High-voltage circuit breakers

A 1200 A 3-pole 115,000 V breaker at a generating station in Manitoba, Canada.

Electrical power transmission networks are protected and controlled by high-voltage breakers. The
definition of "high voltage" varies but in power transmission work is usually thought to be 72,500 V
or higher, according to a recent definition by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).
High-voltage breakers are nearly always solenoid-operated, with current sensing protective relays
operated through current transformers. In substations the protection relay scheme can be complex,
protecting equipment and busses from various types of overload or ground/earth fault.

High-voltage breakers are broadly classified by the medium used to extinguish the arc.

 Oil-filled (dead tank and live tank)

 Oil-filled, minimum oil volume
 Air blast
 Sulfur hexafluoride

High voltage breakers are routinely available up to 765 kV AC.

Live tank circuit breakers are where the enclosure that contains the breaking mechanism is at line
potential, that is, "Live". Dead tank circuit breaker enclosures are at earth potential.

[edit] Interrupting principles for high-voltage circuit-breakers

High-voltage circuit-breakers have greatly changed since they were first introduced about 40 years
ago, and several interrupting principles have been developed that have contributed successively to a
large reduction of the operating energy.

Current interruption in a high-voltage circuit-breaker is obtained by separating two contacts in a

medium, such as sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), having excellent dielectrical and arc quenching
properties. After contact separation, current is carried through an arc and is interrupted when this
arc is cooled by a gas blast of sufficient intensity.
Gas blast applied on the arc must be able to cool it rapidly so that gas temperature between the
contacts is reduced from 20,000 K to less than 2000 K in a few hundred microseconds, so that it is
able to withstand the transient recovery voltage that is applied across the contacts after current
interruption. Sulfur hexafluoride is generally used in present high-voltage circuit-breakers (of rated
voltage higher than 52 kV).

In the 1980s and 1990s, the pressure necessary to blast the arc was generated mostly by gas heating
using arc energy. It is now possible to use low energy spring-loaded mechanisms to drive high-
voltage circuit-breakers up to 800 kV.

[edit] Brief history

The first patents on the use of SF6 as an interrupting medium was filed in Germany in 1938 by
Vitaly Grosse (AEG) and independently later in the USA in July 1951 by H.J. Lingal, T.E. Browne
and A.P. Storm (Westinghouse). The first industrial application of SF6 for current interruption dates
back to 1953. High-voltage 15 kV to 161 kV load switches were developed with a breaking
capacity of 600 A. The first high-voltage SF6 circuit-breaker built in 1956 by Westinghouse, could
interrupt 5 kA under 115 kV, but it had 6 interrupting chambers in series per pole. In 1957, the
puffer-type technique was introduced for SF6 circuit breakers where the relative movement of a
piston and a cylinder linked to the moving part is used to generate the pressure rise necessary to
blast the arc via a nozzle made of insulating material (figure 1). In this technique, the pressure rise
is obtained mainly by gas compression. The first high-voltage SF6 circuit-breaker with a high
short-circuit current capability was produced by Westinghouse in 1959. This dead tank circuit-
breaker could interrupt 41.8 kA under 138 kV (10,000 MV·A) and 37.6 kA under 230 kV (15,000
MV·A). This performance were already significant, but the three chambers per pole and the high
pressure source needed for the blast (1.35 MPa) was a constraint that had to be avoided in
subsequent developments. The excellent properties of SF6 lead to the fast extension of this
technique in the 1970s and to its use for the development of circuit breakers with high interrupting
capability, up to 800 kV.

The achievement around 1983 of the first single-break 245 kV and the corresponding 420kV to 550
kV and 800 kV, with respectively 2, 3, and 4 chambers per pole, lead to the dominance of SF6
circuit breakers in the complete range of high voltages.
Several characteristics of SF6 circuit breakers can explain their success:

 Simplicity of the interrupting chamber which does not need an auxiliary breaking chamber;
 Autonomy provided by the puffer technique;
 The possibility to obtain the highest performance, up to 63 kA, with a reduced number of
interrupting chambers;
 Short break time of 2 to 2.5 cycles;
 High electrical endurance, allowing at least 25 years of operation without reconditioning;
 Possible compact solutions when used for GIS or hybrid switchgear;
 Integrated closing resistors or synchronised operations to reduce switching overvoltages;
 Reliability and availability;
 Low noise levels.

The reduction in the number of interrupting chambers per pole has led to a considerable
simplification of circuit breakers as well as the number of parts and seals required. As a direct
consequence, the reliability of circuit breakers improved, as verified later on by CIGRE surveys.

[edit] Thermal blast chambers

New types of SF6 breaking chambers, which implement innovative interrupting principles, have
been developed over the past 15 years, with the objective of reducing the operating energy of the
circuit-breaker. One aim of this evolution was to further increase the reliability by reducing the
dynamic forces in the pole. Developments since 1996 have seen the use of the self-blast technique
of interruption for SF6 interrupting chambers.

These developments have been facilitated by the progress made in digital simulations that were
widely used to optimize the geometry of the interrupting chamber and the linkage between the poles
and the mechanism.

This technique has proved to be very efficient and has been widely applied for high voltage circuit
breakers up to 550 kV. It has allowed the development of new ranges of circuit breakers operated
by low energy spring-operated mechanisms.
The reduction of operating energy was mainly achieved by the lowering energy used for gas
compression and by making increased use of arc energy to produce the pressure necessary to
quench the arc and obtain current interruption. Low current interruption, up to about 30% of rated
short-circuit current, is obtained by a puffer blast.

[edit] Self-blast chambers

Further development in the thermal blast technique was made by the introduction of a valve
between the expansion and compression volumes. When interrupting low currents the valve opens
under the effect of the overpressure generated in the compression volume. The blow-out of the arc
is made as in a puffer circuit breaker thanks to the compression of the gas obtained by the piston
action. In the case of high currents interruption, the arc energy produces a high overpressure in the
expansion volume, which leads to the closure of the valve and thus isolating the expansion volume
from the compression volume. The overpressure necessary for breaking is obtained by the optimal
use of the thermal effect and of the nozzle clogging effect produced whenever the cross-section of
the arc significantly reduces the exhaust of gas in the nozzle. In order to avoid excessive energy
consumption by gas compression, a valve is fitted on the piston in order to limit the overpressure in
the compression to a value necessary for the interruption of low short circuit currents.
This technique, known as “self-blast” has now been used extensively since 1996 for the
development of many types of interrupting chambers. The increased understanding of arc
interruption obtained by digital simulations and validation through breaking tests, contribute to a
higher reliability of these self-blast circuit breakers. In addition the reduction in operating energy,
allowed by the self blast technique, leads to longer service life.

[edit] Double motion of contacts

An important decrease in operating energy can also be obtained by reducing the kinetic energy
consumed during the tripping operation. One way is to displace the two arcing contacts in opposite
directions so that the arc speed is half that of a conventional layout with a single mobile contact.
The thermal and self blast principles have enabled the use of low energy spring mechanisms for the
operation of high voltage circuit breakers. They progressively replaced the puffer technique in the
1980s; first in 72.5 kV breakers, and then from 145 kV to 800 kV.

[edit] Comparison of single motion and double motion techniques

The double motion technique halves the tripping speed of the moving part. In principle, the kinetic
energy could be quartered if the total moving mass was not increased. However, as the total moving
mass is increased, the practical reduction in kinetic energy is closer to 60%. The total tripping
energy also includes the compression energy, which is almost the same for both techniques. Thus,
the reduction of the total tripping energy is lower, about 30%, although the exact value depends on
the application and the operating mechanism. Depending on the specific case, either the double
motion or the single motion technique can be cheaper. Other considerations, such as rationalization
of the circuit-breaker range, can also influence the cost.

[edit] Thermal blast chamber with arc-assisted opening

In this interruption principle arc energy is used, on the one hand to generate the blast by thermal
expansion and, on the other hand, to accelerate the moving part of the circuit breaker when
interrupting high currents. The overpressure produced by the arc energy downstream of the
interruption zone is applied on an auxiliary piston linked with the moving part. The resulting force
accelerates the moving part, thus increasing the energy available for tripping.

With this interrupting principle it is possible, during high-current interruptions, to increase by about
30% the tripping energy delivered by the operating mechanism and to maintain the opening speed
independently of the current. It is obviously better suited to circuit-breakers with high breaking
currents such as Generator circuit-breakers.

[edit] Generator circuit-breakers

Generator circuit-breakers are connected between a generator and the step-up voltage transformer.
They are generally used at the outlet of high power generators (100 MVA to 1800 MVA) in order to
protect them in a reliable, fast and economic manner. Such circuit breakers must be able to allow
the passage of high permanent currents under continuous service (6.3 kA to 40 kA), and have a high
breaking capacity (63 kA to 275 kA). They belong to the medium voltage range, but the TRV
withstand capability required by ANSI/IEEE Standard C37.013 is such that the interrupting
principles developed for the high-voltage range must be used. A particular embodiment of the
thermal blast technique has been developed and applied to generator circuit-breakers. The self-blast
technique described above is also widely used in SF6 generator circuit breakers, in which the
contact system is driven by a low-energy, spring-operated mechanism. An example of such a device
is shown in the figure below; this circuit breaker is rated for 17.5 kV and 63 kA.
Generator circuit breaker rated for 17.5 kV and 63 kA

[edit] Evolution of tripping energy

The operating energy has been reduced by 5 to 7 times during this period of 27 years. This
illustrates well the great progress made in this field of interrupting techniques for high-voltage
circuit-breakers.

[edit] Future perspectives

In the near future, present interrupting technologies can be applied to circuit-breakers with the
higher rated breaking currents (63 kA to 80 kA) required in some networks with increasing power
generation.

Self blast or thermal blast circuit breakers are nowadays accepted world wide[citation needed] and they
have been in service for high voltage applications for about 15 years[citation needed], starting with the
voltage level of 72.5 kV. Today this technique is also available for the voltage levels 420/550/800
kV.

[edit] Other breakers

The following types are described in separate articles.

 Breakers for protections against earth faults too small to trip an overcurrent device:
o RCD—Residual Current Device (formerly known as a Residual Current Circuit
Breaker) - detects current imbalance. Does NOT provide overcurrent protection.
o RCBO—Residual Current Breaker with Overcurrent protection - combines the
functions of an RCD and an MCB in one package. In the United States and Canada,
panel-mounted devices that combine ground(earth) fault detection and overcurrent
protection are called Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) breakers; a wall
mounted outlet device providing ground fault detection only is called a GFI.
o ELCB—Earth leakage circuit breaker. This detects earth current directly rather
than detecting imbalance. They are no longer seen in new installations for various
reasons.
 Autorecloser A type of circuit breaker which closes again after a delay. These are used on
overhead power distribution systems, to prevent short duration faults from causing sustained
outages.

 Polyswitch (polyfuse) A small device commonly described as an automatically-resetting

fuse rather than a circuit breaker.