
231System Protection
relay. If the relay is of a plunger type, it opens instantaneously; otherwise, after an inten-
tional time delay, that can be adjusted by the system design engineer. Closing the relay
contacts energizes the circuit breaker trip coil, which, in turn, opens the circuit breaker
poles (contacts). The arc formed during the circuit breaker pole opening is blown away
by blast air or transverse magnetic eld between the poles. The arc extinguishes when the
arc current comes to its natural zero on the sinusoidal cycle, and the insulating property
of the interpole gap is resorted after the ionized medium is blown away. If the arc is ...