Thermal Analysis and Improvement of Air Circuit Breaker

Abstract

An air circuit breaker is a device used in low voltage power systems to carry current in normal condition and isolate the circuit from fault during fault condition by suitable operation. During normal condition, the current flowing through the ACB is associated with generation of heat and hence the temperature. It is required that for healthy operation of circuit breaker, this temperature should be within specified limits as specified by the standards and efforts should be made to reduce it to enhance performance of the circuit breaker. The objective of this project is to first analyse thermal performance of the existing circuit breaker theoretically and practically and subsequently identify areas of improvement in the current path for enhancing the thermal performance. Next, to work out concepts that can help in the same and analysing the same theoretically and practically and finally conclusion based on the analysis and test results will be given.