Types of Circuit Breakers

There are mainly four types of Circuit breakers

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

Air Circuit Breaker

The arc extinguishing medium of these breakers is high-pressure air blast , so they are also known as air blast circuit breakers. In case of an inaccurate flow, the blast valve opens the contact. By sweeping  ionized particles in the environment, the arc is prevented from restriking, raising the dielectric’s electricity in the medium.

There are three types of Air Circuit Breaker:

• Axial blast type
• Cross blast type
• Radial blast type

Vacuum Circuit Breaker

The arc quenching medium used  in this circuit breaker is a vacuum. The vacuums’ arc resistance is very low whereas the dielectric strength is very high . A container made of ceramic or metal encloses the contacts.It has been evacuated to extremely low pressure .

When the contacts open, the arc is initiated in the vacuum and quickly extinguished. Very low arc resistance and high dielectric strength of vacuum, makes the interruption process very fast and efficient.

These circuit breakers are appropriate for low and medium-voltage applications, such as commercial and industrial circuits. Their arc energy and noise level are low ,while reliability and durability are high.

Oil Circuit Breakers

Oil is utilized as the arc extinguishing medium ,in this circuit breakers. The arc strikes once the contacts are opened in the oil, hence, evaporating the surrounding oil as hydrogen gas. The arc is surrounded by a hydrogen gas bubble. This hydrogen gas has a high thermal conductivity which cools the arc and deionize the medium.

The surrounding oil becomes turbulent, leading the arcing products out of the way. When the system experiences a fault, the circuit breaker’s contacts open under the insulating oil, creating an arc that cools the surrounding oil and releases heat. There are two categories of oil circuit breakers.

There are two types of oil circuit breakers:

• Bulk oil circuit breakers
• Low oil circuit breakers

SF6 Circuit Breakers

Sulfur hexafluoride gas (SF6) is used by SF6CBs. Due to this gas’ superior insulating qualities, SF6CB devices are incredibly efficient.

Moreover, SF6 is a far more efficient cooling medium than air since it quickly recombines after extinguishing the arc. Since the gas utilized has good dielectric qualities and is non-flammable, SF6CBs are particularly effective devices in medium and high voltage systems as a result of these characteristics.

A circuit can be damaged which will reduce its reliability. Therefore, electrical circuits need to be protected using circuit protection devices. These will help a lot in boosting the performance of electrical tools. Plenty of devices such as fuses,  chokes, decoupling capacitors Zener diodes, protection diodes, etc, can be utilized for the protection of circuits. Circuit breakers are also used for the same purpose in electrical systems.

A circuit breaker can be defined as a type of switching device that prevents damage to the electrical system by acting as a switch and that interrupts the current flow. This article will take a closer look at circuit breakers along with various types, we will study their advantages and disadvantages, examine their operational principles, and more.