4 (b)
Arc Interruption Theory
The insulating material (may be fluid or air) used in circuit breaker should serve two
important functions. They are written as follows:
1. It should provide sufficient insulation between the contacts when circuit breaker
opens.
2. It should extinguish the arc occurring between the contacts when circuit breaker
opens.
The second point needs more explanation. To understand this point let us consider a
situation if there is some fault or short circuit in the system, the relay provides desired
signals to the circuit breaker so as to prevent system from ongoing fault. Now when
circuit breaker opens its contacts, due to this an arc is drawn. The arc is interrupted by
suitable insulator and technique.
Methods of Arc Interruption
There are two methods by which interruption is done.
1. High resistance method,
2. Low resistance method or current zero interruption method.
In high interruption method we can increase the electrical resistance many times to such a high
value that it forces the current to reach to zero and thus restricting the possibility of arc being
restruck. Proper steps must be taken in order to ensure that the rate at which the resistance is
increased or decreased is not abnormal because it may lead to generation of harmful induced
voltages in the system. The arc resistance can be increased by various methods like lengthening
or cooling of the arc etc.
The resistance of the arc may be increased by
Lengthening the arc - The resistance of the arc is directly proportional to its length. The
length of the arc can be increased by increasing the gap between contacts.
Cooling the arc - Cooling helps in medium between the contacts. This increases the arc may
be obtained by a gas resistance. Efficient cooling blast directed along the arc.
Reducing X-section of the arc - If the area of X-section of the arc is reduced, the voltage
necessary to maintain the arc is increased. In other words, the resistance of the arc path is
increased. The cross-section of the arc can be reduced by letting the arc pass through a
narrow opening or by having smaller area of contacts.
Splitting the arc - The resistance of the arc can be increased by splitting the arc into a
number of smaller arcs in series. Each one of these arcs experiences the effect of
lengthening and cooling. The arc may be split by introducing some conducting plates
between the contacts.
The rapid increase of dielectric strength of the medium near current zero can be achieved by
(a) causing the ionised particles in the space between contacts to recombine into neutral
molecules.
(b) sweeping the ionised particles away and replacing them by unionised particles.
Therefore, the real problem in AC arc interruption is to rapidly deionise the medium between
contacts as soon as the current becomes zero so that the rising contact voltage or
restriking voltage cannot breakdown the space between contacts. The de-ionisation of the
medium can be achieved by :
(i) lengthening of the gap : The dielectric strength of the medium is proportional to the
length of the gap between contacts. Therefore, by opening the contacts rapidly, higher
dielectric strength of the medium can be achieved.
(ii) high pressure. If the pressure in the vicinity of the arc, is increased, the density of the
particles constituting the' discharge also increases. The increased density of particles causes
higher rate of de-ionisation and consequently the dielectric strength of the medium between
contacts is increased.
(iii) cooling : Natural combination of ionised particles takes place more rapidly if they are
allowed to cool. Therefore, dielectric strength of the medium between the contacts can be
increased by cooling the arc
(iv) blast effect : If the ionised particles between the contacts are swept away and replaced
by un-ionised particles, the dielectric strength of the medium can be increased consider-
ably. This may be achieved by a gas blast directed along the discharge or by forcing oil into
the contact space.
MINIATURE CIRCUIT BREAKER OR MCB in low voltage electrical network instead of
fuse. The MCB has some advantages compared to fuse.
1. It automatically switches off the electrical circuit during abnormal condition of the network
means in over load condition as well as faulty condition. The fuse does not sense but
miniature circuit breaker does it in more reliable way. MCB is much more sensitive to over
current than fuse.
2. Another advantage is, as the switch operating knob comes at its off position during tripping,
the faulty zone of the electrical circuit can easily be identified. But in case of fuse, fuse wire
should be checked by opening fuse grip or cutout from fuse base, for confirming the blow of
fuse wire.
3. Quick restoration of supply can not be possible in case of fuse as because fuses have to
be rewirable or replaced for restoring the supply. But in the case of MCB, quick
restoration is possible by just switching on operation.
4. Handling MCB is more electrically safe than fuse. Because of to many advantages of
MCB over fuse units, in modern low voltage electrical network, miniature circuit breaker
is mostly used instead of backdated fuse unit.
Working Principle Miniature Circuit Breaker
There are two arrangement of operation of miniature circuit breaker. One due to thermal effect of
over current and other due to electromagnetic effect of over current. The thermal operation of
miniature circuit breaker is achieved with a bimetallic strip whenever continuous over current
flows through MCB, the bimetallic strip is heated and deflects by bending. This deflection of
bimetallic strip releases mechanical latch. As this mechanical latch is attached with operating
mechanism, it causes to open the miniature circuit breaker contacts.
But during short circuit condition, sudden rising of current, causes electromechanical
displacement of plunger associated with tripping coil or solenoid of MCB. The plunger strikes
the trip lever causing immediate release of latch mechanism consequently open the circuit
breaker contacts. This was a simple explanation of miniature circuit breaker working principle.
