Derige, Jett Rashyhiro C.

ME153P C1
2011140316 ME-4
2015

October, 24

Assignment # 1

RELAYS & CONTACTORS

RELAYS
HISTORY
The American scientist Joseph Henry invented a relay in 1835 in
order to improve his version of the electrical telegraph, developed
earlier in 1831. It is claimed that the English inventor Edward Davy
"certainly invented the electric relay" in his electric telegraph c.1835.
A simple device, which we now call a relay, was included in the
original 1840 telegraph patent of Samuel Morse. The mechanism
described acted as a digital amplifier, repeating the telegraph signal,
and thus allowing signals to be propagated as far as desired. This
overcame the problem of limited range of earlier telegraphy schemes.
The word relay appears in the context of electromagnetic operations
from 1860
CONCEPT / FUNCTION / TYPES
Relays are switches that open and close circuits
electromechanically or electronically. They control one electrical circuit
by opening and closing contacts in another circuit. When
a relay contact is normally open (NO), there is an open contact when
the relay is not energized.
All relays contain a sensing unit, the electric coil, which is
powered by AC or DC current. When the applied current or voltage
exceeds a threshold value, the coil activates the armature, which
operates either to close the open contacts or to open the closed
contacts. When a power is supplied to the coil, it generates a magnetic
force that actuates the switch mechanism. The magnetic force is, in
effect, relaying the action from one circuit to another. The first circuit is
called the control circuit; the second is called the load circuit.
There are three basic functions of a relay:
On/Off Control - Air conditioning control, used to limit and control
a high power load, such as a compressor
Limit Control - Motor Speed Control, used to disconnect a motor
if it runs slower or faster than the desired speed

Logic Operation - Test Equipment, used to connect the

instrument to a number of testing points on the device under
test.

There are two basic classifications of relays: Electromechanical

and Solid State. Electromechanical relays have moving parts, whereas
solid state relays have no moving parts. Advantages of
Electromechanical relays include lower cost, no heat sink is required,
multiple poles are available, and they can switch AC or DC with equal
ease.
A.) Electromechanical Relays
Electro mechanical relay with octal base General Purpose Relay:
The general-purpose relay is rated by the amount of current its switch
contacts can handle. Most versions of the general-purpose relay have
one to eight poles and can be single or double throw. These are found
in computers, copy machines, and other consumer electronic
equipment and appliances. Power Relay: The power relay is capable of
handling larger power loads 10-50 amperes or more. They are usually
single-pole or double-pole units. Contractor: A special type of high
power relay, its used mainly to control high voltages and currents in
industrial electrical applications. Because of these high power
requirements, contactors always have double-make contacts. TimeDelay Relay: The contacts might not open or close until sometime
interval after the coil has been energized. This is called delay-onoperate. Delay-on-release means that the contacts will remain in their
actuated position until some interval after the power has been
removed from the coil. A third delay is called interval timing. Contacts
revert to their alternate position at a specific interval of time after the
coil has been energized. The timing of these actions may be a fixed
parameter of the relay, or adjusted by a knob on the relay itself, or
remotely adjusted through an external circuit.
B.) Solid State Relays
These active semiconductor devices use light instead of
magnetism to actuate a switch. The light comes from an LED, or light
emitting diode. When control power is applied to the devices output,
the light General Purpose Relay is turned on and shines across an open
space. On the load side of this space, a part of the device senses the
presence of the light, and triggers a solid state switch that either opens
or closes the circuit under control. Often, solid state relays are used
where
the
circuit
under
control
must
be
protected
APPLICATION

Relays are used wherever it is necessary to control a high power

or high voltage circuit with a low power circuit. The first application of
relays was in long telegraph systems, where the weak signal received
at an intermediate station could control a contact, regenerating the
signal for further transmission. High-voltage or high-current devices
can be controlled with small, low voltage wiring and pilots switches.
Operators can be isolated from the high voltage circuit. Low power
devices such as microprocessors can drive relays to control electrical
loads beyond their direct drive capability. In an automobile, a starter
relay allows the high current of the cranking motor to be controlled
with small wiring and contacts in the ignition key.
The use of relays for the logical control of complex switching
systems like telephone exchanges was studied by Claude Shannon,
who formalized the application of Boolean algebra to relay circuit
design in A Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits. Relays
can perform the basic operations of Boolean combinatorial logic. For
example, the boolean and function is realized by connecting normally
open relay contacts in series, the OR function by connecting normally
open contacts in parallel. Inversion of a logical input can be done with
a normally-closed contact. Relays were used for control of automated
systems for machine tools and production lines. The Ladder
programming language is often used for designing relay logic
networks.
Because relays are much more resistant than semiconductors to
nuclear radiation, they are widely used in safety-critical logic, such as
the control panels of radioactive waste-handling machinery.
Electromechanical protective relays are used to detect overload and
other faults on electrical lines by opening and closing circuit breakers.
SAMPLE DIAGRAM

CONTACTOR
CONCEPT / FUNCTION / TYPES

Contactors are designed to be directly connected to high-current

load devices. Relays tend to be of lower capacity and are usually
designed for both normally closed and normally open applications.
Devices switching more than 15 amperes or in circuits rated more than
a few kilowatts are usually called contactors. Apart from optional
auxiliary low current contacts, contactors are almost exclusively fitted
with normally open contacts. Unlike relays, contactors are designed
with features to control and suppress the arc produced when
interrupting heavy motor currents.
APPLICATION
Lighting control
Contactors are often used to provide central control of large
lighting installations, such as an office building or retail building.
To reduce power consumption in the contactor coils, latching
contactors are used, which have two operating coils. One coil,
momentarily energized, closes the power circuit contacts, which
are then mechanically held closed; the second coil opens the
contacts.
Magnetic starter
A magnetic starter is a device designed to provide power to
electric motors. It includes a contactor as an essential
component, while also providing power-cutoff, under-voltage, and
overload protection.

INDUSTRIAL USE
Most common industrial use for contactors is the control of
electric motors.
SAMPLE DIAGRAM

SWITCHES

CONCEPT / FUNCTION / TYPES

An electrical switch is any device used to interrupt the flow of
electrons in a circuit. Switches are essentially binary devices: they are
either completely on ("closed") or completely off ("open").
The simplest type of switch is one where two electrical
conductors are brought in contact with each other by the motion of an
actuating mechanism. Other switches are more complex, containing
electronic circuits able to turn on or off depending on some physical
stimulus (such as light or magnetic field) sensed. In any case, the final
output of any switch will be (at least) a pair of wire-connection
terminals that will either be connected together by the switch's internal
contact mechanism ("closed"), or not connected together ("open").
Any switch designed to be operated by a person is generally
called a hand switch, and they are manufactured in several varieties:
Toggle switches are actuated by a lever angled in one of
two or more positions. The common light switch used in
household wiring is an example of a toggle switch. Most
toggle switches will come to rest in any of their lever
positions, while others have an internal spring mechanism
returning the lever to a certain normal position, allowing for what is called
"momentary" operation.

Pushbutton switches are two-position devices actuated

with a button that is pressed and released. Most
pushbutton switches have an internal spring
mechanism returning the button to its "out," or
"unpressed," position, for momentary operation. Some
pushbutton switches will latch alternately on or off with every push of the
button. Other pushbutton switches will stay in their "in," or "pressed,"
position until the button is pulled back out. This last type of pushbutton
switches usually have a mushroom-shaped button for easy push-pull action.

Selector switches are actuated with a rotary knob or lever

of some sort to select one of two or more positions. Like
the toggle switch, selector switches can either rest in any

of their positions or contain spring-return mechanisms for momentary

operation.
A joystick switch is actuated by a lever free to move in
more than one axis of motion. One or more of several
switch contact mechanisms are actuated depending on
which way the lever is pushed, and sometimes by
how far it is pushed. The circle-and-dot notation on the
switch symbol represents the direction of joystick lever motion required to
actuate the contact. Joystick hand switches are commonly used for crane and
robot control.
INDUSTRIAL USE
In many industrial processes, it is necessary to monitor various
physical quantities with switches. Such switches can be used to sound
alarms, indicating that a process variable has exceeded normal
parameters, or they can be used to shut down processes or equipment
if those variables have reached dangerous or destructive levels. There
are many different types of process switches:

by
or

These switches sense the rotary speed of a shaft either

a centrifugal weight mechanism mounted on the shaft,
by some kind of non-contact detection of shaft motion
such as optical or magnetic.
Gas or liquid pressure can be used to actuate a switch
mechanism if that pressure is applied to a piston,
diaphragm, or bellows, which converts pressure to
mechanical force.

An inexpensive temperature-sensing mechanism is

the "bimetallic strip:" a thin strip of two metals,
joined back-to-back, each metal having a different
rate of thermal expansion. When the strip heats or
cools, differing rates of thermal expansion between
the two metals causes it to bend. The bending of the
strip can then be used to actuate a switch contact mechanism. Other
temperature switches use a brass bulb filled with either a liquid or gas, with
a tiny tube connecting the bulb to a pressure-sensing switch. As the bulb is
heated, the gas or liquid expands, generating a pressure increase which then
actuates the switch mechanism.

A floating object can be used to actuate a switch

mechanism when the liquid level in a tank rises past a
certain point. If the liquid is electrically conductive, the
liquid itself can be used as a conductor to bridge
between two metal probes inserted into the tank at the
required depth. The conductivity technique is usually
implemented with a special design of relay triggered by a small amount of
current through the conductive liquid. In most cases it is impractical and
dangerous to switch the full load current of the circuit through a liquid.
Inserted into a pipe, a flow switch will detect any gas or
liquid flow rate in excess of a certain threshold, usually
with a small paddle or vane which is pushed by the
flow. Other flow switches are constructed as differential
pressure switches, measuring the pressure drop across
a restriction built into the pipe.
the detector. This decrease in radiation at the detector can be used to trigger
a relay mechanism to provide a switch contact for measurement, alarm
point, or even control of the vessel level.
SAMPLE DIAGRAM