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CHARACTERISTICS
CHARACTERISTICS
CHARACTERISTICS
• Trip characteristics often fully adjustable including configurable trip thresholds and delays.
• Often used for main power distribution in large industrial plant, where the breakers are arranged in draw-out enclosures
CHARACTERISTICS
• These can also be applied at up to 35,000 V. Vacuum circuit breakers tend to have longer life expectancy between
CHARACTERISTICS
• The amount of current flows through the phase (line) should return through neutral .
• It detects by RCD. any mismatch between two currents flowing through phase and neutral detect by -RCD and trip the
• If a house has an earth system connected to an earth rod and not the main incoming cable, then it must have all circuits
protected by an RCD (because u mite not be able to get enough fault current to trip a MCB)
The most widely used are 30 mA (milli amp) and 100 mA devices. A current flow of 30 mA (or 0.03 amps) is sufficiently small that it
makes it very difficult to receive a dangerous shock. Even 100 mA is a relatively small figure when compared to the current that may flow
A 300/500 mA RCCB may be used where only fire protection is required. eg., on lighting circuits, where the risk of electric shock is small.
Limitation of RCCB
• Standard electromechanical RCCBs are designed to operate on normal supplywaveforms and cannot be guaranteed
to operate where none standard waveforms are generated by loads. The most common is the half wave rectified
waveform sometimes called pulsating dc generated by speed control devices, semi conductors, computers and even
dimmers.
• Specially modified RCCBs are available which will operate on normal ac and pulsating dc.
• RCDs don’t offer protection against current overloads: RCDs detect an imbalance in the live and neutral currents. A
current overload, however large, cannot be detected. It is a frequent cause of problems with novices to replace an MCB in
a fuse box with an RCD. This may be done in an attempt to increase shock protection. If a live-neutral fault occurs (a short
circuit, or an overload), the RCD won’t trip, and may be damaged. In practice, the main MCB for the premises will
probably trip, or the service fuse, so the situation is unlikely to lead to catastrophe; but it may be inconvenient.
• It is now possible to get an MCB and and RCD in a single unit, called an RCBO (see below). Replacing an MCB with an
• Nuisance tripping of RCCB: Sudden changes in electrical load can cause a small, brief current flow to earth, especially in
old appliances. RCDs are very sensitive and operate very quickly; they may well trip when the motor of an old freezer
switches off. Some equipment is notoriously `leaky’, that is, generate a small, constant current flow to earth. Some types of
computer equipment, and large television sets, are widely reported to cause problems.
• RCD will not protect against a socket outlet being wired with its live and neutral terminals the wrong way round.
• RCD will not protect against the overheating that results when conductors are not properly screwed into their
terminals.
• RCD will not protect against live-neutral shocks, because the current in the live and neutral is balanced. So if you
touch live and neutral conductors at the same time (e.g., both terminals of a light fitting), you may still get a nasty shock.
CHARACTERISTICS
• The safest limit of Current which Human Body can withstand is 30mA sec.
• Suppose Human Body Resistance is 500Ω and Voltage to ground is 230 Volt.
• It is possible to get a combined MCB and RCCB in one device (Residual Current Breaker with Overload RCBO), the
principals are the same, but more styles of disconnection are fitted into one package
• RCCB or RCD is the new name that specifies current operated (hence the new name to distinguish from voltage operated).
• The new RCCB is best because it will detect any earth fault. The voltage type only detects earth faults that flow back
through the main earth wire so this is why they stopped being used.
• The easy way to tell an old voltage operated trip is to look for the main earth wire connected through it.
• ELCB is working based on Earth leakage current. But RCCB is not having sensing or connectivity of Earth, because
fundamentally Phase current is equal to the neutral current in single phase. That’s why RCCB can trip when the both
currents are different and it withstand up to both the currents are same. Both the neutral and phase currents are different
• Finally both are working for same, but the thing is connectivity is difference.
• RCD does not necessarily require an earth connection itself (it monitors only the live and neutral).In addition it detects
• This means that an RCD will continue to give shock protection in equipment that has a faulty earth. It is these properties
that have made the RCD more popular than its rivals. For example, earth-leakage circuit breakers (ELCBs) were widely
used about ten years ago. These devices measured the voltage on the earth conductor; if this voltage was not zero this
indicated a current leakage to earth. The problem is that ELCBs need a sound earth connection, as does the equipment it
MCB Selection
• The first characteristic is the overload which is intended to prevent the accidental overloading of the cable in a no fault
situation. The speed of the MCB tripping will vary with the degree of the overload. This is usually achieved by the use of a
• The second characteristic is the magnetic fault protection, which is intended to operate when the fault reaches a
predetermined level and to trip the MCB within one tenth of a second.
• Many people think that if the current exceeds the nominal current, the device will trip, instantly. So if the rating is 30
amps, a current of 30.00001 amps will trip it, right? This is not true.
• The fuse and the MCB, even though their nominal currents are similar, have very different properties.
• For example, For 32Amps MCB and 30 Amp Fuse, to be sure of tripping in 0.1 seconds, the MCB requires a current of 128
• The fuse clearly requires more current to blow it in that time, but notice how much bigger both these currents are than
• There is a small likelihood that in the course of, say, a month, a 30-amp fuse will trip when carrying 30 amps. If the fuse
has had a couple of overloads before (which may not even have been noticed) this is much more likely. This explains why
• If the fuse is marked ’30 amps’, but it will actually stand 40 amps for over an hour, how can we justify calling it a ’30 amp’
fuse? The answer is that the overload characteristics of fuses are designed to match the properties of modern cables. For
example, a modern PVC-insulated cable will stand a 50% overload for an hour, so it seems reasonable that the fuse should
as well.