Circuit breaker testing

CB testing

• All electrical equipments need to be tested for

assurance of their satisfactory performance.
• However, testing of circuit breakers is more
difficult than the testing of other electrical
equipments because the short circuit currents
are very high.
• Testing of circuit breaker can be classified into
two main groups.
– Type test
– Routine test
 CB testing

• Type tests are conducted on first few

prototype circuit breakers to determine
whether the units are manufactured as per
design or not.
• These tests are not conducted on every circuit
breaker.
• The tests are conducted in specially built
testing laboratories.
• IEC standard is thoroughly followed in testing
process.
 CB testing

Type test can be classified as

1.1 Mechanical performance test

1.2 Thermal test
1.3 Dielectric or insulation test
1.4 Short circuit test
 Mechanical test

• These are mechanical endurance type tests

involving repeated opening and closing of the
breaker.
• A circuit breaker must open and close at the
correct speed and perform its designated duty
and operation without mechanical failure.
• After the tests, the contacts and all the other
parts should be in good condition and should
not show any permanent deformation or
distortion.
 Thermal test
• Alternating current of rated value and rated frequency is passed
through a closed circuit breaker continuously till a steady
temperature is attended.
• When the steady temperature is reached, the max temperature
rise of each part should be less than the permissible limit.
• The temperature rise for rated current should not exceed 400C for
current less than 800 A and 500C for current 800 A and above.
• When a circuit breaker in closed condition carries normal current,
the heat is generated in current carrying parts due to I2Rt loss.
• To maintain the temperature rise within specified limits, the I2Rt
losses should be reduced by increasing conductor cross section
using suitable low resistivity material.
• In such test the contact drops or the contact resistances are also
measured as these contacts surfaces are responsible for
generation of heat and subsequent temperature rise.
 Dielectric test

• A circuit breaker connected in the system is

subjected to high voltage transients due to
switching and lightning.
• The insulation of circuit breaker should not fail
due to such voltage surges.
• These tests are performed to check power
frequency and impulse voltage withstand
capacity.
 Dielectric test
Power frequency test
– One minute dry withstand test
– One minute wet withstand test
• Power frequency tests are conducted on a clean new circuit
breaker, the test voltage varies with circuit breaker rated voltage.
The test voltage with a frequency between 15 – 100 Hz is applied as
follows.
– between poles with circuit breaker closed
– between poles and earth with circuit breaker open
– across terminal with circuit breaker open
• The voltage is gradually increased and maintained at test value for 1
min.
• Power frequency tests are conducted under normal atmospheric
conditions and termed as dry withstand test.
• Wet withstand test is performed by spraying the external insulation
by water for 2 minutes while the rated service voltage is applied.
The test overvoltage is maintained for 1 minute. This test is not
required for indoor breakers.
 Dielectric test
Impulse voltage withstand test
• This test is not mandatory for indoor breakers since the
indoor breakers are not usually electrically exposed to
impulse surges produced by lightning.
• In case of outdoor breakers the effect of impulse
voltage is very serious and hence the breaker is tested
to prove its immunity to impulse voltage conditions.
• Depending on grounding system, where the breaker is
to be installed, the peak value of the impulse wave is
selected.
• The magnitude of the selected peak of the impulse
voltage is high for non-effectively grounded system.
• The breaker should not puncture or flashover for at
least ten applications of such a voltage.
 Dielectric test

• Power frequency withstand voltage of circuit

breaker: it is r.m.s. value of alternating voltage
wave of power frequency (50 c/s) which the
insulation of circuit breaker should withstand
under specified conditions of test.
• Impulse withstand voltage: it is the amplitude
of the standard voltage which the insulation of
the circuit breaker can withstand under
specified conditions.
 Short circuit tests

• Circuit breakers are subjected to sudden short-circuits in

short-circuits test laboratories and oscillogram are taken to
know the behavior of the circuit breakers at the time of
switching-in, during contact breaking, and after arc
extinction .
• The oscillogram are studied with particular reference to the
making and breaking currents, both symmetrical and
asymmetrical restriking voltages, and switchgears are
tested a number of times at rated conditions.
• The various tests carried out for circuit breaker testing are
as follows;
– Making capacity test
– Breaking capacity test
– Duty cycle test
– Short time current test
 Routine tests

• Once type tests are conducted and particular design is

found to be satisfactory the product becomes
prototype and a large number of circuit breakers of
similar design are manufactured.
• Various routine tests are performed for ensuring the
quality, performance of a circuit breaker and these are;
– Power frequency over voltage withstand test
– Dielectric test on auxiliary circuit and control circuit
– Measurement of resistance of main circuit or contact
resistance test
– SF6 gas leakage test
– Design and visual checks
– Mechanical operation tests.
 Power frequency over voltage withstand test

• The power system may experience different temporary power over

voltage conditions.
• Power frequency over voltage withstand test of circuit breaker is
performed to verify sufficiency of insulation strength of the main
circuit to withstand this kind of abnormal over voltage conditions of
the system.
• The circuit breaker should also be designed to be capable of
withstanding over voltages due to lightning and switching impulses.
A circuit breaker like other costly engineering equipment, are
designed for safely facing all kind of abnormal situations.
• To verify the capability of withstanding all kinds of over voltage
conditions.
• A circuit breaker has to go through and pass different dielectric
tests. But only power frequency over voltage withstand test comes
under the category of routine test of circuit breakers.
 One Minute Dry Power Frequency Voltage
Withstand Test
• It is assumed that over voltage conditions, at
power frequency cannot be sustained beyond
one minute time, moreover it is actually
sustained for much less time than 1 minute
duration.
• This test is carried out to verify whether the
insulation provided in the main circuit of breaker
is capable of withstanding power frequency over
voltages for long 1 minute duration or not.
One Minute Dry Power Frequency Voltage Withstand Test
One Minute Dry Power Frequency Voltage Withstand Test

• Top of all poles of all circuit breakers of same voltage rating to be

tested, are connected together.
• This connection then is earthed properly.
• Similarly base of all circuit breakers under test is to be properly
connected to earth.
• The bottom of all poles of all circuit breakers under test, are
connected together.
• The voltage is applied at the bottom terminal of breakers by high
voltage cascaded transformer, and varied from 0 to specified value
slowly then stay there for 60 second and then slowly decreased to
zero
• During test the leakage current to the ground to be measured and
the leakage current should not cross the specified maximum
allowed limit.
• Any failure of insulation during test indicates the insufficiency of
insulation used in breaker.
 Dielectric test on auxiliary and control circuit

• There may be abnormal over voltage condition in

the auxiliary and control supply circuits too.
• Hence, the auxiliary and control circuits of
breakers should also be gone through short
duration power frequency voltage withstand test.
• Here test voltage of 2000 V is applied for duration
of one minute.
• The insulation of auxiliary and control circuit
should pass this test, and there should not be any
destructive discharge during the test.
Measurement of the resistance of main circuit

• The resistance of main circuit is measured from

DC voltage drop across the circuit.
• In this test, direct current is injected to the circuit
and corresponding voltage drop is measured and
from this, resistance of the circuit is measured.
• The injected current would be from 100 A to
maximum rated current of the circuit breaker. The
maximum measured value can be 1.2 times the
value obtained at the temperature rise test.
 Mechanical Operation Test
• The circuit breaker must be smoothly operated at maximum as well
as minimum allowable auxiliary and control circuit supply voltage.
• Closing and tripping operation should be performed at least 5 times
for specified maximum allowable control circuit supply voltage as
well as specified minimum allowable control circuit supply voltage.
• The closing and opening operation of circuit breaker are also to be
checked for rated supply voltage of control circuit.
• 110% of control voltage is taken as maximum limit for closing and
opening operation of circuit breaker.
• 85% of control voltage is taken as minimum limit for closing
operation of circuit breaker and 70% of control voltage is taken as
minimum limit for opening or tripping.
• The actual time interval between open and close operations should
be tallied with the time interval given in the operating cycle
specification.
 CB testing

Testing station and equipments

• There are three types of testing stations
– Field type
– Laboratory type
– Composite type
 CB testing

Field type
• In the field type of testing, the power required for
testing is directly drawn from a large power
system.
• The breaker being tested is connected in the
system.
• Though this type of testing provides the most
convincing method of testing HV circuit breakers
but it suffer from the drawback of limited
available flexibility of the system.
• It is difficult to set the system for the specified
RRRV for HV breakers.
 CB testing
Laboratory type
• In the laboratory type testing station, special
generators, called the short circuit generators provide
the power for testing.
• In this type of testing station, it is possible to vary the
test conditions at will.
• Establishment of a short circuit testing plant
particularly of the laboratory type is an exceedingly
costly project, and it is not possible for all switchgear
manufacturers to have such a facility of their own.
Composite type
• A composite testing station is a combination of the
field type testing station and laboratory type testing
station.