MINIATURE

MINIATURE CIRCUIT
CIRCUITBREAKERS
BREAKERS (MCB)
(MCB)
&
&
MOULDED
MOULDED CASE
CASECIRCUIT
CIRCUITBREAKER
BREAKER(MCCB)
(MCCB)

2017-05-03
 Circuit Breaker
A circuit breaker is an automatically-operated electrical switch designed to
protect electric circuit from damage caused by overload or short circuit.
Circuit breaker consists of pairs of fixed and moving contacts.
Normally contact carry load current.
During overloading or fault condition the moving and fixed contacts are
separated.
When a current is interrupted, an arc is generated.
At the time of separation arc is produced and continue until completely
interrupted.
Circuit breaker should be capable of extinguishing arc without damage this
arc must be contained, cooled, and extinguished in a controlled way, so that
the gap between the contacts can again withstand the voltage in the circuit .
In low voltage system MCB or MCCB are used for protection.
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 Miniature Circuit Breaker (MCB)
MCB is a mechanical device operate automatically to connect and
disconnect the electric circuit in the ordinary and extraordinary situation.
Suitable for AC and DC voltage.
Main function is to protect equipment from overload and short circuit.
Size is small and usually use for household appliance and domestic.
Ampere rating from 6 A up to 125 A. It can be reset back to the normal
condition after trip but cannot adjusted ampere rating.
It can be found for single or three phase.
MCB are used to following purpose following purposes:
- Work as switch or isolator
- For Overload protection and short circuit protection

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 Miniature Circuit Breaker (MCB)
Basic construction
A switching mechanism
An automated operation device
Arc extinguisher
Have a fixed contact and moving contact
Comply with IEC 60898
Breaking capacity not less than 6 kA (rms).

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 Miniature Circuit Breaker (MCB)
MCB has following features:
Solenoid
Outgoing Line
Arch Chute and Arc chamber
Moving Contact
Fixed Contact
Incoming Line
Upper & lower terminal
Space for Indicator
Operational Knob
Tripping Liver

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 Miniature Circuit Breaker (MCB)
Section View of MCB

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 Miniature Circuit Breaker (MCB)

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 Miniature Circuit Breaker (MCB)
Operation of MCB
MCB is a high fault capacity thermal and magnetic current trip free
automatic switching device.
There are two main operations i.e. thermal operation with inverse time
characteristic for overload protection and hammer trip assisted magnetic
operation for short-circuit operation.
Single phase MCB is connected in series with phase wire whereas the
neutral wire is to be connected from main distribution plug point.

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 Miniature Circuit Breaker (MCB)
Overload
During overload the breaker employ heat to break the circuit current flow
The thermal operation is achieved with bimetallic strip, which deflects
when heated by any over current flowing through it.
The bimetallic strip, made of two types of materials welded together.
At high heat levels, this strip bends at an angle that pulls the circuit
breakers lever down and breaks the connection between the circuit
breakers contact plate and the stationary contact plate.
The latch mechanism is released and causes the contact top.

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 Miniature Circuit Breaker (MCB)
Short Circuit:
The MCB have three dimensional electromagnetic coil whose pulling
force increases with the current.
The circuit breaker contacts are held closed by a latch so that when the
current in the coil goes beyond the rating of the circuit breaker, the coil's
pull releases which allows the contacts to open with a spring action.
The rising current energizes the solenoid operating the plunger to strike
the trip lever causing immediate release of the latch mechanism

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 Miniature Circuit Breaker (MCB)
Advantage of MCB
Available in wide ranges. They are available for single phase, double pole,
three phase three pole and 4 pole.
Normally current rating is 6A, 10A, 16A, 20A, 32A,40A, 63A
Replaces out dated fuse system for protection
Quick identification of faulty circuit even in dark
Automatic circuit OFF in case of overload and short circuit.
In case of fault clear just restored switch ON . No replacement is required.
Prevent full fault current in the passage during short circuit current.
Result in opening of contacts in less than 1msec
Total Operating time is reduced to less than 5msec.

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 Miniature Circuit Breaker (MCB)

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 Miniature Circuit Breaker (MCB)
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 thermal device in the MCB.
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.
The level of magnetic trip gives the MCB its type characteristic as
follows:

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 Type Tripping Current Operating Time
Type B 3 To 5 time full load current 0.04 To 13 Sec
Type C 5 To 10 times full load current 0.04 To 5 Sec
Type D 10 To 20 times full load current 0.04 To 3 Sec
The third characteristic is the short circuit protection, which is intended to
protect against heavy faults maybe in thousands of amps caused by short
circuit faults.
The capability of the MCB to operate under these conditions gives its short
circuit rating in kA. In general for consumer units a 6 kA fault level is
adequate whereas for industrial boards 10kA fault capabilities or above may
be required

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 Moulded Case Circuit Breaker (MCCB)
MCCB is also a mechanical device operate automatically to connect and
disconnect the electric circuit in the ordinary and extraordinary situation.
- Suitable for AC and DC voltage. It mean main function is to protected
equipment or circuit from overload and short circuit.
- The size of MCCB usually use for transformer protection, Motor
protection and other expensive equipment with high ratings.
- Average fix ampere rating from 10 Amp up to more than 1000 Amp.
- It can be reset back to the normal condition after trip.
- Some MCCB can be adjusted ampere rating as in case of relay setting.
- It can be found for single phase 1 and three phase 3 voltage

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 Moulded Case Circuit Breaker (MCCB)
- MCCB are used to following purpose following purposes:
- Work as switch or isolator
- For Overload protection
- For Short circuit protection
- Basic construction
- A switching mechanism
- An automated operation device
- Arc extinguisher
- Have a fixed contact and moving contact
- Breaking capacity not less than 6 kA ( RMS) and following main
features:

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 Moulded Case Circuit Breaker (MCCB)

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 Moulded Case Circuit Breaker (MCCB)
- MCCB is normally mounted into a low-voltage switchboard or designed
panel board
- An electronic or thermal/electromagnetic trip sensing system to operate
through the tripping mechanism and open the circuit beaker under overload
or fault conditions .Some MCCBs have magnetic trip only.
- All parts housed within a plastic moulded housing made in two halves
- The current rating of MCCB is usually between 10 A to 1000 A or higher.
- The fixed contacts are usually mounted on a block panel or within a plastic
moulding and the moving contacts are usually supported on an insulated
bar or within an insulated carriage.

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 Moulded Case Circuit Breaker (MCCB)
- In addition to these main contacts generally comprise a silvertungsten
alloy which provides high electrical conductivity with excellent wear
against arc erosion and good anti-welding properties.
- The arc contacts are positioned in such a way that they make first and
break last during opening and closing of the contacts. Their purpose is to
ensure that any arcing takes place on arcing contacts before the main
contacts touch; the arcing contacts can then break once the main contacts
have been forced together. During opening ,the sequence is reversed. This
action protects the main contacts form damage by arcing.
- Extinguishing of the arc is an important feature in all lowvoltage
switchgear.

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 Moulded Case Circuit Breaker (MCCB)
- All air circuit breaker have devices to extinguish the arc; once formed, will
tend to move away from its point of origin by forming the contact system
carefully, the magnetic field generated by the current flow is used to move
the arc into an arcing chamber.
- The plates are used to split the arc into a number of smaller arcs, having the
effect of lengthening and cooling the arc.
- The arc is then extinguished when the voltage drop along it is equal to the
voltage across the open contacts.
- If the arc can be extinguished very quickly before the full prospective fault
current is reached, the maximum current passed through the circuit breaker
can be limited.

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 Moulded Case Circuit Breaker (MCCB)
- This current limiting is achieved if the arc is extinguished within 10 ms of
the start of the fault, before the peak of the sinusoidal current waveform is
reached, many designs have been tried in an attempt to achieve current
limiting.
- Many of these design arc based on forming the current carrying conductors
within the circuit breaker in such a way that the electromagnetic forces
created by the currents force the arc into the arcing chamber very quickly.
- A particular development of this is to form blowout coils from the current
carrying conductors.

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 Breaking Capacity of MCCB

- Electrical installations and circuits are subject to the danger of fault leading
to short-circuit and high current flow.
- MCCB should operate and interrupt the fault current within a short period
or tie (0.05- 0.3sec) and faulty section is separated.
- Rated Breaking capacity = 3 * rated breaking current in kA * rated
voltage of the given device
- Maximum Fault power Smax = 3 * maximum value short circuit current in
kA * voltage of the given installation in kV
- Rated breaking capacity Maximum current flowing through the circuit at
short circuit condition
- Rated braking MVA Maximum MVA (Fault power ) developed in the
circuit during the fault condition
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 Advantage of MCCB
- Available in wide ranges. They are available for single phase, double
pole, three phase three pole and 4 pole.
- Normally current rating is, 10A to 1000A
- Replaces out dated fuse system for protection
- Quick identification of faulty circuit even in dark
- Automatic circuit OFF in case of overload and short circuit.
- In case of fault clear just restored switch ON . No replacement is
required.
- Prevent full fault current in the passage during short circuit current.
- Result in opening of contacts in less than 1msec
- Total Operating time is reduced to less than 5msec.

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 Difference between MCB & MCCB
- An MCB has less than 100 amps while an MCCB goes as high as 2,500
amps:- The main difference between them is their capacity with the MCB
rated under 100 amps with an interrupting rating of under 18,000 amps. On
the other hand, an MCCB can be used at high amps as 2,500 or as low as
10 depending on what is necessary. Their interrupting rating can be around
10,000 amps to 200,000 amps.
- MCB is mainly used for low-energy application such as home wiring or
small electronic circuits. The MCCB is more used in application for high-
power equipment.

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 Difference between MCB & MCCB
- Although an MCCB has a higher capacity than an MCB, both are classified
under low voltage circuit breakers and some MCCB units can be tripped
using only a remote control in electrical motor operation.
- it is important to consider the amount of power when choosing between
using an MCB and an MCCB.
- MCBs are mostly installed for home use while an MCCB is generally
utilized for commercial or industrial purposes.
- As mentioned above, MCCB is more suited for higher energy
application because of better capacity. In home use, the MCB is usually the
choice. For heavier power requirements beyond the 1,000amps, medium or
high-voltage circuit breakers would be the next best possible choices

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