Introductio

n
A circuit breaker is a mechanical switching

device, capable of making, carrying

and
breaking currents under normal
circuit conditions. It is also capable of
making and
carrying currents for a
specified time and breaking currents
under
specified
abnormal
circuit
conditions, such as those of a short
circuit.

Arc
Phenomenon
An arc is struck when contacts are separated.
The current is thus able to continue. Thus the
main duty of a circuit breaker is to distinguish
the arc within the shortest possible time.
The arc provides the low resistance path to

the current and the current in the circuit

remains uninterrupted.

Fixed
contact

Fixed
contact
ARC

Moving
contact

OPERATING
PRINCIPLE
OF BREAKER

ARC IS
ARC
QUENCHED BY
MEDIUM

Moving
contact

IN A CIRCUIT BREAKER

Operating
Circuit Breaker
consists of two contacts:
Mechanism
Fixed contact.
Moving contact.
Moving contact is used to make and break the
circuit using stored energies in the form of
spring or compressed air.
Spring, pneumatic or oil damping is used to
arrest the speed of mc while closing.
FC contains a spring which holds the mc after
closing.

 Circuit breaker consists of two coils:

Closing coil Used to close the circuit.
Tripping coil-Used to trip the circuit.
These coils activate the stored energy
and directs the mc to open or close.
DC batteries are used to energize
these coils.
Solenoids are used to close or trip it.
CBs are usually arranged with pilot
devices to sense a fault current and to
operate the trip opening mechanism.

The Electric Arc

During the separation of contacts, due to
large fault current and high current density
at the contact region the surrounding
medium ionizes and thus a conducting
medium is formed. This is called the ARC.
Factors responsible for arc:Potential difference between the contacts.
Ionized particles between the contacts.

PRINCIPLES OF
ARC
Arc quenching is achieved by:
EXTINCTION
Greater dielectric strength than restriking
voltage.
Faster rate of heat removal than rate of heat
generation.
Arc extinction methods are:
By lengthening the gap.
Cooling the arc.
Inserting medium of high dielectric strength.

Types Of Circuit
Breakers

Oil Circuit Breakers

Vacuum Circuit Breakers

Air Blast Circuit Breakers
SF6 Circuit Breakers

OIL CIRCUIT
BREAKER
These are of two types
BOCB (Bulk oil Circuit Breaker)
MOCB (Minimum oil Circuit Breaker)

OIL CIRCUIT BREAKER

It is designed for 11kv-

765kv.
The contacts are
immersed in oil bath.
Oil provides cooling by
hydrogen created by arc.
It acts as a good
dielectric medium and
quenches the arc.

BULK OIL CB

MINIMUM OIL CIRCUIT BREAKER

It is designed for 11kv-

765kv.
The contacts are
immersed in oil bath.
Oil provides cooling by
hydrogen created by arc.
It acts as a good
dielectric medium and
quenches the arc.

Advantages:
Oil has good dielectric strength.
Low cost.
Oil is easily available.
It has wide range of breaking capability.

Disadvantages:
Slower operation , takes about 20 cycles for

arc quenching.
It is highly inflammable , so high risk of fire.
High maintenance cost.

VACCUM CIRCUIT
BREAKER

It consists of fixed contact,moving contact and arc

shield mounted inside a vacuum chamber.

The movable member is connected to the control
mechanism by stainless steel bellows. This enables
the permanent sealing of the vacuum chamber so
as to eliminate the possibility of leak.
A glass vessel or ceramic vessel is used as the
outer insulating body.
When the contacts of the breaker are opened in
vacuum (10^-7 to 10^-5 torr), an arc is produced
between the contacts by the ionisation of metal
vapours of contacts.
The salient feature of vacuum as an arc quenching
medium is that as soon as the arc is produced in
vacuum, it is quickly extinguished due to the fast
rate of recovery of dielectric strength in vacuum

When the breaker operates, the moving contact

separates from the fixed contact and an arc is

struck between the contacts. The production of arc
is due to the ionisation of metal ions and depends
very much upon the material of contacts.
The arc is quickly extinguished because the
metallic vapours, electrons and ions produced
during arc are diffused in a short time and seized
by the surfaces of moving and fixed members and
shields.
Since vacuum has very fast rate of recovery of
dielectric strength, thearc extinction in a vacuum
breakeroccurs with a short contact separation
(say 0.625 cm)

Advantages:
Free from arc and fire hazards.
Low cost for maintenance & simpler mechanism.
Low arcing time & high contact life.
Silent and less vibrational operation.
Due to vacuum contacts remain free from

corrosion.
No byproducts formed.

Disadvantages:
High initial cost due to creation of vacuum.
Surface of contacts are depleted due to metal

vapours.

AIR BLAST CIRCUIT

BREAKERS
This operates using high velocity blast of air
which quenches the arc.
It consists of blast valve , blast tube & contacts.
Blast valve contains air at high pressure.
Blast tube carries the air at high pressure &
opens the moving contact attached to spring.
There is no carbonization of surface as in VCB.
Air should be kept clean & dry to operate it
properly.

Types of Air circuit breaker

Axial Blast Type - air blast is directed along the
arc path.
Cross Blast Type - air blast is directed at right
angles to the arc path.
Radial Blast Type - air blast is directed radially.

Plain air circuit breakerorCrossBlast Air CB

In this type of breaker, an air-blast is directed at

right angles to the arc. The cross blast lengthens

and forces the arc into a suitable chute for arc
extinction.
The circuit breaker is fitted with a chamber
surrounding the contact. The chamber is known as
arc chute. The arc is made to drive in it. The arc
chute will help in achieving cooling.
The inner walls of arc chute are shaped in such a
way that arc is not only forced into close proximity,
but will drive into the serpentine channel projected
on arc chute wall.
Initial arc will split into a series of arcs this will
make all arc voltages higher than system voltage.
They are preferable choice in low voltage
application.

Axial Blast Type circuit

breaker

Under normal condition

The fixed and moving contacts are held in closed
position with the help of spring pressure.
There is an airreservoirconnected to the arcing
chamber through an air valve. The air valve
controlthe flow of air into the arcing chamber. The
valve is closed under normal conditions.
Under Faulty Condition
When a fault occurs a tripping impulse is produced
which causes opening of the air valve. Since the air
valve connects the airreservoirand the arcing
chamber, a high pressure air enters to thearcing
chamber.

This air pushes away the moving contactagainstthe

spring pressure.The moving contact is separated

and an arc is struck. At the same time high pressure
air blast flows along the arc and takes away the
ionised gases along with it. Consequently the arc is
extinguished and current flow is interrupted.
The contact separation required for arc extinction is
very small generally (1.75 or so ).
This small gap may sometimes inadequate clearance
for the normal voltage. Therefore an isolating switch
is included as a part of this CB.
This switch opens immediately after the fault
interruption to provide necessary clearance for
insulation.

Advantages:
High speed operation as compared to OCB.
Ability to withstand frequent switching.
Facility for 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.

SF6 CIRCUIT BREAKERS

It contains anarc interruption chamber

containing SF6gas.
In closed position the contacts remain
surrounded bySF6gas at a pressure of 2.8 kg/cm2
.
During opening high pressure SF6 gas at 14
kg/cm2 from its reservoir flows towards the
chamber by valve mechanism.
SF6rapidly absorbs the free electrons in the arc
path to form immobile negative ions to build up
high dielectric strength.
It also cools the arc and extinguishes it.
After operation the valve is closed by the action

Advantages:
Very short arcing period due to superior arc
quenching property ofSF6 .
Can interrupt much larger currents as compared to
other breakers.
No risk of fire.
Low maintenance, light foundation.
No over voltage problem.
There are no carbon deposits.

Disadvantages:
SF6breakers are costly dueto high cost ofSF6.
SF6gas has to be reconditioned after every
operation of the breaker, additional equipment is
required for this purpose.

CONCLUSION:
Therefore, we conclude that circuit
breaker is the most essential part of
the electrical networks as it protects
every device from damage. It helps us
to detect the fault and area affected
by it. Nowadays vacuum and SF6
circuit breakers are widely used due
to their reliable and fast operations.