

oil.
oIt insulates the current
conducting parts from one
another & from earthed
tank.
oThe arc extinction occurs
when a certain critical gap
between the contacts is
reached.
oUnder normal conditions,
the fixed & moving
contacts remain closed
&the breaker carries
normal current.
oUnder fault condition the
moving contacts are
pulled down by the
protective system &an arc
is struck which vapourizes
the oil mainly into
hydrogen gas.

Minimum oil circuit breaker

It requires

minimum oil for

arc extinction ,
while a major part
is utilized for
insulation
purpose.
There are three
chambers:
1. Top chamber.
2. Circuit breaker
chamber.
3. Supporting
chamber.

Air break circuit

breaker

AIR BREAK CIRCUIT

BREAKER
In the air break circuit breaker the contact
separation and arc extinction takes place .
There are two types of contact are present .
Main contact and Arcing contact.
Main contacts conduct the current in closed
position of the breaker. They have low contact
resistance and are silver plated.
The arcing contacts are hard ,heat resistant
and are usually of copper alloy .

AIR BLAST CIRCUIT

BREAKER
This operates using high velocity blast of air

which quenches the arc.

It consist of blast valve blast tube and contacts.
Blast valve contain air at high pressure.
Blast tube carries the air at high pressure and
opens the moving contact attached to
spring.
There is no carbonization as in VCB.
Air should be kept clean and dry to operate it
properly.

ADVANTAGES
high speed operation as campaired to

OCB.
Ability to withstand frequent switching.
Facility of high speed reclosure.
Less maintenance as compared to OCB.

DISADVANTAGES
Little moisture content prolongs arcing

time.
Pressure should be checked frequently for
frequent operation.
Risk of fire hazards due to over voltages.
It cant be used for high voltage operation
due to prolonged arc quenching.

TYPES OF AIR BLAST

CIRCUIT BREAKER

Axial blast circuit breaker.

Cross

air circuit breaker.

Axial blast air circuit breaker

in axial blast air circuit breaker the moving contact is

in contact with fixed contact with thw help of spring

pressure .
When fault occurs, the high pressure air is introduced
into the arcing chamber .
The air pressure will counter the spring pressure and
deforms the spring hence the moving contact is
withdrawn from the fixed contact and nozzle hole
becomes open.
At the same time the high pressure air starts flowing
along the arc through fixed contact nozzle orifice.
hence ,the arc voltage become greater than the
system voltage that means system voltage is
insufficient to sustain the arc consequently the arc is
quenched.

Cross blast air circuit breaker

In this system of cross blast air circuit breaker the blast

pipe is fixed in perpendicular to the moving contact in

the arcing chamber and on the opposite side of arcing
chamber , one exhaust chamber is also fitted at the same
alignment of blast pipe.
When air comes from the blast pipe can straightly enter
into exhaust chamber to the contact gap of the breaker.
When moving contact is withdrawn from fixed contact an
arc is established between the contact also the high
pressure air coming from blast pipe will pass through the
contact gap and will forcefully take the arc into exhaust
chamber where the arc is split with the help of arc
splitters and ultimately arc is quenched.

VACUUM CIRCUIT BREAKER

WORKING OF VCB
When the fault occurs on the system breaker

operates & the moving contact separates from the

fixed contact.
While separating the contacts an arc is struck
between them.
The arc is produced due to the ionization of metal
ions, which depends upon the material of
contacts.
The arc is quickly extinguished because the
metallic vapour electrons & ions produced during
the arc are diffused in a short time & seized by
the surface of moving and fixed members and
shield.

ADVANTAGES
There are on file hazards.
They are compact in size.
They are reliable and have longer

life.
There are no generation of any any
type of gas during and after
operation .
maintenance required is less.

SF6 CIRCUIT BREAKER

ADVANTAGES
In SF6 circuit breaker no risk of fire because SF6 gas is

non-inflammable.
There are no carbon deposits so that tracking and
insulation problems are eliminated.
The closed gas enclosure keeps the interior dry so that
there is no moisture problem.
The SF6 breakers have low maintenance cost, light
foundation requirement and minimum auxiliary
equipment.
The SF6 circuit breaker gives noiseless operation due
to its closed gas circuit and no exhaust to atmosphere
unlike the air blast circuit breaker.

PROPERTIES OF SF6 CIRCUIT

BREAKER
SF6 gas has high dielectric strength.
SF6 is colour less, odour less and non

toxic gas.
SF6 gas has high thermal
conductivity.
SF6 being non-flammable so there is
no risk of fire hazard and explosion.

WORKING OF SF6 CICUIT

BREAKER
When the breaker operates the moving

contact start separating from the fixed

contact.& the moving cylinder move.
Due to this the trapped SF6 gas inside the
cylinder is compressed. The trapped SF6 gas
is released through a nozzle & flows axially
to quench the arc.
The gas puffs over the arc & reduces the arc
diameter by axial convection & radial
dissipation.
At current zero the arc diagram becomes to
small and arc gets extinguished. The
contacts space is filled with cool & fresh gas.

DISADVANTAGES
SF6 breakers are costly due to the high cost of

SF6.
SF6 gas has to be reconditioned after every
operation of the breaker, additional
equipment is required for this purpose.

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