MCB (Miniature Circuit Breaker)

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Ratedcurrentnotmorethan100A.
Tripcharacteristicsnormallynotadjustable.
Thermalorthermalmagneticoperation.
MCCB (Moulded Case Circuit Breaker)

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Ratedcurrentupto1000A.
Tripcurrentmaybeadjustable.
Thermalorthermalmagneticoperation.
Air Circuit Breaker
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Ratedcurrentupto10,000A.
Tripcharacteristicsoftenfullyadjustableincluding
configurabletripthresholdsanddelays.
Usuallyelectronicallycontrolledsomemodelsare
microprocessorcontrolled.
Oftenusedformainpowerdistributioninlarge
industrialplant,wherethebreakersarearrangedin
drawoutenclosuresforeaseofmaintenance.
Vacuum Circuit Breaker
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Withratedcurrentupto3000A,
Thesebreakersinterruptthearcinavacuumbottle.
Thesecanalsobeappliedatupto35,000V.Vacuum
circuitbreakerstendtohavelongerlife
expectanciesbetweenoverhaulthandoaircircuit
breakers.

RCD (Residual Current Device /
RCCB(Residual Current Circuit Breaker)

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Phase (line) and Neutral both wires connected
through RCD.
It trips the circuit when there is earth fault current.
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 circuit within 30Miliseconed.
If a house has an earth systemconnected 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)
RCDs are an extremely effective formof shock
protection
The most widely used are 30 mA (milliamp) 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 in an earth fault without such protection
(hundred of amps)
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
StandardelectromechanicalRCCBsaredesignedto
operateonnormalsupplywaveformsandcannot
beguaranteedtooperatewherenonestandard
waveformsaregeneratedbyloads.Themost
commonisthehalfwaverectifiedwaveform
sometimescalledpulsatingdcgeneratedbyspeed
controldevices,semiconductors,computersand
evendimmers.
SpeciallymodifiedRCCBsareavailablewhichwill
operateonnormalacandpulsatingdc.
RCDsdontofferprotectionagainstcurrent
overloads:RCDsdetectanimbalanceintheliveand
neutralcurrents.Acurrentoverload,howeverlarge,
cannotbedetected.Itisafrequentcauseof
problemswithnovicestoreplaceanMCBinafuse
boxwithanRCD.Thismaybedoneinanattemptto
increaseshockprotection.Ifaliveneutralfault
occurs(ashortcircuit,oranoverload),theRCD
wonttrip,andmaybedamaged.Inpractice,the
mainMCBforthepremiseswillprobablytrip,orthe
servicefuse,sothesituationisunlikelytoleadto
catastrophe;butitmaybeinconvenient.
ItisnowpossibletogetanMCBandandRCDina
singleunit,calledanRCBO(seebelow).Replacingan
MCBwithanRCBOofthesameratingisgenerally
safe.
NuisancetrippingofRCCB:Suddenchangesin
electricalloadcancauseasmall,briefcurrentflow
toearth,especiallyinoldappliances.RCDsarevery
sensitiveandoperateveryquickly;theymaywell
tripwhenthemotorofanoldfreezerswitchesoff.
Someequipmentisnotoriously`leaky,thatis,
generateasmall,constantcurrentflowtoearth.
Sometypesofcomputerequipment,andlarge
televisionsets,arewidelyreportedtocause
problems.
RCDwillnotprotectagainstasocketoutletbeing
wiredwithitsliveandneutralterminalsthewrong
wayround.
RCDwillnotprotectagainsttheoverheatingthat
resultswhenconductorsarenotproperlyscrewed
intotheirterminals.
RCDwillnotprotectagainstliveneutralshocks,
becausethecurrentintheliveandneutralis
balanced.Soifyoutouchliveandneutral
conductorsatthesametime(e.g.,bothterminalsof
alightfitting),youmaystillgetanastyshock.

ELCB (Earth Leakage Circuit Breaker)

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Phase(line),NeutralandEarthwireconnected
throughELCB.
ELCBisworkingbasedonEarthleakagecurrent.
OperatingTimeofELCB:
o ThesafestlimitofCurrentwhichHuman
Bodycanwithstandis30masec.
o SupposeHumanBodyResistanceis500
andVoltagetogroundis230Volt.
o TheBodycurrentwillbe
500/230=460mA.
o HenceELCBmustbeoperatedin
30maSec/460mA=0.65msec
RCBO (Residual Circuit Breaker with
OverLoad)
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
Difference between ELCB and RCCB
ELCBistheoldnameandoftenreferstovoltage
operateddevicesthatarenolongeravailableandit
isadvisedyoureplacethemifyoufindone.
RCCBorRCDisthenewnamethatspecifiescurrent
operated(hencethenewnametodistinguishfrom
voltageoperated).
ThenewRCCBisbestbecauseitwilldetectany
earthfault.Thevoltagetypeonlydetectsearth
faultsthatflowbackthroughthemainearthwireso
thisiswhytheystoppedbeingused.
Theeasywaytotellanoldvoltageoperatedtripis
tolookforthemainearthwireconnectedthrough
it.
RCCBwillonlyhavethelineandneutral
connections.
ELCBisworkingbasedonEarthleakagecurrent.But
RCCBisnothavingsensingorconnectivityofEarth,
becausefundamentallyPhasecurrentisequaltothe
neutralcurrentinsinglephase.ThatswhyRCCBcan
tripwhenthebothcurrentsaredeferentandit
withstanduptoboththecurrentsaresame.Both
theneutralandphasecurrentsaredifferentthat
meanscurrentisflowingthroughtheEarth.
Finallybothareworkingforsame,butthethingis
connectivityisdifference.
RCDdoesnotnecessarilyrequireanearth
connectionitself(itmonitorsonlytheliveand
neutral).Inadditionitdetectscurrentflowstoearth
eveninequipmentwithoutanearthofitsown.
ThismeansthatanRCDwillcontinuetogiveshock
protectioninequipmentthathasafaultyearth.Itis
thesepropertiesthathavemadetheRCDmore
popularthanitsrivals.Forexample,earthleakage
circuitbreakers(ELCBs)werewidelyusedaboutten
yearsago.Thesedevicesmeasuredthevoltageon
theearthconductor;ifthisvoltagewasnotzerothis
indicatedacurrentleakagetoearth.Theproblemis
thatELCBsneedasoundearthconnection,asdoes
theequipmentitprotects.Asaresult,theuseof
ELCBsisnolongerrecommended.