Electrical Power- II Switch Gear
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Electrical Power- II Switch Gear • INTRODUCTION A switch gear can be define as an assembly of equipment for switching on/off , controlling and protecting an electrical installation. In simple words an ordinary switch in conjunction with a fuse makes a switch gear. The switch will on/off the circuit, were as the fuse will protect the circuit. • ISOLATOR By isolator we disconnecte a circuit under no load for repair and maintenance work. They are placed generally on both side of a circuit breaker. For repair, the circuit breaker on that line is first opened and then the isolator . After repair the circuit breaker is first closed then the isolator is closed . • CIRCUIT BREAKER The circuit breaker operates automatically through a relay under fault condition. The CB can be operate manually also for carrying repair work . The circuit is used to protect a line against a fault. The CB is connected in the line . A current transformer is also connected in the line. • PHENOMENON OF ARC FORMATION IN CIRCUIT BREAKER When a fault accures a heavy current flows through the contact of the CB. When these contact separate, the resistance increases and large fault current produces excessive heat. This heat ionised the air or the oil and as a result an arc is produced between the contact of the CB. There are two method which can be used extinguish this arc . 1. By increasing resistance of the arc: This method is used in DC circuit breakers. In this method, the current is reduced to such a value that it cannot maintain the arc. This is done by increasing resistance of the arc either by separating the contents sufficiently or by splitting the arc through use of conducting pieces between the contacts. 2. By zero current method: This method is used to extinguish arc in a.c. Circuit breakers. The current become zero after every half cycle and at that instant the arc is extinguished of its own. Efforts are made at this instant to prevent the arc from restricting for the next cycle. • CLASSIFICATION OF CBs The CBs are of six types: 1. Oil circuit breaker 2. Air circuit breaker 3. SF6 circuit breaker 4. Vacuum circuit breaker 5. Water circuit breaker 6. Miniature circuit breaker OIL CIRCUIT BREAKER (OCB) A high-voltage circuit breaker in which the arc is drawn in oil to dissipate the heat and extinguish the arc; the intense heat of the arc decomposes the oil, generating a gas whose high pressure produces a flow of fresh fluid through the arc that furnishes the necessary insulation to prevent a restrike of the arc. The OCBs are of three types: 1. PLANE (bulk) OCB: Bulk oil circuit breaker is such types of circuit breakers where oil is used as arc quenching media as well as insulating media between current carrying contacts and earthed parts of the breaker. 2. SELF BLAST OCB: In this type of circuit breaker, the gases produced during arcing are confined to a small volume by the use of an insulating rigid pressure chamber or pot surrounding the contacts. Since the space available for the arc gases is restricted by the chamber, a very high pressure is developed to force the oil and gas through or around the arc to extinguish it. • Self Blast OCBs are of the following types: 1. PLAIN EXPLOSION POT: It is a rigid cylinder of insulating material and encloses the fixed and moving contacts. The moving contact is a cylindrical rod passing through a restricted opening (called throat) at the bottom. When a fault occurs, the contacts get separated and an arc is struck between them. The heat of the arc decomposes oil into a gas at very high pressure in the pot. 2. CROSS JET EXPLOSION POT: This type of pot is just a modification of plain explosion pot.It is made of insulating material and has channels on one side which act as arc splitters. The arc splitters help in increasing the arc length, thus facilitating arc extinction. When a fault occurs, the moving contact of the circuit breaker begins to separate. As the moving contact is withdrawn, the arc is initially struck in the top of the pot. The gas generated by the arc exerts pressure on the oil in the back passage. 3. SELF COMPENSATE EXPLOSION POT: This type of pot is essentially a combination of plain explosion pot and cross jet explosion pot.Therefore, it can interrupt low as well as heavy short circuit currents with reasonable accuracy.The figure below shows the schematic diagram of self-compensated explosion pot.It consists of two chambers, the upper chamber is the cross-jet explosion pot with two arc splitter ducts while the lower one is the plain explosion pot. • MINIMUM OIL CIRCUIT BREAKER: In the bulk oil circuit breakers discussed so far, the oil has to perform two functions. Firstly, it acts as an arc quenching medium and secondly, it insulates the live parts from earth.It has been found that only a small percentage of oil is actually used for arc extinction while the major part is utilised for insulation purposes.For this reason, the quantity of oil in bulk oil circuit breakers reaches a very high figure as the system voltage increases.This not only increases the expenses, tank size and weight of the breaker but it also increases the fire risk and maintenance problems. • CONSTRUSTION MINIMUM OIL CIRCUIT BREAKER The figure below shows the cross section of a single phase minimum oil circuit breaker.There are two compartments separated from each other but both filled with oil.The upper chamber is the circuit breaking chamber while the lower one is the supporting chamber.The two chambers are separated by a partition and oil from one chamber is prevented from mixing with the other chamber.This arrangement permits two advantages.Firstly, the circuit breaking chamber requires a small volume of oil which is just enough for arc extinction. Secondly, the amount of oil to be replaced is reduced as the oil in the supporting chamber does not get contaminated by the arc. • OPERATION AND ARC QUENCHING: Under normal operating conditions, the moving contact remains engaged with the upper fixed contact.When a fault occurs, the moving contact is pulled down by the tripping springs and an arc is struck.The arc energy vapourises the oil and produces gases under high pressure.This action constrains the oil to pass through a central hole in the moving contact and results in forcing series of oil through the respective passages of the turbulator.The process of turbulation is orderly one, in which the sections of the arc are successively quenched by the effect of separate streams of oil moving across each section in turn and bearing away its gases. AIR CIRCUIT BREAKER This type of circuit breakers, is those kind of circuit breaker which operates in air at atmospheric pressure. After development of oil circuit breaker, the medium voltage air circuit breaker (ACB) is replaced completely by oil circuit breaker in different countries. But in countries like France and Italy, ACBs are still preferable choice up to voltage 15 KV. It is also good choice to avoid the risk of oil fire, in case of oil circuit breaker. TYPES OF ACBs There are mainly two types of ACB are available. • Cross blast air circuit breaker • Axial blast air circuit breaker • CROSS BLAST AIR CIRCUIT BREAKER: In these ACBs the air blast is at right angle to the arc. The moving contact of this ACB has a number of spring loaded fingers and the moving contact is of plat blades. The contacts are made of silver tungsten alloys. When a fault occurs an air blast thrown away at right angle to the arc. The arc splitters quench the arc quickly. • AXIAL BLAST FOR AIR CIRCUIT BREAKER: In axial blast ACB the moving contact is in contact with fixed contact with the help of a spring pressure as shown in the figure. There is a nozzle orifice in the fixed contact which is blocked by tip of the moving contact at normal closed condition of the breaker. When fault occurs, the high pressure air is introduced into the arcing chamber. The air pressure will counter the spring pressure and deforms the spring hence the moving contact is withdrawn from the fixed contact and nozzle hole becomes open. At the same time the high pressure air starts flowing along the arc through the fixed contact nozzle orifice. This axial flow of air along the arc through the nozzle orifice will make the arc lengthen and colder hence arc voltage become much higher than system voltage that means system voltage is insufficient to sustain the arc consequently the arc is quenched. SF6 CIRCUIT BREAKER Sulfur hexafluoride circuit breakers protect electrical power stations and distribution systems by interrupting electric currents, when tripped by a protective relay. Instead of oil, air, or a vacuum, a sulfur hexafluoride circuit breaker uses sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) gas to cool and quench the arc on opening a circuit. Advantages over other media include lower operating noise and no emission of hot gases, and relatively low maintenance. Developed in the 1950s and onward, SF6 circuit breakers are widely used in electrical grids at transmission voltages up to 800 kV, as generator circuit breakers, and in distribution systems at voltages up to 35 kV. • CONSTRUCTION: A sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) circuit breaker consists of fixed and moving contacts enclosed in a chamber. The chamber is called arc interruption chamber which contains the sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) gas. This chamber is connected to sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) gas reservoir.