CHAPTER- 2

CIRCUIT BREAKERS
2.1 Introduction:
An electrical power system is very complex. It needs some form of switchgear in order that it
may be safely and efficiently controlled or regulated under both normal and abnormal operating
conditions. A tumbler switch with a fuse serves to control the light and other electrical
equipment’s and is, in a way, a form of switchgear. On the other hand, a C.B. in a station serves
exactly the same purpose but it has many added and much more complex features.
The basic construction of any circuit breaker requires the separation of contacts in an insulating
fluid which serves two functions here: (1) It extinguishes the arc drawn between the contacts
when the C.B. opens. (2) It provides adequate insulation between the contacts and from each
contact to earth.
Many insulating fluids are used for arc extinction and the fluid chosen depends upon the rating
and type of C.B. The insulating fluids commonly used for C.B. are:
1. Air at atmospheric pressure.
2. Compressed air.
3. Oil which produces hydrogen for arc extinction.
4. Ultra-high vacuum.
5. Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6).
The gases which have been considered for C.B. are: (i) simple gases—air, oxygen, hydrogen,
nitrogen, carbon dioxide; and (ii) electronegative gases—Sulphur hexafluoride, arcton.
Properties required of a gas for C.B. use are:
(i) High dielectric strength.
(ii) Thermal and chemical stability.
(iii) Non-inflammability.
(iv) High thermal conductivity: This assists cooling of current carrying conductors immersed in
the gas and also assists the arc extinction process.
(v) Arc extinguishing ability: It should have a low dissociation temperature, a short thermal time
constant (ratio of energy contained in an arc column at any instant to the rate of energy
dissipation at the same instant) and should not produce conducting products such as carbon
during arcing.
(vi) Commercial availability at moderate cost: Of the simple gases air is the cheapest and most
widely used for circuit breaking. Hydrogen has better arc extinguishing property but it has lower
dielectric strength as compared with air. Also if hydrogen is contaminated with air, it forms an
explosive mixture. Nitrogen has similar properties as air, CO, has almost the same dielectric
strength as air but is a better arc extinguishing medium at moderate currents. Oxygen is a good
extinguishing medium but is chemically active. SF6 has outstanding arc quenching properties and
good dielectric strength. Of all these gases SF6 and air are used in commercial gas blast circuit
breakers.
Air at atmospheric pressure is 'free' but dry air costs a lot when stored at say 75 atmospheres. The
compressed air supply system is a vital part of an air blast C.B. Moisture from the air is removed
by refrigeration, by drying agents or by storing at several times the working pressure and then
expanding it to the working pressure for use in the C.B. The relative cost of storing the air

1
reduces with increase in pressure. If the air to be used by the breaker is at 35 kg cm it is
common to store it at 210 kg/cm2.
Air has an advantage over the electronegative gases in that air can be compressed to extremely
high pressures at room temperature and then its dielectric strength even exceeds that of these
gases.
The dielectric strength of SF6 at normal pressure and temperature is 2 to 3 times that of air and at
2 atm its strength is comparable with the transformer oil. Although SF6 is a vapor, it can be
liquefied at moderate pressure and stored in steel cylinders. Even though SF, has better insulating
and arc quenching properties than air at an equal pressure, it has the important disadvantage that
it cannot be used much above 14 kg/cm2 unless the gas is heated to avoid liquefaction. Circuit
breakers, using SF6 at 14 kg/cm2, have heaters installed in the high pressure reservoir. The
interrupting capacity of a C.B. is approximately directly proportional to the gas pressure;
therefore> it is possible for a compressed-air break to have a higher interrupting capacity than an
SF6 break at the expense of increased gas pressure. The choice between the two gases depends to
a large extent on the cost of the complete equipment. During maintenance of an SF6 filled C.B.
the gas is pumped from the breaker into a receiver and stored in liquid form. Metal fluorides
which may be formed during the interruption of short circuit currents are removed from the C.B.
tank by filtering the gas through activated alumina before the breaker is inspected. When
maintenance is complete, the breaker is resealed, dried with nitrogen and evacuated to a few mm
Hg pressure to remove air prior to refilling with SF6. During operation of the C.B. the gaseous
decomposition products, which can be toxic in the presence of moisture are removed using
activated alumina as an absorber.

2.2 Arc and Arc Extinction:

Arc current: The larger the amplitude of the current, the higher becomes the arc temperature
and the density of electric charge carriers generated in the arc. This makes it much more difficult
for the contact gap to become insulating after current interruption at current zero. In addition to
the current amplitude, the current steepness (di/dt) near current zero is of crucial importance for
the current interruption process. A higher di/dt means dial die switching gap has less time to
change from conducting to insulating state, before die gap is exposed to die transient recover)'
voltage.
Arcing time: Since there is no control on the mechanical opening and closing moment of most
switching devices, die instant when the contacts of a switching device separate is a random
variable. If the contacts separate just before die current zero crossing, die current will not be
immediately interrupted but continues to flow until me next current zero crossing. Therefore, die
arc duration is typically in die range of 0.5-1.5 times the length of a current half cycle. By longer
arc durations, the energy dissipation in die breaker increases, and interruption of the current
usually becomes more difficult.
Arc voltage: The input power required for an arc to remain stable depends on the medium in
which die arc is burning. This defines the arc voltage that is observed. The arc voltage is
dependent on the design and die materials—including die type of interrupting medium—of the
switching device itself and not on die rated voltage of die power grid.
Arc Extinction:
When a short circuit on a system occurs, the relay gives a signal to the C.B. to trip and isolate the
healthy section of the system from the faulted without causing any harm to the system or to

2
itself. There are two methods by which arc interruption is done: {i) high resistance method, and
(ii) low resistance or current zero interruption method.
High resistance method: In this method the arc resistance is increased in time to such a high
value that it forces the current to reach zero without possibility of arc being restruck thereafter.
The rate at which the resistance is increased or the current is decreased is not abnormal so as to
cause harmful induced voltages in the system. The arc resistance may be increased due to any or
all of the deionizing methods discussed earlier i.e., cooling, lengthening and splitting of the arc.
Because of the resistive nature of the arc discharge, most of the energy in the system will be
received by the C.B. Therefore, while designing the C.B., provision of mechanical strength to
withstand such sudden release of large quantities of energy must be made. This is the main
drawback of this method of arc interruption. This method is, therefore, used for low and medium
power a.c. circuit breakers and in d.c. circuit breakers.
Low resistance or current zero interruption: This method is used only in a.c. circuit interruption
because there is natural zero of current present in such systems. In case of a 50 Hz supply there
are 100 zeros per second. This property of a.c. circuit is exploited for interruption purposes and
the current is not allowed to rise again after a zero occurs. Also it is neither necessary nor
desirable to cut off the current at any other point on the a.c. wave because this will induce high
voltages in the system.
The phenomenon of arc extinction is explained by two theories: (i) energy balance theory; and
(ii) voltage race theory.
Energy balance theory: This theory is based on the fact that if the rate at which the heat
generated between the contacts is lower than the rate at which heat between the contacts is
dissipated the arc will be extinguished, otherwise it will restrike. The heat generated varies from
time to time depending upon the separation of contacts. Initially when the contacts are about to
open, the restriking voltage is zero and, therefore, the heat generated is zero. Again when the
contacts are fully open, the resistance between the contacts is almost infinite and hence the heat
generated is zero. Between these two limits the heat generation reaches a maximum. Now, if the
heat so generated could be removed by cooling, lengthening and splitting the arc at a rate faster
than the generation the arc is extinguished.
Voltage race theory: The arc, as is said earlier, is due to the ionization of the gap between the
contacts. Effectively the resistance in the initial stages is small and as the contacts separate,
resistance is increasing. The problem here is to remove the electrons and ions from the contact
gap immediately after the current reaches zero. Because it is this stage where the ionization is at
minimum and if the ions could be removed either by recombining them into neutral molecules or
by sweeping them away by inserting insulation at a rate faster than the rate of ionization, the arc
will be interrupted. The recombination can be accelerated by cooling and increasing the pressure
in the arc space.
The ionization at current zero depends upon the voltage appearing between the contacts. This
voltage is known as restriking voltage which depends upon the power factor and other factors of
the circuit like the inductance and capacitance. The expression for voltage is given by (for a
lossless system)

where v = restriking voltage at any instant ty V the value of voltage at the instant of interruption
and L and C are the series inductance and shunt capacitance up to the fault point. It can be seen

3
that lower the value of the inductance and capacitance the higher will be the natural frequency of
oscillation and more severe will be the effect of restriking voltage. Therefore, a fault near the
source is more severe from the view-point of arc interruption as compared to a fault far from the
source. It is seen that v is a function of V which in turn depends upon the power factor of the
system. In case the system is highly lagging, this voltage will correspond to the peak system
voltage. The variation of this voltage is shown in Fig. 15.1(a).

In the analysis in Section 12.3 we assumed that the arc voltage across the breaker contacts is
negligible which is true in high voltage circuits where it is usually only a small percentage of the
system voltage even though in low voltage circuits it may be much more significant. Fig. 15.1(a)
shows the restriking voltage across the breaker contacts when arc voltage is neglected and losses
are also neglected. If losses are taken into account but arc voltage neglected, the restriking
voltage will be damped out depending upon the effective resistance of the system. The restriking
voltage across the breaker contacts will then be as shown in Fig. 15.1(b).

While drawing Fig. 15.1(6) we assumed that the current lags behind the voltage during fault by
90°. In actual practice it is not always true. A fault current can have any degree of asymmetry
depending upon the time in the cycle at which the fault occurs. The circuit breaker will again
interrupt at current zero and the recovery voltage will oscillate about the instantaneous value of
the supply voltage which in this case will be Vm sin Փ, where Փ is the angle by which the current
lags the voltage. The restriking voltage, therefore, in this case will be low as compared to when
Փ = 90°. This is illustrated in Fig. 15.1(c).

4
If the arc voltage is included into the analysis it will have the effect of increasing the restriking
voltage. This effect is offset by a second effect of the arc voltage which is to oppose the current
flow and thereby change the phase of the current bringing it more into phase with the supply
voltage; thereby the voltage is not at its peak when the current passes through zero value. This is
illustrated in Fig. 15.1(d).

Restriking voltage: The resultant transient voltage which appears across the breaker contacts at
the instant of arc extinction is known as the restriking voltage.
Recovery voltage: The power frequency r.m.s. voltage that appears across the breaker contacts
after the transient oscillations die out and final extinction of arc has resulted in all the poles is
called the recovery voltage.
Active recovery voltage: It is defined as the instantaneous recovery voltage at the instant of arc
extinction.
The instantaneous recovery voltage is given by

5
The rate at which the restriking voltage rises is> therefore, very important in the arc extinction
process because the ionization process will depend upon this rate. Therefore, it is found that if
the RRR V is smaller than the rate at which the dielectric between the contacts is developed, the
arc will be extinguished; otherwise there will be further restrike. This theory has been advocated
by Dr. J. Slepian.

2.3 Circuit Breaker Rating:

A circuit breaker has to work under different circumstances. It is rated in terms of (i) the number
of poles, (ii) rated voltage and current, (Hi) rated frequency, (iv) rated making capacity, (c) rated
symmetrical and asymmetrical breaking capacities, (vi) short time rating, and (vii) operating
duty.
The number of poles per phase of a breaker is a function of the operating voltage.
The voltage levels at various points in a system vary depending upon the system condition and as
a result the breaker has to operate under such variable voltage conditions. The breaker is
expected to operate at a maximum voltage which normally is higher than the rated nominal
voltage.
The rated current of a circuit breaker is the maximum value of current in r.m.s. amperes which it
shall carry continuously without exceeding the temperature limits of the various parts of the
breaker.
The rated frequency of a breaker is the frequency for which it is designed to operate.
Applications at frequencies other than the designed, need special considerations.
The making current is the peak value of the maximum current loop, including d.c. component, in
any phase during the first cycle of current when the C.B. is closed (Fig. 15.13). Then making
current corresponds to the ordinate I1 .The capacity of a breaker to make currents depends upon
its ability to withstand and to close successfully against the effect of electromagnetic forces. The
maximum force in any phase is a function of the square of the maximum instantaneous current
occurring in that phase on closing. It is, therefore, the practice to specify making current in terms
of peak value rather than in terms of r.m.s. value. The making capacity is, therefore, specified by
the product of the making current it can make and carry instantaneously at the rated service
voltage.

It is known that in a particular phase the current is maximum right at the instant short circuit
takes place, after which the current decreases. The current in the first one or two cycles
(depending upon the time constant of the damper winding) is known as sub transient current and

6
in the next S to 10 cycles it is known as transient current and finally the steady current where the
effect of both damper and field winding dies down. The asymmetry in the current is due to the
d.c. component. In case the symmetrical breaking current is known> the making
current can be obtained by multiplying this current by ^2 *° S6*- ^ie peak value and again by
1.8 to include the doubling effect (i.e., d.c. component at the first peak is almost equal to the a.c.
component).
The breaking current of a breaker depends upon the instant on the current wave when the
contacts begin to open. In Fig. 15.13 the contacts start separating at AB. The symmetric breaking
𝑥
current is given by amp and the asymmetric breaking current is given by
√2

The breaking capacity of a breaker is the product of the breaking current and the recovery
voltage. The symmetrical breaking capacity is the product of symmetric breaking current and the
recovery voltage. Similarly, the asymmetrical breaking capacity is the product of asymmetric
breaking current and the recovery voltage.
The short time rated current is the current that can be safely applied, with the C.B. in its normal
conditions, for 3 seconds, if the ratio of symmetrical breaking current to normal current is less
than 40 or for 1 second otherwise.
These ratings are based on thermal limitations. In case the circuit breaker is not used for auto-
reclosing, it must be capable of the following short circuit operating duty:

where B is breaking operation, 3 is the duration in minutes> M is the making operation.

Circuit breakers with auto-re closures should be capable of the following short circuit operating
duty:
Here D is the dead time of the breaker in terms of cycles.

2.4 Classification of Circuit Breakers:

Circuit breakers can be classified using the different criteria such as, intended voltage
application, location of installation, their external design characteristics insulating medium used
for arc quenching, etc.

2.4.1 Classification Based on Voltage

Circuit breakers can be classified into the following categories depending on the intended
voltage application.
(i) Low Voltage Circuit Breaker (less than 1KV)
(ii) Medium Voltage Circuit Breaker (1 kV to 52 KV)
(iii) High Voltage Circuit Breakers (66 kV to 220 kV)
(iv) Extra High Voltage (EHV) Circuit Breaker (300 kV to 765 kV)
(v) Ultra High Voltage (UHV) Circuit Breaker (above 765 KV)

2.4.2 Classification Based on Location:

Circuit Breakers based on their location are classified as:
(i) Indoor type

7
 (ii) Outdoor type.
Low and Medium voltage switch gears, and high voltage Gas insulated switch gears(GIS) are
categorized as Indoor switchgears, where as the switchgears which have air as an external
insulating medium, i.e Air insulated Switchgears (AIS are categorized as outdoor switchgears.

2.4.3 Classification Based on External Design:

Circuit Breakers can be classified into the following two categories depending upon their
external design:
(i) Dead tank type
(ii) Live-Tank type.
This classification is for the outdoor circuit breakers from the point of view of their physical
structural design.

2.4.4 Classification Based on Medium used for Arc Quenching:

Out of the various ways of classification of circuit breakers, the general way and most important
method is on the basis of the medium of insulating and arc quenching. Depending on the arc
quenching medium employed, the following are the important types of circuit breakers:

(i) Air-Break Circuit Breakers

(ii) Oil Circuit Breakers
(iii) Air Blast Circuit Breakers
(iv) Sulphur Hexafluoride (SF6) Circuit Breakers
(v) Vacuum Circuit Breakers.

The development of the above circuit Breakers have taken place chronologically in order to meet
two important requirements of the power system which has progressively grown in size. Firstly,
higher and higher fault currents need to be interrupted. i.e, breakers need to be larger and larger
breaking capacity. Secondly, the fault interruption time needs to be smaller and smaller for
maintaining system stability.

2.5 Air Break Circuit Breakers:

Air Break Circuit Breakers are quite suitable for high current interruption at low voltage. In this
type of circuit Breaker, air at atmospheric pressure is used as an arc extinguishing medium. The
figure below shows an air-break circuit Breaker. It employs two pairs of contacts-main contact
and arcing contact. The main contacts carry current when the breaker is in closed position. They
have low contact resistance, when the contacts are opened, the main contacts separate first, the
arcing contacts still remain closed. Therefore, the current is shifted from the main contacts to the
arcing contacts. The arcing contacts gets separated later on the arc is drawn between them.

8
2.6 Oil Circuit Breakers:

9
10
11
12
13
2.7 Air Blast Circuit Breaker:

14
15
2.8 SF6 Circuit Breakers

16
17
18
19
20
21
22
2.9 Vacuum Circuit Breakers:

23
2.10 High voltage DC (HVDC) Circuit Breaker:
At present HVDC transmission lines are used for point to point transmission of large power over
long distances. Such lines have many advantages over ac transmission lines such as lower cost,
less stability problems, less corona loss and less radio interference etc. HVDC circuit breakers
are not essential for single HVDC transmission lines which are used for point to point
transmission; The current in HVDC lines is controlled by controlling the firing circuits of the
thyristors employed in rectifiers and inverters. Switching operations are performed from ac side
with the help of ac circuit breakers. In HVDC circuit breakers are available, parallel HVDC
lines, HVDC lines with a tap-off line, closed loop circuit, etc. can also be planned and designed.
In ac circuits, current passes through natural current zeros, and hence it is possible to design ac
circuit breakers to interrupt large currents. This feature is not available in dc. If a high current is
suppressed abruptly in dc a very high transient voltage appears across the contacts of the circuit
breakers. Therefore, in dc circuit breakers some external circuits have to be provided to bring
down the current from

24
25