CIRCUIT BREAKERS

OPERATING PRINCIPLES OF CIRCUIT BREAKERS

A circuit breaker is an automatically-operated electrical switch designed to protect an electrical
circuit from damage caused by overload or short circuit. Its basic function is to detect a fault
condition and, by interrupting continuity, to immediately discontinue electrical flow. Unlike a
fuse, which operates once and then has to be replaced, a circuit breaker can be reset (either
manually or automatically) to resume normal operation. Circuit breakers are made in varying
sizes, from small devices that protect an individual household appliance up to large switchgear
designed to protect high voltage circuits feeding an entire city.
1.Oil Circuit Breakers
Oil circuit breaker is such type of circuit breaker which used oil as a dielectric or insulating
medium for arc extinction. In oil circuit breaker the contacts of the breaker are made to
separate within an insulating oil. When the fault occurs in the system the contacts of the circuit
breaker are open under the insulating oil, and an arc is developed between them and the heat
of the arc is evaporated in the surrounding oil. The oil circuit breaker is divided into two
categories
Construction of Oil Circuit Breaker
Oil circuit breaker is very easy in construction. It consists of current carrying contacts enclosed in
a strong, weather-tight earth metal tank and the tank is filled with transformer oil. The oil is
both acts as an arc extinguishing medium and as an insulator between the live part and earth.
At the top of the oil, air is filled in the tank which acts as a cushion to control the displaced oil on
the formation of gas around the arc and also to absorb the mechanical shock of the upward
movement of oil. The breaker tank is securely bolted for carrying out the vibration caused on
interrupting very high current. Oil circuit breaker consists gas outlet which is fitted in the tank
cover for the removal of the gases.

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Working Principle of Oil Circuit Breaker
During the normal operating conditions, the contact of the oil circuit breaker is closed and carry
the current. When the fault occurs in the system, the contacts of the breaker are moving apart,
and an arc is struck between the contacts.
Due to this arc, a large amount of heat is liberated, and a very high temperature is reached
which vaporises the surrounding oil into gas. The gas, thus liberated surrounds the arc and its
explosive growth around it displaces the oil violently. The arc is extinguished when the distance
between the fixed and moving contact reaches a certain critical value, depends on the arc
current and recovery voltage.

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The oil circuit breaker is very reliable in operation, and it is very cheap. The most important
feature of oil circuit breaker is that no special devices are used for controlling the arc caused by
moving contact. The oil as an arc quenching medium has certain advantages and disadvantages
Advantages of Oil as an Arc Quenching
1. The oil has a high dielectric strength and provides insulation between the contact after the arc
has been extinguished.
2. The oil used in circuit breaker provides a small clearance between the conductors and the
earth components.
3. The hydrogen gas is formed in the tank which has a high diffusion rate and good cooling
properties.
Disadvantages of Oil as an Arc Quenching
1. The oil used in oil circuit breaker is inflammable and hence, cause a fire hazard.
2. There is a risk of formation of explosive mixture with air.
3. Due to decomposition of oil in the arc, the carbon particles is generated which polluted the oil
and hence the dielectric strength of the oil decreases.
Maintenance of oil circuit breaker
After a circuit breaker has interrupted by short-circuit current, sometimes their contacts may
get burnt due to arcing. Also, the dielectric oil gets carbonized in the area of the contacts,
thereby losing its dielectric strength. This results in the reduced breaking capacity of the
breaker. Therefore, the maintenance of oil circuit breaker is essential for checking and
replacement of oil and contacts.

2.Air-blast Circuit Breakers

Air blast circuit breaker used compressed air or gas as the arc interrupting medium. In the air
blast, circuit breaker compressed air is stored in a tank and released through a nozzle to
produce a high-velocity jet; this is used to extinguish the arc. Air blast circuit breakers are used
for indoor services in the medium high voltage field and medium rupturing capacity. Generally
up to voltages of 15 KV and rupturing capacities of 2500 MVA. The air blast circuit breaker is
now employed in high voltage circuits in the outdoors switch yard for 220 KV lines.
Though gasses such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen, freon or hydrogen are used as the arc
interrupting medium, compressed air is the accepted circuit breaking medium for gas blast
circuit breakers. The reasons are given below.
The circuit breaking capacities of nitrogen are similar to compressed air and hence no advantage
of using it. Carbon dioxide has the drawback of its being difficult to control owing to freezing at

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valves and other restricted passages. Feron has high dielectric strength and good arc
extinguishing properties, but it is expensive, and it is disintegrated by the arc into acid-forming
elements. The desirable features to be found in air blast circuit breaker are
High-Speed Operation – It is very necessary on large interconnected networks so that the
system stability can be maintained. This is achieved in circuit breaker because the time interval
between the discharge of triggering impulse and contacts separation are very short.
Suitability for frequent operation – Repeated switching by an air blast circuit is possible simply
because of the absence of oil, which rapidly carbonizes with the frequent operation and because
there is an insignificant amount of wear and tear at the current-carrying contact surfaces. But it
must be remembered that if frequent switching is anticipated, then the maintenance of a
sufficient air supply is essential.
Negligible Maintenance – The ability of the air blast circuit breaker to deal with repeated
switching also mean that negligible maintenance is required.
Elimination of Fire Hazard – Because of the absence of oil the risk of fire is eliminated.
Reduced Size – The growth of dielectric strength is so rapid in air blast circuit breakers that final
gap required for arc extinction is very small. This reduces the sizes of the devices.

Types of Air Blast Circuit Breaker

All air blast circuit breakers follow the principle of separating their contacts in a flow of arc
established by the opening of a blast valve. The arc which is drawn is usually rapidly positioned
centrally through a nozzle where it is kept to a fixed length and is subjected to the maximum
range by the air flow. The air blast circuit breakers according to the type of flow of blast of
compressed around the contacts are of three types namely axial, radial and cross blast.
Axial blast Air Circuit Breaker – In the air blast circuit breaker, the flow of air is longitudinal along
the arc. Air blast circuit breaker may be a single blast or double blast. Breaking employing
double blast arrangement are sometimes called radial blast circuit breakers as the air blast flows
radially into the nozzle or space between the contacts.

The essential feature of air blast circuit breaker is shown above. The fixed and moving contacts
are kept in a closed position by spring pressure under normal operating conditions. The air
reservoir tank is connected to the arc chamber through an air valve, which is opened by a triple
impulse.

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When the fault occurs, the tripling impulse causes opening of the air valve connecting the
reservoir to the arcing chamber. The air entering the arc chamber exerts pressure on the moving
contacts which moves when the air pressure exceeds the spring force.

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The contacts are separated, and an arc is developed between them. The air flowing at a great
speed axially along the arc cause removal of heat from the edge of the arc and the diameter of
the arc reduced to a very small value at current zero.
Thus, the arc is interrupted, and the space between the contact is flushed with fresh air flowing
through the nozzle. The flow of fresh air removes the hot gasses between the contact space and
rapidly build up the dielectric strength between them.
Cross Blast Air Circuit Breaker – In such breaker, an arc blast is directed at right angles to the
arc. The schematic representation of the cross principle of cross blast air circuit breaker is given
in the figure below. A moving contact arm is operated in close spaces to draw an arc which is
forced by a transverse blast of air into the splitter plates, thereby lightening it to the point when
it cannot restrike after zero current.

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Resistance switching is not normally required as the lightening of arc automatically introduces
some resistance to control the restriking voltage transient but if extra resistance is thought
desirable. It is possible to introduce it by connecting it in the section across the arc splitter.
Drawback of Air Blast Circuit Breaker
In the air blast circuit breaker, it is necessary that the compressed air at the correct pressure
must be available all the times, involving in the largest installation of a plant with two or more
compressors. The maintenance of this plant and the problem of air leakages at the pipe fittings
are some factors which operate against air blast circuit breaker and it costly for low voltage as
compared to oil or air break circuit breaker.

3.Sulphur Hexafluoride (SF6) Circuit Breaker.

A circuit breaker in which SF under pressure gas is used to extinguish the arc is called SF6 circuit
breaker. SF 6(sulphur hexafluoride) gas has excellent dielectric, arc quenching, chemical and
other physical properties which have proved its superiority over other arc quenching mediums
such as oil or air. The SF6 circuit breaker is mainly divided into three types.
 Non-puffer piston circuit breaker
 Single- puffer piston circuit breaker.
 Double-puffer piston circuit breaker.
The circuit breaker which used air and oil as an insulating medium, their arc extinguishing force
builds up was relatively slow after the movement of contact separation. In the case of high
voltage circuit breakers quick arc extinction properties are used which require less time for quick
recovery, voltage builds up. SF6 circuit breakers have good properties in this regards compared
to oil or air circuit breakers. So in high voltage up to 760 kV, SF circuit breakers is used.

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Properties of Sulphur hexafluoride Circuit Breaker
Sulphur hexafluoride possesses very good insulating and arc quenching properties. These
properties are;
It is colourless, odourless, non-toxic, and non-inflammable gas.
SF6 gas is extremely stable and inert, and its density is five times that of air.

It has high thermal conductivity better than that of air and assists in better cooling current
carrying parts.
SF6 gas is strongly electronegative, which means the free electrons are easily removed from
discharge by the formation of negative ions.

It has a unique property of fast recombination after the source energising spark is removed. It is
100 times more effective as compared to arc quenching medium.
Its dielectric strength is 2.5 times than that of air and 30% less than that of the dielectric oil. At
high pressure the dielectric strength of the gas increases.
Moisture is very harmful to SF6 circuit breaker. Due to a combination of humidity and SF6 gas,
hydrogen fluoride is formed (when the arc is interrupted) which can attack the parts of the
circuit breakers.

Construction of SF Circuit Breakers

SF6 circuit breakers mainly consist of two parts, namely (a) the interrupter unit and (b) the gas
system.
Interrupter Unit – This unit consists of moving and fixed contacts comprising a set of current-
carrying parts and an arcing probe. It is connected to the SF6 gas reservoir. This unit consists
slide vents in the moving contacts which permit the high-pressure gas into the main tank.

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Gas System – The closed circuit gas system is employed in SF circuit breakers. The SF gas is
costly, so it is reclaimed after each operation. This unit consists low and high-pressure chambers
with a low-pressure alarm along with warning switches. When the pressure of the gas is very
low due to which the dielectric strength of gases decrease and an arc quenching ability of the
breakers is endangered, then this system gives the warning alarm.
Working Principle of SF Circuit Breaker
In the normal operating conditions, the contacts of the breaker are closed. When the fault
occurs in the system, the contacts are pulled apart, and an arc is struck between them. The
displacement of the moving contacts is synchronised with the valve which enters the high-
pressure SF gas in the arc interrupting chamber at a pressure of about 16kg/cm^2.
The SF gas absorbs the free electrons in the arc path and forms ions which do not act as a charge
carrier. These ions increase the dielectric strength of the gas and hence the arc is extinguished.
This process reduces the pressure of the SF gas up to 3kg/cm^2 thus; it is stored in the low-
pressure reservoir. This low-pressure gas is pulled back to the high-pressure reservoir for re-use.
Now a day puffer piston pressure is used for generating arc quenching pressure during an
opening operation by mean of a piston attached to the moving contacts.
Advantage of SF6 circuit breaker
SF6 circuit breakers have the following advantages over conventional breaker;
SF6 gas has excellent insulating, arc extinguishing and many other properties which are the
greatest advantages of SF6 circuit breakers.

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2. The gas is non-inflammable and chemically stable. Their decomposition products are non-
explosive and hence there is no risk of fire or explosion.
3. Electric clearance is very much reduced because of the high dielectric strength of SF6.
4. Its performance is not affected due to variations in atmospheric condition.
5. It gives noiseless operation, and there is no over voltage problem because the arc is
extinguished at natural current zero.
6. There is no reduction in dielectric strength because no carbon particles are formed during
arcing.
7. It requires less maintenance and no costly compressed air system is required.
8. SF6 performs various duties like clearing short-line faults, switching, opening unloaded
transmission lines, and transformer reactor, etc. without any problem.

Disadvantages of SF circuit breakers

SF6 gas is suffocating to some extent. In the case of leakage in the breaker tank, the SF6 gas
being heavier than air and hence SF are settled in the surroundings and lead to the suffocation
of the operating personnel.
2. The entrance of moisture in the SF6 breaker tank is very harmful to the breaker, and it causes
several failures.
3. The internal parts need cleaning during periodic maintenance under clean and dry
environment.
4. The special facility requires for transportation and maintenance of quality of gas.

4. Vacuum Circuit Breaker

A breaker which used vacuum as an arc extinction medium is called a vacuum circuit breaker. In
this circuit breaker, the fixed and moving contact is enclosed in a permanently sealed vacuum
interrupter. The arc is extinct as the contacts are separated in high vacuum. It is mainly used for
medium voltage ranging from 11 KV to 33 KV.
Vacuum circuit breaker has a high insulating medium for arc extinction as compared to the other
circuit breaker.
The pressure inside the vacuum interrupter is approximately 10 torrent and at this pressure,
very few molecules are present in the interrupter. The vacuum circuit breaker has mainly two
phenomenal properties.
1. High insulating strength: In comparison to various other insulating media used in circuit
breaker vacuum is a superior dielectric medium. It is better than all other media except air and
SF6, which are employed at high pressure.
2. When an arc is opened by moving apart the contacts in a vacuum, an interruption occurs at
the first current zero. With the arc interruption, their dielectric strength increases up to a rate of
thousands time as compared to other breakers.
The above two properties make the breakers more efficient, less bulky and cheaper in cost.
Their service life is also much greater than any other circuit breaker, and almost no maintenance
are required.
Construction of Vacuum Circuit Breaker
It is very simple in construction as compared to any other circuit breaker. Their construction is
mainly divided into three parts, i.e., fixed contacts, moving contact and arc shield which is
placed inside the arc interrupting chamber.

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The outer envelope of vacuum circuit breaker is made up of glass because the glass envelope
help in the examination of the breaker from outside after the operation. If the glass becomes
milky from its original finish of silvery mirror, then it indicates that the breaker is losing vacuum.
The fixed and moving contacts of the breaker are placed inside the arc shield. The pressure in a
vacuum interrupter at the time of sealing off is kept at about 10 torr. The moving contacts of the
circuit breaker are move through a distance of 5 to 10 mm depending upon the operating
voltage.
The metallic bellows made of stainless steel is used to move the moving contacts. The design of
the metallic bellows is very important because the life of the vacuum circuit breaker depends on
the ability of the component to perform repeated operations satisfactorily.
Working Vacuum Circuit Breaker
When the fault occurs in the system, the contacts of the breaker are moved apart and hence the
arc is developed between them. When the current carrying contacts are pulled apart, the
temperature of their connecting parts is very high due to which ionization occurs. Due to the
ionization, the contact space is filled with vapour of positive ions which is discharged from the
contact material.
The density of vapour depends on the current in the arcing. Due to the decreasing mode of
current wave their rate of release of vapour fall and after the current zero, the medium regains
its dielectric strength provided vapour density around the contacts reduced. Hence, the arc does
not restrike again because the metal vapour is quickly removed from the contact zone.
Current Chopping in Vacuum Circuit Breaker

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Current chopping in vacuum circuit breaker depends on the vapour pressure and the electron
emission properties of the contact material. The chopping level is also influenced by the thermal
conductivity–lower the thermal conductivity, lower is the chopping level.
It is possible to reduce the current level at which chopping occurs by selecting a contact material
which gives out sufficient metal vapour to allow the current to come to a very low value or zero
value, but this is rarely done as it affects the dielectric strength adversely.
Vacuum Arc recovery of Vacuum Circuit Breaker
High vacuum possesses extremely high dielectric strength. At zero current the arc is
extinguished very quickly, and the dielectric strength is established very quickly. This return of
dielectric strength is because of the vaporized metal which is localized between the contacts
diffuses rapidly due to the absence of gas molecules. After arc interruption, the recovery
strength during the first few microseconds is 1 kV/µs second for an arc current of 100A.
Because of the above-mentioned attribute of vacuum circuit breaker, it is capable of handling
the severe recovery transients associated with short-line faults without any difficulty.
Property of contact material
The contact material of the vacuum circuit breaker should have the following property;
 The material should have high electrical conductivity so as to pass normal load currents
without overheating.
 The contact material should have low resistance and high density.
 The material should possess high thermal conductivity so as to dissipate rapidly the
large heat generated during arcing.
 The material should have a high arc withstand ability and low current chopping level.

Advantages of Vacuum Circuit Breakers

Vacuum circuit breaker does not require any additional filling of oil or gas. They do not need
periodic refilling.
Rapid recovery of high dielectric strength on current interruptions that only a half cycle or less
arcing occurs after proper contact separation.
Breaker unit is compact and self-contained. It can be installed in any required orientation.
Because of the above reasons together with the economic advantage offered, vacuum circuit
breaker has high acceptance.

Disadvantages of Vacuum Circuit Breakers

 Because of the short gap and excellent recovery of vacuum circuit breaker, they are very
useful as very high speed making switches in many industrial applications.
 When the voltage is high and current to be interrupted is low these breakers have
definite superiority over the other breakers.
 For low fault interrupting capacities the cost is low in comparison to other interrupting
devices.
 Because of the least requirements of maintenance, these breakers are very suitable for
the system which requires voltage from 11 to 33 kV

THE ARC PHENOMENON IN CIRCUIT BREAKERS

How Does A Circuit Breaker Works?
A circuit breaker essentially consists of fixed and moving contacts, called electrodes. Under
normal operating conditions, these contacts remain closed and will not open automatically until
and unless the system becomes faulty.

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The contacts can be opened manually or by remote control whenever desired. When a fault
occurs on any part of the system, the trip coils of the breaker get energised and the moving
contacts are pulled apart by some mechanism, thus opening the circuit.
Operating principle of Circuit Breaker

When the contacts of a circuit breaker are separated under fault conditions, an arc is struck
between them. The current is thus able to continue until the discharge ceases. The production
of arc not only delays the current interruption process but it also generates enormous heat
which may cause damage to the system or to the breaker itself. Therefore, the main problem in
a circuit breaker is to extinguish the arc within the shortest possible time so that heat generated
by it may not reach a dangerous value.
Arc Phenomenon in Circuit Breaker
When a short-circuit occurs, a heavy current flows through the contacts of the circuit breaker
before they are opened by the protective system. At the instant when the contacts begin to
separate the contact area decreases rapidly and large fault current causes increased current
density and hence rise in temperature.
The heat produced in the medium between contacts (usually the medium is oil or air) is
sufficient to ionise the air or vapourise and ionise the oil. The ionised air or vapour ,acts as
conductor and an arc is struck between the contacts. The potential difference between the
contacts is quite small and is just sufficient to maintain the arc. The arc provides a low resistance
path and consequently the current in the circuit remains uninterrupted so long as the arc
persists.
During the arcing period, the current flowing between the contacts depends upon the arc
resistance. The greater the arc resistance, the smaller the current that flows between the
contacts. The arc resistance depends upon the following factors:
1. Degree of ionisation - the arc resistance increases with the decrease in the number of ionised
particles between the contacts.
2. Length of the arc - the arc resistance increases with the length of the arc i.e. seperation of
contacts.

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3. Cross section of arc - the arc resistance increase with the decrease in the area of cross section
of the arc.

As long as this arc is sustained in between the contacts the current through the circuit breaker
will not be interrupted finally as because arc is itself a conductive path of electricity. For total
interruption of current the circuit breaker it is essential to quench the arc as quick as possible.
The main designing criteria of a circuit breaker is to provide appropriate technology of arc
quenching in circuit breaker to fulfill quick and safe current interruption. Principles and
Methods of arc extinction are discussed here.

Principles of Arc Extinction in Circuit Breaker

Before discussing the methods of arc extinction, it is necessary to examine the factors
responsible for the maintenance of arc between the contacts. These are :

1. potential difference between the contacts.

2. ionised particles between contacts
Taking these in turn,
When the contacts have a small separation, the p.d. between them is sufficient to maintain the
arc. One way to extinguish the arc is to separate the contacts to such a distance that p.d.
becomes inadequate to maintain the arc.
However, this method is impracticable in high voltage system where a separation of many
meters may be required.
The ionised particles between the contacts tend to maintain the arc. If the arc path is deionised,
the arc extinction will be facilitated. This may be achieved by cooling the arc or by bodily
removing the ionised particles from the space between the contacts.
Methods of Arc Extinction in Circuit Breaker
There are two methods of extinguishing the'arc in circuit breakers
1. High resistance method
2. Low resistance or current zero method.
1. High Resistance Method
In this method, arc resistance is made to increase with time so that current is reduced to a value
insufficient to maintain the arc. Consequently, the current is interrupted or the arc is
extinguished.

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The principal disadvantage of this method is that enormous energy is dissipated in the arc.
Therefore, it is employed only in d.c. circuit breakers Land low-capacity a.c. circuit breakers.
The resistance of the arc may be increased by;
 Lengthening the arc - The resistance of the arc is directly proportional to its length. The
length of the arc can be increased by increasing the gap between contacts.
 Cooling the arc - Cooling helps in medium between the contacts. This increases the arc
may be obtained by a gas resistance. Efficient cooling blast directed along the arc.
 Reducing X-section of the arc - if the area of X-section of the arc is reduced, the voltage
necessary to maintain the arc is increased. In other words, the resistance of the arc path
is increased. The cross-section of the arc can be reduced by letting the arc pass through
a narrow opening or by having smaller area of contacts.
 Splitting the arc - The resistance of the arc can be increased by splitting the arc into a
number of smaller arcs in series. Each one of these arcs experiences the effect of
lengthening and cooling. The arc may be split by introducing some conducting plates
between the contacts.
2. Low Resistance or Current zero Method
This method is employed for arc extinction in AC Circuits only.
In this method, arc resistance is kept low until current zero where the arc extinguishes naturally
and is prevented from restriking inspite of the rising voltage across the contacts.
All modern high power AC Circuit Breakers employ this method for arc extinction.
In an a.c. system, current drops to zero after every half-cycle. At every current zero, the arc
extinguishes for a brief moment.
Now the medium between the contacts contains ions and electrons so that it has small dielectric
strength and can be easily broken down by the rising contact voltage known as restriking
voltage.
If such a break-down does occur, the arc will persist for another half-cycle. If immediately after
current zero, the dielectric strength of the medium between contacts is built up more rapidly
than the voltage across the contacts, the arc fails to restrike and the current will be interrupted.
The rapid increase of dielectric strength of the medium near current zero can be achieved by
(a) causing the ionised particles in the space between contacts to recombine into neutral
molecules.
(b) sweeping the ionised particles away and replacing them by unionised particles.
Therefore, the real problem in AC arc interruption is to rapidly deionise the medium between
contacts as soon as the current becomes zero so that the rising contact voltage or restriking
voltage cannot breakdown the space between contacts. The de-ionisation of the medium can be
achieved by :
(i) lengthening of the gap : The dielectric strength of the medium is proportional to the length of
the gap between contacts. Therefore, by opening the contacts rapidly, higher dielectric strength
of the medium can be achieved.
(ii) high pressure. If the pressure in the vicinity of the arc, is increased, the density of the
particles constituting the' discharge also increases. The increased density of particles causes
higher rate of de-ionisation and consequently the dielectric strength of the medium between
contacts is increased.
(iii) cooling : Natural combination of ionised particles takes place more rapidly if they are
allowed to cool. Therefore, dielectric strength of the medium between the contacts can be
increased by cooling the arc
(iv) blast effect : If the ionised particles between the contacts are swept away and replaced by
un-ionised particles, the dielectric strength of the medium can be increased consider-ably. This

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may be achieved by a gas blast directed along the discharge or by forcing oil into the contact
space.

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