Power Circuit

Breakers

Theory and Operation

Agenda
„ Breaker fundamentals
– Types of Breakers
– Ratings
– Design Tests
„ Application & Operations
– Application Considerations
– Operation Considerations

1
Introduction

„What does a breaker do?

„Circuit interruption
„Types of breakers
3

Power Circuit Breakers

„ Waits for current zero to extinguish arc

„ Typical interrupting times 3-8 cycles

„ Attempts to prevent arc re-ignition (The

interrupter must build up dielectric faster
than the recovery voltage builds up)

„ Commutes plasma by removing energy

which is in the form of heat
4

2
Power Circuit Breakers

„ The ability of the breaker to interrupt fault

current is determined by two things:
– the magnitude of the fault current
– the magnitude and rate of rise of the voltage
across the contacts after the current goes out
(both 60 hertz and transient voltages)

Interrupters
„ Arcing Contacts and medium (oil or gas)
flow

3
Oil Interrupters:

Recovery
voltage

I
t

Arc goes out 7

Current zeros

Types of Breakers:

„ Oil
„ Air blast
„ Air magnetic
„ SF6 gas
„ Vacuum
„ Others

4
 Circuit Breaker Year of Manufacture
140

120

100
airblast
N um b e r

80 vacuum
airmag
60 SF6
OCB
40

20

0
1923

1949

1954

1959

1964

1969

1974

1979

1984

1989

1994

1999
Year
9

Interrupting Mediums
„ Oil
– Mineral oil is used to extinguish the arc and to
insulate the live parts to ground
– Generally free breathing
– May use a single tank or multiple tanks

„ Air Blast
– Stored air is used to blow out the arc and cool
contacts
– Very loud operation
10

5
Interrupters
„ Oil

11

Interrupters
„ Oil

12

6
Oil Breaker (Westinghouse 345G)

13

Oil Breaker
(McGraw Edison CG38)

14

7
Interrupting Mediums

„ Air Magnetic
– A magnetic field is place perpendicular to the
plane of the arc which drives the arc into insulating
fins
– Sensitive to moisture
– Compact

„ SF6 (Sulfur Hexa-flouride gas)

– Multi-pressure or puffer operation
– High speed
15

Interrupters
„ Air Magnetic Magnetic
Field
Insulating
Fins

Arcing Contacts
16

8
Interrupters
„ SF6 Gas

17

Puffer Interrupter

18

9
 Self-Blast Interrupter

19

Gas Breaker (ABB PM)

20

10
Gas Breaker (Westinghouse SP)

21

Gas Breaker (ABB PM)

22

11
Interrupting Mediums

„ Vacuum
– Contacts incased in a sealed bottle which is under
vacuum
– Compact

„ Others
– Gas mixtures (N2, SF6 etc.)
– Water
– Solid State
– Super-conductor???
23

Vacuum

24

12
Vacuum (GE PVDB-1)

25

Ratings
„Continuous
„Interrupting
„Close & latch – momentary
„Voltage ratings
„Switching scenarios
26

13
Power Circuit Breaker Ratings

27

Power Circuit Breaker Ratings

„ Continuous (load current)…typically
600,1200, 2000 or 3000 amperes
„ ANSI C37.04 Definition: The established limit
of current in rms amps at rated frequency that
it shall be required to carry continuously
without exceeding temperature limits of its
components.
„ Select a breaker with a Continuous Current
rating greater than the peak load current.

28

14
Power Circuit Breaker Ratings

29

Power Circuit Breaker Ratings

„ Interrupting Rating (fault current)…typically
20, 31.5, 40, or 63 kilo-amperes
„ ANSI C37.04 Definition: The highest value of
the symmetrical component of the three-
phase, short-circuit current in rms amps that
the circuit breaker shall be required to
interrupt at rated maximum voltage and on
the standard operating duty.
„ Select a breaker with a fault duty greater than
the maximum available fault current.
30

15
Power Circuit Breaker Ratings

„ Cannot forget X/R!

„ Standards assume X/R < 17.
„ What do you do if X/R > 17?
„ Delay opening.
„ Increase kA interrupting requirements
for the breaker.

31

Power Circuit Breaker Ratings

„ K Factor: Applies only to OCBs.
„ Defined as the ratio of the rated maximum voltage to
the lower limit of the range of operating voltage.
„ The interrupting capabilities are inversely proportional
to the operating voltage (i.e. a reduced voltage
results in an increase in the current interrupting
capability).
„ Reference Engineering Manual Section 2 SI 4.0 –
Application Guideline – AC High Voltage Circuit
Breakers Based on Short Circuit Capability Criteria.

32

16
Power Circuit Breaker Ratings
„ Close and Latch rating is expressed as
a multiple of the rated short-circuit
current.
„ The maximum current for which the
breaker will close and latch….stay
closed.
„ 2.6 x rated short circuit current
(Interrupting not Momentary).

33

Power Circuit Breaker Ratings

„ Rated Maximum Voltage is the highest rms
phase-to-phase voltage for which the circuit
breaker is designed.
„ The upper limit for operation.
„ Typically 15kV, 84kV (25kV, 38kV, 46kV and
69kV), 145kV, 245kV, 362kV and 550kV

34

17
Power Circuit Breaker Ratings
„ Basic Impulse Level (BIL) ,expressed in kV, is
the maximum electrical impulse level
(lightning strike) that the breaker can be
exposed to and not flashover either internally
or externally.
„ Actual design BIL does not reflect the
maximum impulse that can be generated
because the magnitude of the impulse
depends on the location of the strike.
„ The designed BIL reflects the insulation
coordination practices used in the design of
electrical systems (Source: High Voltage
Circuit Breakers: Design and Applications) 35

Power Circuit Breaker Ratings

„A circuit breaker is a tie between two

networks

Source Load

Source Load

TRV 36

18
 TRV

Fault: fault
z
V=0
Transient Recovery
2 per unit Voltage

Fault
v

i
t

37
Breaker opens

Power Circuit Breaker Ratings

„ The ability of the breaker to interrupt fault

current is determined by the magnitude of the
fault current and also by the rate of rise of
the voltage across the breaker contacts as
it opens
„ Transient Recovery Voltage (TRV): is the
transient voltage that appears across the
contacts while interrupting a faulted circuit.

38

19
Transient
Recovery TRV

Voltage: bus line

fault

Initial Rate
of rise
Crest recovery
voltage
V Total TRV = bus - line

TRVbus = 1 - cos t/sqrtLC

TRVline = 1 - cos t/sqrtLC

t
Time in hundreds of microseconds 39

Power Circuit Breaker Ratings

„ Standard C37.011 defines the TRV envelope

that breakers must meet for rated current
(Maximum TRV per standards is 2.4 per unit
of rated breaker voltage)

40

20
 41

Power Circuit Breaker Ratings

„ Some breakers were able to clear bus

faults with no problem but were unable
to interrupt faults a short distance out on
the line even though the fault current
was less than the bus fault.
„ The cause of this becomes clear when
the transient recovery voltage is
analyzed for both scenarios:
42

21
Power Circuit Breaker Ratings

„ Short Line Fault: A fault that occurs a

relatively short distance downstream
from the circuit breaker on its load side.
„ Also known as a kilometric fault since
this is generally considered to be the
critical distance for maximum severity of
the recovery voltage.
„ Allegheny specifies full nameplate
interrupting for a 90% short line fault
43

Short Line Fault:

Vbus Vline

TRV

Vbus
TRV= Vbus - Vline Vline

44

22
 TRV

Fault i

Very steep rate of rise for TRV caused by

the short length of the transmission line 45

Fault i

Adding shunt capacitance

attenuates the rise
46

23
 Insert bushing
Short Line Fault: shunt capacitance
on line side
Vbus Vline

TRV

TRV= Vbus - Vline

47

Bushing shunt
capacitance

48

24
Power Circuit Breaker Ratings

49

Power Circuit Breaker Ratings

„ Short Line Fault:

– SF6 breakers up to 50 kA don’t require external
shunt bushing capacitors.
– Most breakers rated at 63 kA require external
shunt bushing capacitors to meet Short Line Fault
requirements of the standards.
– Mainly breakers above 100 kV.

50

25
Power Circuit Breaker Ratings

„ 1200pf, 3000pf and 12,000pf are typical

values for external bushing capacitors.

51

Power Circuit Breaker Ratings

„ Operating Duty Cycle: A series of circuit
breaker operations and time delays.
„ Defined by ANSI as:
O-15 SEC-CO-3 MIN.-CO.
„ The first time delay can be reduced to
0.3 seconds for breakers designed for
high-speed reclosing.
„ 0.3 seconds is the mechanical resetting
time.
52

26
Power Circuit Breaker Ratings
„A derating factor R is applied to OCBs
based on their reclosing duty.
„ This does not apply to SF6 breakers.

53

Power Circuit Breaker Ratings

„ Asymmetrical Current Rating: Maximum
RMS current, at rated frequency,
including DC component against which
the breaker is required to operate.
„ Function of the system X/R
„ Standards assume X/R of 17

54

27
 Power Circuit Breaker Ratings
„ Momentary Rating:
– Short time current rating
– The current, equal to the rated symmetrical
short circuit current, that the breaker is
required to carry for a specified time.
– Time = Allowable Tripping Delay

55

Application of Circuit
Breakers

56

28
Switching Voltage doubles when closing in on an
open line = 2 P.U. at open line terminal
Surges:

Z0= L/C

Assume that High Speed Re-closing traps a negative 1 P.U. charge on the
line. Then when the breaker re-closes the maximum voltage at the open end
can approach a maximum of 3.5 - 4.0 P.U. for multiple reflections depending
on damping (R):

3.5 P.U.

57
Trapped charge = -1.0 P.U.

Breaker Applications

„ Closing resistors are used to reduce

the switching surge created at the far
end of a transmission line when it is
energized
– Once breaker is closed the resistor is
removed from the circuit.
– Not designed to handle continuous load
current or fault current.
– AP uses closing resistors on EHV breakers
– Typical value: 400-450 ohms.
58

29
Closing resistors:
bypass

Rc
Z0= L/C

Rc
Z0
VS Z0 V0 V0 = VS
(Rc + Z0)

59

Closing resistors: V0B second close

2.0 P.U.
V0R first close

Rc
Rc > Z0
Z0 V0
V0R first close
2.0 P.U.
V0B second close
V0 = VS Z0
(Rc + Z0)
Rc < Z0

Optimum closing V0R first close = V02 second close

2.0 P.U.
resistor size =
surge impedance
Rc = Z0 60

30
Breaker Applications

„ Grading capacitors.
– Applied on circuit breakers with more than one
gap per pole
– Grading capacitors are applied across the
contacts of each interrupter to divide the recovery
voltage during interruption
– Insures that the first gap to interrupt does not see
the whole TRV

61

Grading capacitors

500kv PM breaker
62

31