5/1/2017 CircuitBreakerRatingsOpenElectrical

CircuitBreakerRatings
FromOpenElectrical

Contents
1 HighVoltageCircuitBreakers
1.1 Ir(Ratednormalcurrent)
1.2 Ik(Ratedshorttimewithstandcurrent)
1.3 Ip(Ratedpeakwithstandcurrent)
1.4 Isc(Ratedshortcircuitbreakingcurrent)
1.5 Imc(Ratedshortcircuitmakingcurrent)
1.6 TRV(Transientrecoveryvoltage)
2 LowVoltageCircuitBreakers
2.1 In(Ratedcurrent)
2.2 Icm(Ratedshortcircuitmakingcurrent)
2.3 Icu(Ratedultimateshortcircuitcurrent)
2.4 Ics(Ratedserviceshortcircuitcurrent)
2.5 Icw(Ratedshorttimewithstandcurrent)
3 OtherRatings
3.1 Ith(Thermalshortcircuitcurrent)

HighVoltageCircuitBreakers
BasedonIEC62271100(HVcircuitbreakers)andIEC622711(HVswitchgear):

Ir(Ratednormalcurrent)

Theratedcontinuous/uninterruptedcurrentthatthecircuitbreakercancarry.

Ik(Ratedshorttimewithstandcurrent)

Thermsvalueofthecurrentwhichmustbecarriedbythecircuitbreakerintheclosedpositionduringaspecified
shorttimeunderprescribeduseandbehaviour.Thespecifiedtimeiscalledtherated"durationofshortcircuit"or
tk,andhasastandardvalueof1s.Otherrecommendedvaluesare0.5s,2sand3s.Theratedshorttimewithstand
currentisequaltotheratedshortcircuitbreakingcurrent(Isc).

Ip(Ratedpeakwithstandcurrent)

Thepeakcurrentassociatedwiththeratedshorttimewithstandcurrent,andisdefinedaccordingtothedctime
constant(whereatimeconstantof45mscoversthemajorityofcasesandcorrespondstoaratedpeakwithstand
currentof2.5xIkfor50Hzandbelowor2.6xIkfor60Hzsystems).Theratedpeakwithstandcurrentisequalto
theratedshortcircuitmakingcurrent(Imc).

Isc(Ratedshortcircuitbreakingcurrent)

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Thehighestshortcircuitcurrentthatthecircuitbreakershallbecapableofbreakingundertheconditionsofuse
andbehaviourprescribedinIEC62271100.Itischaracterisedbytwovalues:

ACcomponentthermsvaluethatisastandardcurrentselectedfromtheR10seriesofnumbers

DCtimeconstantthetimeconstantthatresultsinapercentageofthedccomponentoftheshort
circuitatcontactseparation.Astandardvalueof45mscoversthemajorityofallcases.Specialtime
constantscanalsobeuseddependingonvoltage(e.g.120msfor<52kV,60msfor<420kVand75ms
for>550kV)

Imc(Ratedshortcircuitmakingcurrent)

Theshortcircuitcurrentthatthecircuitbreakercanwithstandasitisclosingwheretheactofclosinginitiatesthe
fault.

TRV(Transientrecoveryvoltage)

Thereferencevoltagewhichconstitutesthelimitoftheprospectivetransientrecoveryvoltageofcircuitswhichthe
circuitbreakershallbecapableofwithstandingundershortcircuitconditions.

LowVoltageCircuitBreakers
BasedonIEC609472(LVswitchgearandcontrolgearPart2:Circuitbreakers):

In(Ratedcurrent)

Theratedcontinuous/uninterruptedcurrentthatthecircuitbreakercancarry.

Icm(Ratedshortcircuitmakingcurrent)

Theshortcircuitcurrentthatthecircuitbreakercanwithstandasitisclosingwheretheactofclosinginitiatesthe
fault.

Icu(Ratedultimateshortcircuitcurrent)

Themaximumsymmetricalshortcircuitcurrentthecircuitbreakercaninterrupt.

Ics(Ratedserviceshortcircuitcurrent)

Thebreakingcapacitysuchthatthecircuitbreakeristestedtocarryitscurrentcontinuously.Thetestsequence
verifiesthatthebreakercanbereturnedtoservice.Icsisthemaximumcurrentthebreakercaninterruptmultiple
timesandbereturnedtoservicewithoutbeingdamagedandisexpressedasa%ofIcu.

Icw(Ratedshorttimewithstandcurrent)

Thisisthesteadystatesymmetricalfaultcurrentthebreakerhastobeabletocarryforadurationof0.05sto3s
withoutexceedingitsthermalintegrity.

OtherRatings
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Ith(Thermalshortcircuitcurrent)

Ithisthejouleintegralandthermalequivalentshortcircuitcurrentandisameasureoftheenergygeneratedinthe
resistiveelementofthesystembytheshortcircuitcurrent(seeIEC609090Clause4.8).

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Categories: Switchgear Protection

Thispagewaslastmodifiedon18February2017,at03:03.

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