MODULE 5
UNIT 3: Equipment Safety Measures
Introduction:
In electrical engineering, the power rating of equipment is the highest power input allowed to flow
through particular equipment. The term "power" may refer to electrical or mechanical power. The power rating
of an electric appliance is the electrical energy consumed per second by the appliance when connected across
the voltage of the mains.
Protective devices:
Electric circuits are vulnerable to various kinds of faults and short circuits are the highly harmful ones.
This is where MCBs and fuses do their job. Both do the same thing: interrupt the current flow to the circuit or
equipment and safeguard the circuit from electrical hazards. But their principle of operation and capabilities
are different.
Working principle of Fuse:
Fuse is an electrical device that self-destructs and stops the current flow in a circuit whenever the
current exceeds the predefined value.
Figure 1(a): Working of Fuse under Figure 1(b): Working of Fuse under
normal condition abnormal condition
A fuse works based on the thermal property of materials conducting electric current. It consists of a
metal wire or conductor material which can conduct a predefined amount of current through it. Whenever
excessive current flows through the fuse, the conducting material inside it melts down because of the heat
generated by the heavy flow of current through it and therefore the current flow through it is interrupted and
it disconnects the power supply from the connected system as shown in figure 1(b).
In normal operation of the circuit, fuse wire is just a very low resistance component and does not affect
the normal operation of the system connected to the power supply.
Advantages of fuse:
1. Fuse is cheapest type of protection in an electrical circuit.
2. Fuse needs zero maintenance.
3. Operation of fuse is simple and no complexity is involved.
4. Fuse has the ability to interrupt enormous short circuit current without producing noise, flame, gas or
smoke.
5. The operation time of fuse can be made much smaller than operation of circuit breaker. It is the
6. primary protection device against short circuits.
7. It affords current limiting effect under short-circuit conditions.
8. Fuse inverse time current characteristic has the ability to use for over-load protection.
Disadvantages of fuse
1. Fuse is required to be replaced or rewired after its operation.
2. The replacement or rewiring of fuse takes a lot of time.
3. The current-time characteristics cannot be always correlated with that of the protected equipment’s.
4. It is not possible to provide secondary protection to fuses.
Miniature circuit Breaker(MCB):
A circuit breaker is defined as a switching device which interrupts the faulty current and performs the
function of a switch thus protecting the electrical system from damage.
Miniature circuit breaker (MCB) is an automatic switch that opens when excessive current flows
through the circuit. It can be reclosed without any manual replacement.
In the case of a fuse, once a fuse has been operated, it must be replaced or rewired. This is the main
reason why MCBs are used as an alternative to the fuse in most of the circuits. Also, whenever there
is a fault in the circuit, the switches in the MCB automatically shut down and the fault of the device
can be easily detected.
MCB is quite safe and it quickly restores the supply.
MCB can be reset quickly and does not demand more maintenance costs.
MCB works on a bi-metal respective principle that protects against overload current and solenoid short
circuit current.
Working Principle of MCB:
The typical working real-time MCB is as shown in the Fig below.
When the excessive current flows take place through MCB due to abnormal conditions, the bimetallic
strip gets heated and it deflects by bending. The deflection of the bi-metallic strip releases a latch. The
latch causes the MCB to turn off by stopping the flow of the current in the circuit. This process helps
to safeguard the appliances or devices from the hazards happening due to overload or overcurrent. To
restore the power continuity in the circuit MCB must be turned ON manually.
In the case of short circuit conditions, the current rises suddenly in an unpredictable way, leading to
the electromechanical displacement of the plunger associated with a solenoid. The plunger hits the trip
lever, it causes the automatic release of the latch mechanism by opening the circuit breaker contacts. •
The trip unit is the key part of the MCB – Miniature Circuit Breaker on which the unit operates.
Advantages of MCB
1. MCB is an MCB is a simple, easily operable device
2. It requires less maintenance.
3. MCB can be easily replaced.
4. The bi-metal present in the MCB circuit protects against overload current and the electromagnet in
the circuit protects against short-circuit current.