subject: What Is An Air Circuit Breaker [print this page] Perhaps youve heard there are distinct types of circuit breakers and also have come across what is recognized as an air circuit breaker. Certainly, a circuit breaker is a circuit breaker, yet what sets this particular one apart from the others? What is an air circuit breaker? To understand how an air circuit breaker is utilized for, you have to 1st understood a bit about how breakers work. Now, say there is a power surge running through 1 of the actual circuits.
The circuit breaker is designed to open the actual circuit to interrupt the actual electric flow and prevent the actual surge from causing damage. Nevertheless, whenever the circuit is opened, it creates an arc. An arc is a large amount of heat generated by the interruption of the electric flow. This is exactly where the actual air comes in. The actual arc can be cooled by a range of mediums and also one of those mediums happens to be air. In an air circuit breaker, the actual arc is cooled down immediately using air for that reason that the actual circuit could once again be closed to resume a normal electric flow.
The arc can also be cooled using insulating gas, vacuum or oil, often depending on what is the best option for a particular breaker. So, an air circuit breaker simply uses air, instead of oil or something else, to reduce the heat brought to life by the opening of a circuit. It has the actual goal as any other circuit breaker; it just has a different medium. Normally we are not used to seeing accidental explosions or fire blazing in our home or office whenever the current jumps above the protected level or when there are any other faults on the electrical system.
Whenever a lot of these incidents are roughly to happen, the actual circuit breaker cuts the power to the electrical system. Without circuit breakers (or the alternative, fuses), household electrical power would be impractical because of the actual potential for fires and also other mayhem resulting against simple wiring issues and tools failures. It is 1 of the most essential safety mechanisms either on the primary point of electrical power or on the electrical distribution systems from exactly where electricity is distributed in our family home.
Air circuit breaker: Whenever the actual breaker opens the actual current flow is interrupted that causes an electrical arc to be generated. This specific arc is cooled and extinguished in a controlled way, so that the gap between the actual contacts can again withstand the voltage on the circuit. Whenever the fault condition is fixed, the actual contact is again closed to restore power to the actual interrupted circuit. When a circuit breaker uses compressed air to put out the arc the circuit breaker is called air circuit breaker.
