Types Of Circuit Breakers Used For Domestic, Stations, Industries

Hello guys, welcome back to our blog. In this article, we will discuss the types of circuit breakers that are used in the house, industries, stations, etc. We will discuss applications of a circuit breaker, rating, etc.

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Types Of Circuit Breakers

Nowadays, circuit breakers are used in many places where protection is required. The circuit breaker has many advantages compared to the fuse. The circuit breaker can be operated manually or automatically. The purpose of a circuit breaker is to protect the system from fault, the circuit breaker will interrupt the circuit whenever a fault occurs.

The different types of circuit breakers used for domestic, stations, and industries are:

MCB
ELCB
Oil Circuit Breaker
Air-Blast Circuit Breaker
Sulphur Hexafluoride Circuit Breaker
Vacuum Circuit Breaker

Guys still many circuit breakers are available in the market, but these six types of circuit breakers are most commonly used. Now I will discuss some points for each circuit breaker.

01. MCB

The MCB stands for Miniature Circuit Breaker. The MCB is used for domestic purposes such as in the house, shops, etc. Before MCB, the fuse was used for protection but now the fuse is replaced by MCB. There are different types of ratings available in the market such as 6A, 10A, 16A, 20A, 25A, 32A, 40A, 50A, 63A, etc. The MCB will isolate the circuit whenever the fault occurs. The miniature circuit breaker gives protection from two types of faults one is overload and another one is a short circuit.

02. ELCB

The ELCB stands for Earth Leakage Circuit Breaker. This circuit breaker is used for domestic and the industry if the load exceeds more than 8KW. The earth leakage circuit breaker gives protection from three types of faults such as overload, short circuit, and leakage fault. Suppose if someone touches any live wire then immediately earth leakage circuit breaker will trip but when the miniature circuit breaker is connected then if anyone by chance touches the live wire the miniature circuit breaker will not trip. The rating of the earth leakage circuit breaker is 40A and 30mA leakage current.

03. Oil Circuit Breaker

This type of circuit breaker is used in stations. The oil circuit breaker employs some insulating oil for the arc extinction. Whenever a fault occurs the contact of the circuit breaker is opened in oil by which the arc will get vanished. The oil circuit breaker is designed for 11kV to 765kV.

04. Air Blast Circuit Breaker

This type of circuit breaker is also used in stations. In this circuit breaker, a high-pressure air blast is used for extinguishing the arc. In this circuit breaker, the contacts are opened in a flow of air blast by opening the blast valve. The air blast will vanish the arc produced. What is Arc? The circuit breaker usually carries a high current, when the fault occurs the contact of the circuit breaker gets separated, due to the heavy current the temperature increases in the air which makes the air near contact act as the conductor, and thus arc is formed. The air blast circuit breaker is designed for above 11kV.

05. Sulfur Hexafluoride Circuit Breaker

This type of circuit breaker is most used in stations. Nowadays in every station, the SF6 circuit breaker is used because it has many benefits compared to other circuit breakers. In this circuit breaker, the Sulphur hexafluoride gas is used for arc extinction. Whenever a fault occurs the contact of the circuit breaker is opened in the high-pressure flow of SF6 gas. The voltage range of this circuit breaker is from 33KV to 765KV.

06. Vacuum Circuit Breaker

In this type of circuit breaker, the vacuum is used for arc extinction. Since the vacuum has good insulating strength. The voltage range of the vacuum circuit breaker is 11KV to 33kV.

So, guys, these are some circuit breakers that are mostly used nowadays. The circuit breaker is like a seat belt in a car, the seat belt gives us protection from accidents.

I hope this article may help you all a lot. Thank you for reading.

Tags: Types Of Circuit Breakers Used For Domestic, Stations, Industries, circuit breaker types.

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Chetan Shidling

Automotive | Technical Blogger | Engineer | Content Creator

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