DESIGN AND

DEVELOPMENT OF A
CIRCUIT BREAKER
By Saunak Mondal
14/EE/58
Department of Electrical Engineering
 What is a Circuit Breaker?
Circuit breaker is basically an equipment employed in power
system to interrupt abnormally large amount of current i.e. fault current
.But circuit breakers cannot detect the fault location on its own. It is
accompanied in this task by Protective relays. Relays basically detect the
fault location and initiate the opening of proper circuit breaker for rapid
clearing of fault and maintaining system stability.

Basically, a circuit breaker is employed in between any two equipments of

power system to disconnect the faulty element from the rest of the system.
 Basic properties of insulting material used
in circuit breakers
 High dielectric strength

 Thermal and chemical stability

 Non-inflammability

 High thermal conductivity

 Arc extinguishing capability

 Low cost and high availability

 Some terms related to circuit breaker
operation
 Restriking Voltage - It is the transient
voltage appearing across the C.B. contacts at
the instant of arc interruption. It is defined as,
Restriking Voltage v=V(1-cos(t/√(LC)))
Where V=restriking voltage at the instant of arc
interruption
L=Series inductance up to fault point
C=Shunt capacitance up to fault point
 Recovery Voltage – It is defined as the
power frequency r.m.s. voltage appearing across
C.B. contacts after the arc extinction and dieing out of transient
oscillations.
 Rate of Rise of Restriking Voltage
(R.R.R.V.) - It is defined as the ration of peak value of restriking
voltage and time required to reach it and is defined as 2V/(∏√LC)
 Motivation

Circuit breakers are employed in Electrical Power Systems to ensure

reliable operation by removing the faulted part of the system. So, to
understand the protective schemes of Electrical Power Systems knowledge
of circuit breaker is an integral part.
 Objective
Circuit Breakers are an important component for
protection of Electrical Power Systems in conjunction with
protective relays. So, in this discussion a brief idea about
different kinds of circuit breakers is presented along with
some design aspects and future scope.
 Different kinds of circuit breakers

Circuit
Breakers

Vacuum
SF6 Circuit
Air Circuit Breaker Oil Circuit Breaker Circuit
Breaker
Breaker

Arc Chute Air Blast Bulk Oil Minimum

Air C.B. C.B. C.B. Oil C.B.
 Oil Circuit Breaker
 It is the oldest among all kinds and is
used for a voltage rating of 11kV to
735kV.
 Here oil is used as the arc quenching
medium and provides a medium for
cooling as well
 Here all the contacts of the circuit breaker
are immersed inside an oil tank. Tank may
be dead(i.e. at ground potential) or live.
 Tank is not fully filled up with oil to absorb the shock due to upward
movement of oil due to gas formed around the arc. Tanks are also
securely bolted to adequate foundation e.g. ground.
 It is of two types-
1. Bulk Oil Circuit Breaker
2. Minimum Oil Circuit Breaker
 Two Different types of venting of gases are provided-
1. Axial
2. Radial
 Bulk Oil Circuit Breaker
 Suitable for high speed application
 Contacts are enclosed in a chamber made up of
insulating material and vents are provided on one
side and tank is of dead type
 Volume of internal space available is more and
provides efficient cooling
 High speed arc interruption at a current below rated
value is done by providing an intermediate contact in between fixed and
moving contact
 Minimum Oil Circuit Breaker
 Reduced amount of oil required, reduced tank size, reduced cost, Tanks
are of live type
 Gas pressure developed is proportional to arc.
current. So, arc quenching is more efficient
 This type of C.B. is available up to
8000MVA at 245 kV
 Advantages
1. Good dielectric strength and easy availability of oil
2. Low cost and wide range of breaking capabilities

 Disadvantages
1. Inflammability of oil
2. Possibility of forming explosive mixture with air
3. Periodical reconditioning or replacement is required due to formation of
carbon particles in oil due to heating
 Air Circuit Breaker
 Air at atmospheric pressure or high pressure is used as arc quenching
media
 Preferred for voltage rating up to 15kV
 Has two pairs of contact per phase
1. Main contact which carries current during
normal operating condition
2. Additional arcing contact which remains
close when the main contacts are open
to provide low resistance path for arc
current and prevent main contacts from
damaging
 Classified in two categories
1. Arc Chute Air Circuit Breaker
2. Air Blast Circuit Breaker
 Arc Chute Air Circuit Breaker
 Arc is extinguished by lengthening and
increasing the voltage gradient
 High resistance is obtained near current
zero by the arc chute
 But in this method, magnetic field is
weak in low current and at high current
fast interruption is less assured

• Air Blast Circuit Breaker

• Arc is controlled with the help of high
pressure air blast, diameter of the arc
is reduced and heat loss rate is
increased
• Fast operation(total break time of 2 to
5 cycles)
• These are of two types-
1. Axial Blast
2. Cross Blast
 Advantages
 Fire risk and maintenance associated with oil are eliminated
 No cost for replacement of oil
 High mechanical stress is absent
 High speed operation

 Disadvantages
 Cannot be used for high voltage for prolonged arcing time
 Moisture content increases arcing time
 Pressure of air must be checked frequently
 Vacuum Circuit Breaker
 Mostly suitable for 11kV to 33kV
 Vacuum level of 10^(-3) to 10^(-8) torr is
created
 Formation of Arc
1. Irregular heating of cathode surface
2. Field emission
3. Thermionic emission
4. Secondary Emission by positive ion
bombardment
 Construction
 Glass body to understand the state of the contacts
after breaker has interrupted the current
 Cu-Bi,Ag-bi,Cu-Pb etc. are used as contact
 materials,No. of contacts provided is 2,the leads
from the contacts are taken out to make necessary
circuit connections.
 Bimetallic bellows are used to move the moving
contact upwards and downwards during opening
and closing of circuit breaker
 A sputter shield is used to prevent vapour from
reaching the contacts and reduce their breakdown
strength
 Advantages
 Quick arc interruption time
 Quick build-up of dielectric strength
 Free from fire hazard and low cost of maintenance
 No byproducts are formed

 Disadvantages
 High initial cost due to formation of vacuum
 Surface of contacts are depleted due to metal vapours
 SF₆ Circuit Breakers
 Highly electro-negetive Sulpher hexafluoride(SF6) is used, attaches free
electrons with neutral molecule to form electronegetive ion
SF6+e SF6-
SF6+e SF5-+F
 Effective in quenching arcs 100 times
better than air
 Because of its lower thermal time cons.
the natural frequency of same limiting
voltage may be greater for SF6 than air
 Can withstand more severe RRRV and can
interrupt capacitive current without
restriking
 Advantages
 Minimized current chopping tendency at low pressure
 Arcing time is less and so is contact erosion
 No reduction in dielectric strength
 Performance is not reduced due to atmospheric conditions

 Disadvantages
 High cost due to use of SF6
 SF6 has to be reconditioned after every operation, additional equipment is
required for this purpose
 Cannot used for pressure more than 14kg/cm^2 without any prevent the
gas from being liquified
 Modernization of Oil Circuit Breakers
For small oil circuit breakers no additional equipment is required for arc
extinction. But for Large Oil Circuit Breakers additional means must be taken
for required interrupting capacities and speed. Several methods are
employed for this purpose, such as,
1. Explosion chamber- It is one of the earliest methods. Arc formed in
this chamber volatizes some amount of oil and the gases produced
generates pressure on a piston like structure to part the contacts rapidly.
2. Oil Blast Breakers- It breaks the circuit successively by parting two
sets of contact in series. The arc parts the first set of contact, volatizes
some oil and forms a bubble which expands and by opening the second
set of contacts and starts a flow of fresh oil to cool the arc and after
current zero, it stops the arc by forming a dielectric barrier.
3. Multi-flow De-ion grid interrupters are employed in Multi-break Oil
blast Circuit Breakers having six breaks in series per interrupter, or
twelve per pole with Three moving bridges connected to the central
operating rod for breaking the recovery voltages divide equally among
the breaks.
The speed of operation can also be increased by replacing
the operating mechanism with new high speed mechanism but that is not
very cost effective.
 Performance Parameters of different C.B.s
Here the performance parameters of some of the circuit breakers are
provided for the purpose of reference.
 Siemens 3AP1 Air Blast C.B. and 3AP2/3 SF6 C.B. for
high voltage application
 G.E. SecoVac VB2 V.C.B. for 12kv application
 Design specification of G.E. SecoVac VB2
V.C.B
 Future Scope
Due to the various researches done in the field of power systems circuit
breakers with more lifetime and less maintenance are now being introduced.
So, power can supplied more efficiently and at a lesser cost e.g. in countries
like India, due to the lower cost of maintenance vacuum circuit breakers are
highly preferable in rural electrification programs.

 Conclusion
Therefore, we can conclude that circuit breaker is one of most essential
component for protection of Power Systems. Nowadays, Vacuum and SF6
circuit breakers are widely used for their reliable and fast operation.
 References
1. Electrical Power Systems by C.L. Wadhwa

2. Power System Stability Vol. II Power Circuit Breakers and Protective

Relays by E.W. Kimbark

3. www.geindustrial.com

4. www.siemens.com

5. Wikipedia