What type of circuit breakers are preferred for arc furnance and traction system because of the suitability for repeated operation?
What type of circuit breakers are preferred for arc furnance and traction system because of the suitability for repeated operation? Correct Answer Air blast circuit breaker
Air Circuit Breaker:
This breaker uses air as an insulating and interrupting medium.
Air Circuit Breaker (ACB) is an electrical device used to provide Overcurrent and short-circuit protection for electric circuits over 800 Amps to 10K Amps.
The breaker is sub-classified into two types:
(a) Low voltage circuit breaker whose value lies below 1000 V
(b) High voltage circuit breaker whose value is 1000 V and above.
Working:
An auxiliary compressed air system is required by this type of circuit breaker.
This will supply air to the air reservoir of the breaker.
During the opening operation, the air is allowed to enter the extinction chamber which pushes, away moving contacts.
The contacts are separated and the blast of air will take ionized gases with it and help in extinguishing the arc.
Applications:
The air blast circuit breakers are preferred for arc furnace duty and traction systems because they are suitable for repeated duty.
These type of circuit breakers are finding their best application in systems operating in the range of 132 kV to 400 kV with breaking capacities up to 700 MVA.
This will require only one or two cycles.
