In this circuit breaker, sulphur hexaflouride ( SF6 ) gas is used as the arc quenching medium.

The SF6 gas is an electro negative gas and has a strong tendency to absorb free electrons. The contacts of the breaker are opened in a high pressure flow of SF6gas and an arc is struck between them. The conducting free electrons in the arc are rapidly captured by the gas to form relatively immobile negative ions. This loss of conducting electrons in the arc quickly builds up enough insulation strength to extinguish the arc. The SF6 circuit breakers are very effective for high power and high voltage service. Construction: Fig 15 shows the parts of a typical SF6 circuit breaker. It consists of fixed and moving contacts enclosed in a chamber called arc interruption chamber containing SF6 gas. This chamber is connected to SF6 gas reservoir. When the contacts of breaker are opened the valve mechanism permits a high pressure SF6 gas from the reservoir to flow towards the arc interruption chamber. The fixed contact is a hollow cylindrical current carrying contact fitted with an arc horn. The moving contact is also a hollow cylinder with rectangular holes in the sides to permit the SF6 gas to let out through these holes after flowing along and across the arc. The tips of fixed contact, moving contact and arcing horn are coated with copper-tungsten arc resistant material. Since SF6 gas is costly, its reconditioned and reclaimed by a suitable auxiliary system after each operation of the breaker.

Working: In the closed position of the breaker the contacts remained surrounded by SF6 gas at a pressure of about 2.8 kg/cm2. When the breaker operates the moving contact is pulled apart and an arc is struck between the contacts. The movement of the moving contact is synchronized with the opening of a valve which permits SF6 gas at 14 kg/cm2 pressure from the reservoir to the arc interruption chamber. The high pressure flow of SF6 rapidly absorbs the free electrons in the arc path to form immobile negative ions which are ineffective as charge a carriers. The result is that the medium between the contacts quickly builds up high dielectric strength and causes the extinction of the arc. After the breaker operation the valve is closed by the action of a set of springs. Advantages over oil and air circuit breakers: a. Due to superior arc quenching property of SF6 , such breakers have very short arcing time b. Dielectric strength of SF6 gas is 2 to 3 times that of air, such breakers can interrupt much larger currents. c. Gives noiseless operation due to its closed gas circuit d. Closed gas enclosure keeps the interior dry so that there is no moisture problem e. There is no risk of fire as SF6 is non inflammable f. There are no carbon deposits g. Low maintenance cost, light foundation requirements and minimum auxiliary equipment h. SF6 breakers are totally enclosed and sealed from atmosphere, they are particularly suitable where explosion hazard exists Disadvantages: A. SF6 breakers are costly due to high cost of SF6 B. SF6 gas has to be reconditioned after every operation of the breaker, additional equipment is required for this purpose Applications: SF6 breakers have been used for voltages 115kV to 230 kV, power ratings 10 MVA to 20 MVA and interrupting time less than 3 cycles.

An air-circuit breaker switch can have both bladeand stationary contacts equipped with arcing horns (fig.4-36). These horns are pieces of metal between whichthe arc forms when a circuit-carrying current is opened.These arc horns are drawn further and further apart untilthe arc finally breaks. Air-break switches are usuallymounted on substation structures or on poles and areoperated manually from the ground. In a three-phasecircuit all three switchesone for each

phaseareopened and closed together.An air-disconnect switch is not equipped witharcing horns or other load-break devices. It thereforecannot be opened while current is flowing (fig. 4-37). Ifthe disconnect switch should be opened while current isflowing in the line, an arc would likely be drawnbetween the blade and its stationary contacts. The hotarc would melt part of the metal, thereby damaging theswitch. The purpose of a disconnect switch is to isolatea line or a piece of equipment for the purpose of makingthe disconnected line or equipment dead electrically,thus making it safe for repairs, tests, or inspections. Figure 4-36.Gang-operated aircircuit breaker.Figure 4-37.Air-disconnect switch. Oil SwitchesAn oil switch is a high-voltage switch whosecontacts are opened and closed in oil. Oil switches maybe used as disconnect, circuit breakers, or reclosers.The switch is actually immersed in an oil bath,contained in a steel tank, as shown in figure 4-38. Thereason for placing high-voltage switches in oil is that theoil may help to break the circuit when the switch isopened. With high voltages, a separation of the switchcontacts does not always break the current flow,because an electric arc forms between the contacts. Ifthe contacts are opened in oil, however, the oil helps toquench the arc. Oil is an insulator and, therefore, helpsto quench the arc between the contacts. The three linesof a three-phase circuit can be opened and closed by asingle oil switch. If the voltage is not extremely high,the three poles of the switch are generally in the sametank. But if the voltage of the line is high, the three polesof the switch are placed in separate containers. Circuit ReclosersThe circuit reclosers most commonly used in powerdistribution are electronic reclosers, oil reclosers, orvacuum reclosers. These reclosers basically operate inthe same manner.Reclosers come in single- or three-phase modelsand can either be pole-mounted or installed in asubstation. These reclosers are for overload protectionand are designed to open a circuit in an overloadcondition and then automatically reclose the circuit. Ifthe fault on the system has cleared, the recloser remainsclosed. If the fault has not cleared, the recloser trips

Depending upon the direction of air blast in relation to the arc;air blast circuit breakers are classified into: (i)Axial-blast type in which air-blast is directed along the arc path as shown in figure below.

(iii) Radial-blast type in which the air blast is directed radially as shown in figure below

(i) Axial-blast air circuit breaker The figure below shows the essential components of a typical axial blast circuit breaker.The fixed and moving contacts are held in closed position by spring pressure under normal conditions.The air reservoir is connected to the arcing chamber through an air va lve.This valve remains closed under normal conditions but opens automatically by tripping impulse when a fault occurs on the system.

( )C

ss-

s type in which air blast is directed at right angles to the arc path as shown in figure below

When a fault occurs the tripping impulse causes the opening of the air valve which connects the circuit breaker reservoir to the arcing chamber.The high pressure air entering the arcing chamber pushes away the moving contact against spring pressure.The moving contact is separated and an arc is struck.At the same time,high pressure air blast flows along the arc and takes away the ionised gases along with it.Consequently,the arc is extinguished and current flow is interrupted. It may be noted that in such circuit breakers,the contact separation required for interruption is generally small about 1.75 cm. Such a small gap may con stitute inadequate clearance for the normal service voltage.Therefore,an isolating switch is incorporated as part of this type of circuit breaker.This switch opens immediately after fault interruption to provide necessary clearance for insulation. (ii) Cross Blast air breaker In this type of circuit breaker,an air blast is directed at right angles to the arc.The cross -blast lengthens and forces the arc into a suitable chute for arc extinction.Figure below shows the parts of a typical crossblast air circuit breaker

When the moving contact is withdrawn,am arc is struck between the fixed and moving contacts.the high pressure cross-blast forces into a chute consisting of an arc splitters and baffles.The splitters serve to increase the length of the arc and baffles give improved cooling.The result is that arc is extinguished and flow of current is interrupted.Since the blast pressure is same for all currents,the inefficiency at low currents is eliminated.The final gap for interruption is great enough to give no rmal insulation clearance so that series isolating switch is not necessary.

In case of plain oil circuit breakers artificial control of arc is less therefore long arc length is necessary for arc quenching. Its necessary that final arc extinction should o ccur while the contact gap is still shorter. For this some arc control is incorporated and the breakers are then called arc control circuit breakers. There are two types of such breakers:

1. Self-blast oil circuit breakers in which arc control is provided by internal means i.e. arc itself facilitates its own extinction efficiently. 2. Forced blast oil circuit breakers in which arc control is provided by mechanical means external to the circuit breaker. Self-blast oil circuit breakers In this type of breakers, the gases produced during arching are confined to a small volume by the use of an insulating rigid pressure chamber or explosion pot surrounding the contacts. The space available for the arc gases is restricted by the chamber so a very high pressure is developed to force the oil and gas through or around the arc to extinguish it. The magnitude of the pressure depends upon the value of fault current to be interrupted. The arc itself generates the pressure so such breakers are also called self -generated pressure oil circuit breakers. The pressure chamber is relatively cheap and gives reduced final arc extinction gap length andarcing time as against the plain oil breaker. ifferent types of explosion pots are described below: a. Plain explosion pot it is a rigid cylinder of insulating material and encloses the fixed and moving contacts as shown in fig 8. The moving contact is a cylindrical rod passing through a restricted opening called throat at the bottom. When fault occurs the contacts get separat and an arc is struck between ed them. The heat of the arc decomposes oil into a gas at very high pressure in the pot. This high pressure forces the oil and gas through and around the arc to extinguish it.

If the arc extinction will not take place when th moving contact is still within the pot, it occurs e immediately after the moving contact leaves the pot. Its because, emergence of moving contact will be followed by violent rush of gas and oil through the throat producing rapid extinction. Limitation of this type of pot is that it cannot be used for very low or very high fault currents. With low fault currents, the pressure developed is small, thereby increasing the arcing time. And with high fault currents, the gas is produced so rapidly that the plot may burst due to high pressure. So this pot is used on moderate short circuit currents only where rate of gas evolution is moderate. b. Cross jet explosion pot Fig 9 shows the cross jet pot which is made of insulating material and has channels on one side that acts as arc splitters. The arc splitters help in increasing the arc length, thus facilitating arc extinction. When fault occurs, the moving contacts of the circuit breaker begins to separate and arc is struck in the top of the pot. The gas generated by the arc exerts pressure on the oil

in the back passage. When the moving contact uncovers the arc splitter ducts, fresh oil is forced across the arc path. The arc is therefore driven sideways into the arc splitters, which increase the arc length, causing arc extinction.

The cross jet explosion pot is used for interrupting heavy fault currents. For low fault currentst he gas pressure is small and consequently the pot does not give a satisfactory operation. c. Self compensated explosion pot This pot is a combination of plain explosion pot and cross jet explosion pot. So it can interrupt low as well as heavy short circuit currents. Fig 10 shows the self compensated explosion pot.

Forced Blast Oil Circuit Breaker In this type of circuit breaker there is a piston attached to a moving contact.When fault occurs the moving contact moves and hence the piston associated with it also moves producing pressure inside the oil chamber.So the oil gets movement or turbulates and quenches the arc.

Buchholz relay is a gas- actuated relay installed in oil-immersed transformers for protection against all kind of faults. It is used to gives an alarm in case of slow developing faults or incipient faults in the transformer and to disconnect the transformer from the supply in the event of severe internal faults. It is installed in the pipe between the conservator and main tank as shown in fig11 below. This relay is used in oil-immersed transformers of rating above 750 kVA.

CONSTRUCTION

Fig 12 shows the constructional details of buchholz relay. It consists of a domed vessel placed in the pipe between the conservator and main tank of the transformer. The device has two elements. The upper element consists of a mercury type switch attached to a float. The lower element contains a mercury switch mounted on a hinged type flap located on the direct path of flow of oil from the transformer to the conservator. The upper element closes an alarm circuit during slow developing faults whereas the lower element is arranged to trip the circuit breaker in case of severe internal faults.

OPERATION

The operation of buchholz relay is as follows: i. In case of slow developing faults within the transformer, the heat due to the fault
causes decomposition of some transformer oil in the main tank. The products of decomposition mainly contain 70 % of hydrogen gas. The hydrogen gas being light tries to go into the conservator and in the process gets trapped in the upper part of the relay chamber. When a predetermined amount of gas gets accumulated, it exerts sufficient pressure on the float to cause it to tilt and close the contacts of mercury switch attached to it. This completes the alarm circuit to sound an alarm.

ii. If serious fault occur in the transformer, an enormous amount of gas is generated in the main tank. The oil in the main tank rushes towards the conservator via the buchholz relay and in doing so it tilts the flap to close the contacts of mercury switch. This completes the trip circuit to open the circuit breaker controlling the transformer.
ADVANTAGES:
1. 2. It is the simplest form of transformer protection It detects the slow developing faults at a stage much earlier than other forms of

protection.
DISADVANTAGES:

1. It can only be used with oil immersed transformers equipped with conservators 2. The device can detect only faults below oil leveling the transformer. Therefore
separate protection is needed for connecting cables.

DIFFERENTIAL PROTECTION Differential protection is a very reliable method of protecting generators, transformers, buses, and transmission lines from the effects of internal faults.

Figure: Differential Protection of a Generator

In a differential protection scheme in the above figure, currents on both sides of the equipment are compared. The figure shows the connection only for one phase, but a similar connection is usually used in each phase of the protected equipment. Under normal conditions, or for a fault outside of the protected zone, current I 1 is equal to current I2 . Therefore the currents in the current transformers secondaries are also equal, i.e. i1 = i2 and no current flows through the current relay. If a fault develops inside of the protected zone, currents I 1 and I2 are no longer equal, therefore i1 and i2 are not equal and there is a current flowing through the current relay.

Differential Protection of a Station Bus The principle of the differential protection of a station bus is the same as for generators. The sum of all currents entering and leaving the bus must be equal to zero under normal conditions or if the fault is outside of the protected zone. If there is a fault on the bus, there will be a net flow of current to the bus and the differential relay will operate.

Figure: Single Line Diagram of Bus Differential Protection

Percentage Differential Relays The disadvantage of the current differential protection is that current transformers must be identical, otherwise there will be current flowing through the current relays for faults outside of the protected zone or even under normal conditions. Sensitivity to the differential current due to the current transformer errors is reduced by percentage differential relays.

Figure: Percentage Differential Relay

In percentage differential relays, the current from each current transformer flows through a restraint coil. The purpose of the restraint coil is to prevent undesired relay operation due to current transformer errors. The operating coil current | i 1 i2 | required for tripping is a percentage of the average current through the restraint coils. It is given by

where k is the proportion of the operating coil current to the restraint coil current. For example if k = 0.1, the operating coil current must be more than 10% of the average restraint coil current in order for the relay to operate.

Differential Protection of Three Phase Transformers

Differential protection of three phase transformers must take into account the change in magnitude and phase angle of the transformed current.

Transformers Connected Y-Y or Delta-Delta In these two connections, the primary and secondary currents are in phase, but their magnitudes are different. The difference in the current magnitude must be balanced out by the current transformer ratios.

Figure: Differential Protection for a Y-Y Connected Transformer If the transformer ratio is

The secondary currents of the current transformers are

During normal operating conditions or when the fault is outside of the protection zone,

Therefore, the ratios of the current transformers on the two sides of the power transformer must be

. Sometimes standard current transformers with the ratios that satisfy the above equation are not available. In that case auxiliary transformers between one of the current transformers and the relay are used.

Transformers Connected Y-( or ( -Y.

The primary and secondary currents have different magnitudes and they also have 30r phase shift. Both, the magnitude and the phase shift must be balanced by appropriate ratio and connection of the current transformers. The phase shift on a Y-( bank is corrected by connecting the C.T.s on the ( in Y, and on the Y side in ( . Refer to the following drawing. The full load current on the 66 kV side is

The full load current on the 230 kV side is

The secondary currents in the current transformers on the 66 kV side then are

The magnitude of the currents coming out of the differential relay should be the same

From that, the current in the ( arms of the ( connected C.T.s should be

Ideally, the CTR on the 230 kV side of the transformer should be

The closest to that is the ratio

which is the ratio that will be used.. Using this ratio, the secondary current of the current transformers on the 230 kV side is

The current through the operating coil of the differential relay is then

The average current through the current restraint coil is

From that, the current through the operating coil as a percentage of the restraint current under normal full load conditions is

The percentage differential relays have settings for the allowable percentage difference. Examples of the percentage values are 15%, 30%, 40%, etc. Any of these relays could accommodate the 0.46% operating coil current without operating.

Connection of Differential Relays to a ( -Y Connected Transformer.

Another problem that the differential relays used for transformer protection must overcome is the magnetizing inrush current.

The inrush current occurs when a transformer is being energized. Since during the energization of the transformer there is only current in and no current out, the inrush current appears to the differential relays as an internal fault. The inrush current has some characteristic properties. Its magnitude may be as high as sixteen times the full load current. It decays very slowly - from around ten cycles for small units to 1 minute for large units. The harmonic content of the inrush current is different from normal load current and from fault currents. A typical waveform of inrush current has a large fundamental frequency component, a significant d.c. component, and 2nd and 3rd harmonic components. The 2nd harmonic component does not appear in the transformers under any other conditions except during energization. Desensitizing of the differential relay to the inrush current involves the use of the second harmonic component to restrain the relay from operating.

(a)

(b)
Figure: Harmonic Restraint Circuit: (a) connection to current transformer (b) tripping circuit