A piece of switchgear may be a simple open air isolator switch or it may be

insulated by some other substance. An effective although more costly form of

switchgear is "gas insulated switchgear" (GIS), where the conductors and contacts
are insulated by pressurized (SF6) sulphur hexafluoride gas. Other common types
are oil [or vacuum] insulated switchgear. Circuit breakers are a special type of
switchgear that are able to interrupt fault currents. Their construction allows them
to interrupt fault currents of many hundreds or thousands of amps. The quenching
of the arc when the contacts open requires careful design, and falls into four types:
Oil circuit breakers rely upon vaporization of some of the oil to blast a jet of oil
through the arc.
Gas (SF6) circuit breakers sometimes stretch the arc using a magnetic field, and
then rely upon the dielectric strength of the SF6 to quench the stretched arc.
Vacuum circuit breakers have minimal arcing (as there is nothing to ionize other
than the contact material), so the arc quenches when it is stretched a very small
amount (<2-3 mm). Vacuum circuit breakers are frequently used in modern
medium-voltage switchgear to 35,000 volts.
Air circuit breakers may use compressed air to blow out the arc, or alternatively,
the contacts are rapidly swung into a small sealed chamber, the escaping of the
displaced air thus blowing out the arc.
Circuit breakers are usually able to terminate all current flow very quickly:
typically between 30 ms and 150 ms depending upon the age and construction of
the device.

Classification
Several different classifications of switchgear can be made:

By the current rating:

By interrupting rating (maximum short circuit current that the device can
safely interrupt)
Circuit breakers can open and close on fault currents
Load-break/Load-make switches can switch normal system load currents
Isolators may only be operated while the circuit is dead, or the load current
is very small.

By voltage class:
Low Tension (less than 440 volts AC)
High Tension (more than 6.6 kV AC)

By insulating medium:
Air
Gas (SF6 or mixtures)
Oil
Vacuum

By construction type:
Indoor
Outdoor
Industrial
Utility
Marine
Draw-out elements (removable without many tools)
Fixed elements (bolted fasteners)
Live-front
Dead-front
Metal-enclosed
Metal-clad
Metal enclose & Metal clad

Arc-resistant

High Tension Switchgear at Thermal Power Plant

By IEC degree of internal separation:

No Separation
Bus bars separated from functional units
Terminals for external conductors separated from bus bars
Terminals for external conductors separated from functional units but not
from each other

Functional units separated from each other

Terminals for external conductors separated from each other
Terminals for external conductors separate from their associated functional
unit

By interrupting device:
Fuses
Air Blast Circuit Breaker
Minimum Oil Circuit Breaker
Oil Circuit Breaker
Vacuum Circuit Breaker
Gas (SF6) Circuit breaker

By operating method:

Manually-operated
Motor-operated
Solenoid/stored energy operated

By type of current:
Alternating current
Direct current

By application:
Distribution.
Transmission system

A single line-up may incorporate several different types of devices, for example,
air-insulated bus, vacuum circuit breakers, and manually-operated switches may all
exist in the same row of cubicles.
Ratings, design, specifications and details of switchgear are set by a multitude of
standards. In North America mostly IEEE and ANSI standards are used, much of
the rest of the world uses IEC standards, sometimes with local national derivatives
or variations.

Functions
One of the basic functions of switchgear is protection, which is interruption of
short-circuit and overload fault currents while maintaining service to unaffected
circuits. Switchgear also provides isolation of circuits from power supplies.
Switchgear also is used to enhance system availability by allowing more than one
source to feed a load.

Safety
To help ensure safe operation sequences of switchgear, trapped key interlocking
provides predefined scenarios of operation. James Harry Castell invented this
technique in 1922. For example, if only one of two sources of supply is permitted
to be connected at a given time, the interlock scheme may require that the first
switch must be opened to release a key that will allow closing the second switch.
Complex schemes are possible.

HIGH TENSION SWITCHGEAR

High voltage switchgear is any switchgear and switchgear assembly of rated
voltage higher than 1000 volts. High voltage switchgear is any switchgear used to
connect or to disconnect a part of a high voltage power system.
These switchgears are essential elements for the protection and for a safety
operating mode without interruption of a high voltage power system. This type of
equipment is really important because it is directly linked to the quality of the
electricity supply. The high voltage is a voltage above 1000 V for alternating
current and above 1500 V for direct current.

High Tension Switchgear of a Thermal Power Plant

The high voltage switchgear was invented at the end of the 19th century for
operating the motors and others electric machines. It has been improved and it can
be used in the whole range of high voltage until 1100 kV.

Functional Classification
Disconnectors and Earthing Switches
They are above all safety devices used to open or to close a circuit when there is no
current through them. They are used to isolate a part of a circuit, a machine, a part
of an overhead-line or an underground line for the operating staff to access it
without any danger. The opening of the line isolator or busbar section isolator is
necessary for the safety but it is not enough. Grounding must be done at the
upstream sector and the downstream sector on the device which they want to
intervene thanks to the earthing switches. In principle, disconnecting switches do
not have to interrupt currents, but some of them can interrupt currents (up to 1600
A under 10 to 300V) and some earthing switches must interrupt induced currents
which are generated in a non-current-carrying line by inductive and capacitive
coupling with nearby lines (up to 160 A under 20 kV).

A Vacuum Circuit Breaker (High Tension Switchgear)

High-Current Switching Mechanism

They can open or close a circuit in normal load. Some of them can be used as a
disconnecting switch. But if they can create a short-circuit current, they can not
interrupt it.

Contactor
Their functions are similar to the high-current switching mechanism, but they can
be used at higher rates. They have a high electrical endurance and a high
mechanical endurance. Contactors are used to frequently operate device like
electric furnaces, high voltage motors. They cannot be used as a disconnecting
switch. They are used only in the band 30 kV to 100 kV.

Fuses
The fuses can interrupt automatically a circuit with an over current flowing in it for
a fixed time. The current interrupting is got by the fusion of an electrical conductor
which is graded. They are mainly used to protect against the short-circuits. They
limit the peak value of the fault current. In three-phase electric power, they only
eliminate the phases where the fault current is flowing, which is a risk for the
devices and the people. Against this trouble, the fuses can be associated with highcurrent switches or contactors.
They are used only in the band 30 kV to 100 kV.

Circuit Breaker
A high voltage circuit breaker is capable of making, carrying and breaking currents
under the rated voltage (the maximal voltage of the power system which it is
protecting): Under normal circuit conditions, for example to connect or disconnect
a line in a power system; Underspecified abnormal circuit conditions especially to
eliminate a short circuit. From its characteristics, a circuit breaker is the protection
device essential for a high voltage power system, because it is the only one able to
interrupt a short circuit current and so to avoid the others devices to be damaged by
this short circuit.

EMD II
In EMD-II went through following 2 sectors:

Generator
Transformer

GENERATORS
The basic function of the generator is to convert mechanical power, delivered from
the shaft of the turbine, into electrical power. Therefore a generator is actually a
rotating mechanical energy converter. The mechanical energy from the turbine is
converted by means of a rotating magnetic field produced by direct current in the
copper winding of the rotor or field, which generates three-phase alternating
currents and voltages in the copper winding of the stator (armature). The stator
winding is connected to terminals, which are in turn connected to the power system
for delivery of the output power to the system.

A 210 MW Turbine Generator at BTPS, New Delhi

The class of generator under consideration is steam turbine-driven generators,

commonly called turbo generators. These machines are generally used in nuclear
and fossil fuelled power plants, co-generation plants, and combustion turbine units.
They range from relatively small machines of a few Megawatts (MW) to very
large generators with ratings up to 1900 MW. The generators particular to this
category are of the two- and four-pole design employing round-rotors, with
rotational operating speeds of 3600 and 1800 rpm in North America, parts of
Japan, and Asia (3000 and 1500 rpm in Europe, Africa, Australia, Asia, and South
America). At Badarpur Thermal Power Station 3000 rpm, 50 Hz generators are
used of capacities 210 MW and 95 MW. As the system load demands more active
power from the generator, more steam (or fuel in a combustion turbine) needs to be
admitted to the turbine to increase power output. Hence more energy is transmitted
to the generator from the turbine, in the form of a torque. This torque is mechanical
in nature, but electromagnetically coupled to the power system through the
generator. The higher the power output, the higher the torque between turbine and
generator. The power output of the generator generally follows the load demand
from the system. Therefore the voltages and currents in the generator are
continually changing based on the load demand. The generator design must be able
to cope with large and fast load changes, which show up inside the machine as