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Switching in Electrical Transmission and Distribution Systems
book

Switching in Electrical Transmission and Distribution Systems

by René Smeets, Lou van der Sluis, Mirsad Kapetanovic, David F. Peelo, Anton Janssen
October 2014
Intermediate to advanced content levelIntermediate to advanced
440 pages
15h 32m
English
Wiley
Content preview from Switching in Electrical Transmission and Distribution Systems

7 Gas Circuit-Breakers

7.1 Oil Circuit-Breakers

From a historical perspective, oil circuit-breakers were the first circuit-breakers designed for high-power applications. The interruption of current in oil circuit-breakers is performed in oil by way of the dissociation product H2 gas (see Section 6.3), and therefore the oil circuit-breaker is classed as a gas circuit-breaker. At the beginning of the twentieth century, their breaking capacity was sufficient to meet the demands of the power systems at that time. Oil circuit-breakers are still used in the electrical power system worldwide, but development stopped long ago.

Oil circuit-breakers are classified according to the volume of oil used: bulk-oil and minimum-oil circuit-breakers.

Bulk-oil circuit-breakers (see Section 6.3.2 for the interruption principle) were of simple design: a set of contacts immersed in oil and not equipped with interruption chambers. One of the first plain-break circuit-breakers in the USA was designed and built by J.N. Kelman [1] in 1901. It was capable of interrupting a short-circuit current of 300 to 400 A at 40 kV supply voltage. Kelman's circuit-breaker (Figure 7.1) was made up of two open wooden barrels filled with a combination of water and oil. The two breaks, connected in series, were operated by a common handle. This circuit-breaker was in service for less than a year, from April 1902 to March 1903, and after a number of current interruptions at short-time intervals, blazing oil was spewed ...

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9781118381359Purchase book