Technical Data

Draw-out Versus
Fixed Mounted Contactors
Draw-out breakers and contactors were
conceived primarily by the same
companies who also designed and supplied
metal clad and metal enclosed switchgear
to utilities and heavy industrial users
during the early 1940s. These draw-out
contactors and breakers were introduced
as the next generation of control after oil
immersed breakers. Because of their
physical size and the requirements for
regular routine maintenance, air break
contactors and circuit breakers were
designed to be drawn-out or rackedout. The racking out of the contactor or
breaker generally provided the only means
for isolating the device and the remainder
of the branch circuit from the main power
bus.
The use of draw-out contactors and
breakers introduced several problematic
issues:

Publication 1500-TD029A-EN-E - January, 2002

1.

The addition of slide-on or finger

style pressure contacts added several
points of connection that, if not
properly maintained, could cause
eventual contact finger failures (hot
spots) due to the thermal cycling
(expansion and contraction of the
metal) of starting and stopping the
load. These types of failures, if the
equipment is not routinely inspected,
are not always visible until
catastrophic equipment failure occurs.
This is, almost always, the weak link
in the power circuit.

2.

On some draw-out contactor tray

assemblies, where there is no other
isolation means, it is possible to rack
in the draw-out tray assembly directly
into a fault condition.

Figure 1: Airbreak Contactor

3.

Mechanical draw-out tray position

indicators add additional elements that
can subject the equipment to potential
nuisance trips.

In the 1950s, the original Rockwell

Automation/Allen-Bradley 400 Amp Air
Break Contactor (see Figure 1) was also
designed in a draw-out style to satisfy the
need for the regular maintenance and
inspection of the contactor arc chutes and
main power contacts. A draw-out assembly
was also required because the sheer weight
and size of the air break contactor
prevented access to other power cell
components behind it. Isolation from the
main power bus was provided by a nonload break isolation switch similar to the
switch currently incorporated on all
Allen-Bradley Medium Voltage Starters
today. This switch provides true and visible
isolation of the power cell when the switch
is opened.
There is a mindset by some users,
however, that all contactors must be drawout to insure isolation from the power bus.
This is only true when it comes to
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Figure 2 : Isolation Switch

(shown in closed position)

switchgear style circuit breakers and some

of our competitors starters, where they do
not supply any other way to provide
isolation from the power bus. This
philosophy has been reinforced with
users of competitive equipment where
draw-out style contactors are still
used - even on vacuum style
contactors.
However,
the
Allen-Bradley, non-load break
isolation switch (see Figure 2), in
combination with a medium voltage
vacuum contactor, provides a safer,
more visible means of isolation from
the main power bus.

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inspection). The vacuum contactors of

today (see Figure 3) require virtually no
physical maintenance and are much
smaller than the old air break technology.
Also, the Allen-Bradley MV starter power
cell has been redesigned to allow access to
all major power cell components without
removing the contactor (see Figure 4). In
fact, even the major components of the
contactor have been designed to be easily
replaced (vacuum bottle, operating coils,
and auxiliary contacts) with the contactor
in its fixed position. Also, even though the
contactor is fixed mounted, it has been
designed to be easily and quickly removed,
if required.

With the dawning of vacuum

technology, the need to withdraw the
contactor for maintenance was made
unnecessary (no arc chutes or contact

Figure 4 : Three-line Referenced to Actual

Power Cell Layout

Figure 3 : Vaccuum Contactor

Rockwell Automation continues its

tradition of supplying a positively driven
non-load break isolation switch and
vacuum contactor in all medium voltage
starters. This design, which incorporates a
light weight yet industrial rated, fixed
mounted vacuum contactor, simple
mechanical interlocks and a non-load
break isolation switch, provides the utmost
of safety, practicality and reliability. With
bolted connections from the isolation
switch completely through to the
customers load cable connection points,
there are no connections that are
Publication 1500-TD029A-EN-E - January, 2002

dependent on spring loaded fingers to pass

the full rated currents (with the exception
of the clip connections for clip-on style
power fuses). When the isolation switch is
open, the power cell area is completely
isolated and barriered from any medium
voltage, thus provides a totally dead front
power cell. The user is now free to verify
contact wear on the vacuum contactor or
to wipe down or vacuum any dust from
the interior of the cabinet and contactor.
An isolation switch viewing window is
provided in the power cell door (see Figure
5) to verify that the isolation switch is open
before the power cell door is opened. Also,
the mechanical interlock on the isolation
switch prevents entering the power cell
when the isolation switch is closed (unless

Figure 5 : Symmetrical conductors and armored

sheathing improves flux cancellation and
reduces noise

Publication 1500-TD029A-EN-E - January, 2002

the interlock is manually defeated by the

user to gain access).
Most draw-out vacuum contactor
assemblies are large, awkward to handle,
and exceed the maximum weight allowed
by OSHA for a single individual to lift or
carry. Many competitive units also
incorporate the main power fuses, control
circuit transformers and the primary fuses
for the control circuit transformer on the
draw-out carriage assembly. A lifting hoist
or trolley is thus required to move, install
or withdraw the actual carriage assembly
from the starter.
The mechanical interlocks for draw-out
carriage assemblies tend to be complicated,
require yearly set-up and adjustment and

Figure 5 : Isolation Switch Viewing Window

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T V2

Figure 7: Torque/Speed Relationship

to Reduced Voltage Starting

require periodic lubrication to insure their

safe operation. Many suppliers rely solely
on gravity to close the shutter mechanisms
that provide isolation from live power bus
components.
Rockwell Automation recognized the
need for some industrial users to maintain
consistency in their operating and safety
practices for all medium and high voltage
equipment. Some users require that all
contactors or breakers be withdrawn to
insure that the power cell is completely
isolated. Because there is no non-load
break isolation switch in a main circuit
breaker compartment, the user must
withdraw the breaker to provide and insure
isolation from the main power bus.
This need for consistency in operating
and safety practices, for some users, has
carried over into some competitive starters.
Rockwell Automation/Allen-Bradley
acknowledged this fact and has developed
a draw-out style vacuum contactor
(see Figure 6) for those customers who still
require this consistency. The medium
voltage starter continues to utilize the nonload break isolation switch but provides the
availability to the user to also withdraw the
contactor to verify complete power cell
isolation. The Rockwell Automation /
Allen-Bradley draw-out vacuum contactor
still only weighs approximately 50 pounds

Figure 6 : Draw-out Contactor

(22 kg) and provides the user the ease of

quick interchangeability of a contactor,
should the need arise.
Our experience in manufacturing
medium voltage starters for more than 60
years has proven that the use of a positively
driven, non-load break isolation switch
and fixed mounted vacuum contactor,
provides the user with the safest and most
reliable approach to providing a dead front
power cell. It is not an issue of providing
the customer with the safest, most reliable
and cost-effective solution (which the fixed
mounted contactor solution surely is) but
rather a matter of informing the customer
of the issues and addressing the past history
that has shaped a customers perceptions
of what is acceptable and not acceptable.

Medium Voltage Products, 135 Dundas Street, Cambridge, ON, N1R 5X1 Canada, Tel: (1) 519.740.4100, Fax: (1) 519.623.8930, www.ab.com/mvb
Publication 1500-TD029A-EN-E January 2002

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Copyright 2001 Rockwell Automation. All rights reserved. Printed in Canada.