Posts

Showing posts with the label THERMAL IONIZATION OF GAS

Formation of arc during circuit breaking

Formation of arc during circuit breaking The phenomena of Arc During opening of current carrying contacts in a circuit breaker the medium in between opening contacts become highly ionized through which the interrupting current gets low resistive path and continues to flow through this path even after the contacts are physically separated. During the flowing of current from one contact to other the path becomes so heated that it glows in the form of an arc.Arc in circuit breaker Whenever, the contacts of circuit breaker open while carrying load there is an arc in the medium between the separating contacts of the circuit breaker. As long as this arc is sustained in between the contacts, the current through the circuit breaker will not be interrupted totally.For total interruption of current, the arc needs to be quenched as quickly as possible. The main designing criteria of a circuit breaker is to provide appropriate technology of arc quenching in circuit breaker to fulfill quick and