In the world of electrical and electronics, there are many cases where mishaps happen. These mishaps can cause severe damage to buildings, offices, houses, schools, industries, etc.
So, in order to prevent such situations from happening you should install main circuit breaker which will control the sudden rise of voltage and current. You can say, circuit breakers are like the heart of the electrical system. Moreover, there are many different types of circuit breakers available in the market but these are installed according to the rating of the system. For instance, in house different kinds of circuit breakers are used and for industries another type.
Have a look at these different types of circuit breakers and the importance of it.
What is a Circuit Breaker?
Circuit breakers are like a switching device that can be operated automatically for protecting and controlling of the electrical power system. However, in recent years, the designs of the circuit breakers have changed a lot depending upon the huge currents and to prevent arc while operating.
The electricity that comes to your houses or offices from the power distribution grid forms a large circuit. Those lines which are connected to the power plant forming at one end is called the hot wire and another line is connected to the ground. Whenever the electrical charge flows between these lines it develops potential between them. In order to complete the circuit, the connection of loads (appliances) offers resistance to the flow of charge and the whole electrical system inside the house or office will start to work.
However, these appliances will run properly until they have sufficiently resistant and do not cause any over current or voltage. Although the problems start to erupt when the wires tend to overheat. The reasons behind heating up the wires could be because of too much charge flowing through the circuit or short-circuiting or sudden connection of the hot end wire with the ground wire. These intense heat could also cause a fire. This is where circuit breakers come to the rescue. In such situations, circuit breakers will prevent these from happening by simply cutting off the remaining circuit.
Types of Circuit Breakers
Air Circuit Breakers
As the name suggests, such type of circuit breakers will operate in the air. In air circuit breakers, the quenching medium is an arc at atmospheric pressure. Air circuit breakers can be used in power lines up to 15Kv. There are two types of air circuit breakers.
- Plain Air Circuit Breaker
Also known as a cross-blast circuit breaker, this circuit is fitted with a chamber that is surrounded by the contacts. This chamber is called arc chute. Arc is made to drive in it. An arc chute will surely help in achieving the cooling of the air circuit breaker. An arc is made from the refractory material. Further, inside walls of arc chute are shaped in such a way that arc is not forced into close proximity. Instead, it will drive into the winding channel projected on an arc chute wall.
While the arc chute consists of many small compartments and has many divisions which are metallic separated plates. All these small compartments behave like a mini-arc chute and metallic separation plate acts like arc splitters.
When the arc voltage will be higher than the system voltage then the arc will split into a series of arc. However, plain air circuit breakers are only preferable for low voltage application.
- Air Blast Circuit Breaker
Airblast circuit breakers are generally used for a system voltage of 245KV, 420KV and even more. There are two categories of air blast circuit breakers are divided into:
- Axial Blast Breaker
- Axial blast with sliding moving contact
Conclusion
Apart from these, there are many different kinds of circuit breakers such as SF6 circuit breaker, Vacuum circuit breaker, oil circuit breakers, and more. However, if you want circuit breakers to install in your industry then visit Addy-addy.com today! Apart from just circuit breakers, you can also buy any electrical good from Addy-Addy as they one of the biggest online electrical suppliers in Australia.
