Wednesday, 24 April 2013

Understanding Circuit Breakers


 Circuit breaker we came across the circuit while analyzing various circuits or electrical connection in home etc…

The basic idea is nothing but Fuse (which melts and cut of its connection while heavy current flows in order to safeguard the loads) similarly it detach from the network where as fuse once break means we have to replace it by new one but in case of circuit breaker it may reconnect by switching on ..
Working
The diagram on the right shows the set of a basic circuit breaker. It is pretty self explanatory, but this article will go through the steps involved when a circuit breaker cuts off the power to prevent damage or injury following a current surge.
First of all, on the diagram we see that the electricity comes from the right hand side, through a live wire. This wire is the wrapped around a magnet, making it into an electromagnet. The wire then continues along the circuit, along a pivot fixed in place by a spring, then there are two contacts at the top left of the diagram. When all is fine and the current is not to strong, the electricity passes along the contacts and then continues to its destination.
However, if there is a surge in the current, the current through the live wire and around the magnet will become so high that the electromagnet manages to pull the right hand contact away from the other and clicks the pivot into the second position (it moves clockwise). This is why you hear a clicking noise. The spring makes sure that the pivot doesn't move back again. When you reset a circuit breaker by flicking a switch, you are manually pushing the pivot back to its original position, allowing electricity to flow through the contacts again.

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