Unit – 4

(Electrical and Electronics Components)

 Components of LT switchgear:-
The apparatus used for switching, controlling and protecting the electrical circuits and equipment
is known as switchgear.
“The term ‘switchgear’ is a generic term that includes a wide range of switching devices like circuit
breakers, switches, switch fuse units, off load isolators, HRC fuses, contactors, miniature circuit
breaker, ELCBs, GFCIs etc.
Important switchgear components:
1. Bushings
2. Circuit breaker contacts
3. Instrument transformers
4. Bus-bars and conductors

1. Switch Fuse Unit (SFU):

A short piece of metal wire, inserted in series with the circuit, which melts when
predetermined value of current flows through it and breaks the circuit is called a fuse.
It is Switched Fuse Unit. It has one switch unit and one fuse unit. When we operate
the breaker, the contacts will get closed through switch and then the supply will pass
through the fuse unit to the output. Whereas in a Fuse Switch Unit there is no
separate switch and fuse unit. There is only the fuse unit which itself acts as a switch.
When we operate it the fuse unit will close the input and output of the breaker.
SFU has been used to trip the circuit, particularly for high capacity tripping.

The switch fuse unit (SFU) is used for the following purposes.

1. For isolation of the circuit.

2. For the protection of the equipment in case of the short circuit faults.

2. Miniature Circuit Breaker (MCB):

Miniature circuit breaker (MCB) is a device that ensures definite protection of wiring system
and sophisticated equipment against over current and short circuit faults. The outer view
and the internal details of a MCB are shown in the following figures.
Principle of operation: MCB may operate under the following two different conditions:
1) Moderate overload condition: Detection of moderate overload conditions is achieved by
use of thermometal that deflects in response to the current passing through it. The
thermometal moves against the trip lever, releasing the trip mechanism.
2) Short circuit conditions: When the current flowing through the MCB reaches a
predetermined level ( as per its setting or rating), it pushes the solenoid plunger that
releases the trip mechanism and simultaneously separates the contacts.
Under short circuit conditions, the current-limiting action is achieved by the use of a high speed,
direct acting electromagnetic mechanism. This mechanism forcibly separates the contacts and
simultaneously releases the trip mechanism. A high arc voltage drop is rapidly introduced that
limits the fault current to a duration of few milliseconds and achieves almost instantaneous
interruption.
Application:
Since MCBs are available with different current ratings of 0.5, 1.6, 2, 2.5, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.5, 10, 16, 20,
25, 32, 35, 40 and 63 A and voltage ratings of 240/415 V AC and up to 220 V DC.
Moreover, they have very small breaking time (5 millisecond), and therefore, these are generally
employed to protect the important and sophisticated appliances used commercially and for
domestic purposes, such as computers, air conditioners, compressors, refrigerators and many
others.

3. Earth Leakage Circuit Breaker (ELCB):

In the industrial, commercial and domestic buildings, sometimes (usually in rainy season)
leakage to earth occurs. This leakage may cause shock or fire. Hence, the leakage to earth is
very dangerous and needs protection.
ELCB is a device that provides protection against earth leakage faults.
Principle of operation:
Under normal conditions, the magnitude of currents flowing through the phase wire and neutral
arc the same and core of the core-balanced transformer does not carry flux (i.e., two windings
neutralize the flux). Therefore, no emf is induced in the operating coil of the relay wound of the
same core. However, the earth fault (earth leakage) occurs, the current in the phase wire
becomes more than the neutral wire. This unbalancing sets up flux in the core of the core-
balanced transformer, which in turn induces an emf in the operating coil of the relay. Hence, relay
is energized and the plunger of the ELCB goes to the off position or disconnects the load from the
supply. Therefore, ELCB protects the system against leakage.
Application:
General outdoor lights, street lights, water heaters, bathroom sockets, kitchen outlets, balcony
sockets, water pumps, etc., must be equipped with ELCB. ELCB must be installed within 1.8 meters
of the water or if it is temporarily used.

Considering the safety of the consumers, ELCB needs to choose the lowest level of the shunt,
which is the best installation location.

4. Moulded Case Circuit Breaker (MCCB):

MCCB stands for Molded Case Circuit Breaker. It is another type of electrical protection
device which is used when load current exceeds the limit of a miniature circuit breaker.
The MCCB provides protection against overload, short circuit faults and is also used for switching
the circuits. It can be used for higher current rating and fault level even in domestic applications.
The wide current ratings and high breaking capacity in MCCB find their use in industrial
applications.
Principle of operation:
The MCCB has a manually operated switch for tripping the circuit.
The MCCB has two arrangements. One for the over temperature and the other for the over
current. It consists bimetallic contact which expands and contracts when the temperature of the
MCCB changes. During the normal operating conditions, the contact allows the current to flow
through the circuit. But as the current rises beyond the predefined value, then their contacts will
warm and expand until the contacts are open. Thus, disconnected the circuit from the main
supply and protects the equipment from damage.
Application:
MCCB can be used for protection of capacitor bank, generator protection and main electric feeder
distribution. It offers adequate protection whenever an application requires discrimination,
adjustable overload setting or earth fault protection.
Difference between MCB and MCCB:

S.No MCB MCCB

1 It stands for Miniature Circuit Breaker. It stands for Molded Case Circuit Breaker.
2 Rated current not more than 125 Ampere. Rated Current up to 1600A
Its interrupting current rating is under Their interrupting current ranges from
3
10KA around 10KA -85KA
Judging from their power capacities, MCB MCCB is mainly used for both low and high
4 is mainly used for low Breaking capacity Breaking capacity requirements mainly
requirement mainly domestic. industrial.
Its trip characteristics are normally not Its trip current may be fixed as well as
5 adjustable since they basically cater to low adjustable for overload and magnetic
circuits. setting.

Difference between RCCB and ELCB:

S.No RCCB ELCB

RCCB refers to ear stands for Residual ELCB stands for Electric Leakage Circuit
1.
Current Circuit Breaker. Breaker.
It is a new name and refers to current ELCB refers to voltage operated earth
2.
operated devices. leakage device.
It ensures 100% detection of leakage It is not preferable as it can only detect
3. current& is available to sense the AC as current that flow back through the main
well as DC leakage current. earth wire.
RCCB has no connection with the earth ELCB is working based on Earth leakage
wire and that’s why it can trip when both current. These devices measured the
4. currents (phase and neutral) are different voltage on the earth conductor; if this
and it withstands up to both the currents voltage was not zero this indicated a
are same. current leakage to earth.
  Types of wires and cables:
A solid or standard conductor covered with insulation is known as a cable.
The cable may be a single core or multicore depending upon the number of conductors.
Various types of insulating materials are employed for covering the conductors.
Accordingly, the cables (wiring conductors) may be classified as follows:
1. Vulcanized Indian Rubber (VIR) cables
2. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) cables
3. Tough rubber sheathed (TRS) or Cab tire sheathed (CTS) cables
4. Lead sheathed cables
5. Weather proof cables

 Earthing:
The process of connecting metallic bodies of all the electrical apparatus and equipment to
the huge mass of earth by a wire of negligible resistance is called earthing.
When a body is earthed, it is basically connected to the huge mass of earth by a wire
having negligible resistance. Therefore, the body attains zero potential, that is, potential of
earth. This ensures that whenever a live conductor comes is contact with the outer body,
the charge is released to the earth immediately.
The basic purpose of earthing is to protect the human body (operator) from electric
shock. When earth fault occurs, the live (phase) wire directly comes in contact with the
outer body and the insulation resistance reduces to zero. Now, the body resistance is just in
parallel with the appliance resistance. A heavy current flows through the human body and
operator gets a severe shock.

 Types of Batteries:
Historically the term "battery" specifically referred to a device composed of multiple cells,
however the usage has evolved to include devices composed of a single cell.
A battery is a device consisting of one or more electrochemical cells with external connections
provided to power electrical devices such as flashlights, mobile phones, and electric cars.
Batteries are classified into primary and secondary forms:

 Primary batteries are designed to be used until exhausted of energy then discarded. Their
chemical reactions are generally not reversible, so they cannot be recharged. When the supply
of reactants in the battery is exhausted, the battery stops producing current and is useless.
 Secondary batteries can be recharged; that is, they can have their chemical reactions reversed
by applying electric current to the cell. This regenerates the original chemical reactants, so
they can be used, recharged, and used again multiple times.
Some types of primary batteries used, for example, for telegraph circuits, were restored to
operation by replacing the electrodes.[25] Secondary batteries are not indefinitely rechargeable
due to dissipation of the active materials, loss of electrolyte and internal corrosion.

 Important Characteristics of batteries:

The use of batteries in photovoltaic systems differs from the use of batteries in other
common battery applications. For photovoltaic systems, the key technical considerations are that
the battery experience a long lifetime under nearly full discharge conditions. Common
rechargeable battery applications do not experience both deep cycling and being left at low states
of charge for extended periods of time. For example, in batteries for starting cars or other
engines, the battery experiences a large, short current drain, but is at full charge for most of its
life. Similarly, batteries in uninterruptible power supplies are kept at full charge for most of their
life. For batteries in consumer electronics, the weight or size is often the most important
consideration. This section provides an overview of the critical battery characteristics or
specifications, including battery voltage, capacity, charging/discharging regimes, efficiency, etc.

The important characteristics of a battery is as follows:

 Chemistry
 Voltage
 Capacity
 Cold cranking amps (CCA)
 Specific energy and energy density
 Specific power
 C-rates
 Load
 Watts and Volt-amps (VA)

CHEMISTRY
The main battery chemistries are lead, nickel and lithium. They all need a specific designated
charger, this is why charging these batteries on a different charger from their own might cause an
incorrect charge, despite it may seem to work at first.
This happens because of the different regulatory requirement of each chemistry.

VOLTAGE
A battery features a nominal voltage. Along with the amount of cells connected in series,
chemistry provides the open circuit voltage (OCV), which is about 5-7% higher on a fully charged
battery.
It is important to check the correct nominal voltage of a battery before connecting it.
CAPACITY
The capacity of a battery indicates the specific energy in ampere-hours (Ah), which represents the
discharge current that a battery is able to issue over the course of time.
Installing a battery that has a higher Ah than indicated offers a longer runtime, just as a smaller Ah
provides a shorter runtime. Moreover, charging a larger battery will take more time than charging
a smaller one, but the Ah divergence must not surpass 25%.

COLD CRANKING AMPS (CCA)

Every starter battery is marked with cold cranking amps, also abbreviated CCA. The number
denotes the amount of amps that the battery is able to provide at -18°C.
SPECIFIC ENERGY AND ENERGY DENSITY
Specific energy expresses the capacity of a battery in weight (Wh/kg), and it can also be called
gravimetric energy density. Energy density, also called volumetric energy density, describes
volume in liters (Wh/l).
Those products that need a long runtime at moderate load are optimized for high specific energy.

SPECIFIC POWER
Loading capability is designated by specific power, also called gravimetric power density. Power
tools need a battery made for high specific power that features a lowered specific energy
(capacity).
C-RATES
C-rates indicate how much time a battery takes to charge or discharge. If the battery is at 1C, it
charges and discharges at a current that is equal to the marked Ah rating; at 0,5C, the time is
doubled and the current is half; at 0,1C the time is 10-fold and the current is one-tenth.
LOAD
Load describes the current drawn from a battery. The voltage drops under load because of the
internal battery resistance and the state of charge (SoC), causing the end of discharge.
Power is measured in watts (W) and it represents the current provided; energy is the physical
work over the course of time and it is indicated in watt-hours (Wh).

WATTS AND VOLT-AMPS (VA)

Watts and Volt-amps (VA) represent, respectively, the real power metered and the apparent
power influenced by a reactive load.
Watt and VA readings are equal if measured on a resistive load. A reactive load triggers a phase
shift between voltage and current, causing the lowering of the power factor (pf) and the ideal one
(1) to 0,7 or less. The dimensioning of electrical wiring and circuit breakers has to be based on VA
power.

 Elementary calculations for energy consumption:

To calculate the consumption of an electrical appliance in kWh, we have to take into account
three factors:

1. the capacity of your electrical appliance, expressed in watt.

2. the number of hours that the appliance is in use in one day.
3. the number of days per year when the appliance is in use.
The calculation is as follows:

[number of hours’ use] x [number of days’ use] x ([capacity of appliance expressed in watt] /
1,000) = number of kWh

The capacity should be divided by 1,000 to convert the number of watts into the number of
kilowatts. This finally gives us the number of kWh (kilowatt hours).

 Introduction to power factor improvement and battery backup:

 Power Factor Improvement:
The term power factor comes into the picture in AC circuits only. Mathematically it is the
cosine of the phase difference between the source voltage and current. It refers to the
fraction of total power (apparent power) which is utilized to do the useful work called
active power.

Need for Power Factor Improvement

 Real power is given by P = VIcosφ. The electrical current is inversely proportional to cosφ
for transferring a given amount of power at a certain voltage. Hence higher the pf lower will
be the current flowing. A small current flow requires a less cross-sectional area of
conductors, and thus it saves conductors and money.
 From the above relation, we see having poor power factor increases the current flowing in a
conductor and thus copper loss increases. A large voltage drop occurs in
the alternator, electrical transformer and transmission and distribution lines – which gives
very poor voltage regulation.
 The KVA rating of machines is also reduced by having higher power factor, as per the
formula:

Hence, the size and cost of the machine is also reduced.

This is why electrical power factor should be maintained close to unity – it is significantly cheaper.
There are three main ways to improve power factor.

1. Static Capacitors 2. Synchronous Condenser 3. Phase Advancers

1. Static Capacitors:
Most of the industrial and power system loads are inductive that take lagging current which
decreases the system power factor thus decreasing the efficiency. To improve the power factor
static capacitors are connected in parallel with those devices which work on low power factor.
Static capacitors provide leading current that neutralizes the lagging inductive component of load
current. Static capacitors are installed in vicinity of large inductive loads like induction motor
transformer etc. Capacitor current is 1800 out of phase from the load’s inductive contribution to
current draw. The capacitor’s reactive power will directly subtract from the loads reactive power.
 Total KVAR = Inductive KVAR - Capacitive KVAR

This correction will not change the amount of true power consumed by the load, but will result in
a substantial reduction of apparent power and of the total current drawn from the 230V source.

Power Triangle with Static Capacitor static capacitors :

2. Synchronous Condensers:
When a synchronous motor operates at no-load and over excited then it is called a synchronous
condenser. When synchronous motor is over excited it provides leading current and works like a
capacitor. Synchronous Condensers are used for power factor improvement in large industries.

Synchronous condensers
 3. Phase Advancers
Phase advancer is a simple AC exciter connected to the motor shaft and operates with the motor’s
rotor circuit for power factor improvement. Phase advancers are used in industries for the power
factor correction of induction motors.

Phase advancer
 Battery Backup or Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS):

A Battery Backup or Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) is defined as a piece of electrical

equipment which can be used as an immediate power source to the connected load when there is
any failure in the main input power source.

In a UPS, the energy is generally stored in flywheels, batteries, or super capacitors. When
compared to other immediate power supply system, UPS have the advantage of immediate
protection against the input power interruptions. It has very short on-battery run time; however
this time is enough to safely shut down the connected apparatus (computers, telecommunication
equipment etc) or to switch on a standby power source. UPS can be used as a protective device
for some hardware which can cause serious damage or loss with a sudden power disruption.
Uninterruptible power source, Battery backup and Flywheel back up are the other names often
used for UPS. The available size of UPS units ranges from 200 VA which is used for a solo
computer to several large units up to 46 MVA.

Major Roles of UPS

When there is any failure in main power source, the UPS will supply the power for a short time.
This is the prime role of UPS. In addition to that, it can also able to correct some general power
problems related to utility services in varying degrees. The problems that can be corrected are
voltage spike (Sustained over voltage), Noise, Quick reduction in input voltage, Harmonic
distortion and the instability of frequency in mains.
Types of UPS
Generally, the UPS system is categorised into On-line UPS, Off- line UPS and Line interactive UPS.
Other designs include Standby on-line hybrid, Standby-Ferro, Delta conversion On-Line.

Off-line UPS
This UPS is also called as Standby UPS system which can give only the most basic features. Here,
the primary source is the filtered AC mains (shown in solid path in figure 1). When the power
breakage occurs, the transfer switch will select the backup source (shown in dashed path in figure
1). Thus we can clearly see that the stand by system will start working only when there is any
failure in mains. In this system, the AC voltage is first rectified and stored in the storage battery
connected to the rectifier.

When power breakage occurs, this DC voltage is converted to AC voltage by means of inverter and
given to the load connected to it. This is the least expensive UPS system and it provides surge
protection in addition to back up. The transfer time can be about 25 milliseconds which can be
related to the time taken by the UPS system to detect the utility voltage that is lost. The block
diagram is shown below.

On-line UPS
In this type of UPS, double conversion method is used. Here, first the AC input is converted into
DC by rectifying process for storing it in the rechargeable battery. This DC is converted into AC by
the process of inversion and given to the load or equipment which it is connected (figure 2). This
type of UPS is used where electrical isolation is mandatory. This system is a bit more costly due to
the design of constantly running converters and cooling systems. Here, the rectifier which is
powered with the normal AC current is directly driving the inverter. Hence it is also known as
Double conversion UPS. The block diagram is shown below.
When there is any power failure, the rectifier have no role in the circuit and the steady power
stored in the batteries which is connected to the inverter is given to the load by means of transfer
switch. Once the power is restored, the rectifier begins to charge the batteries. To prevent the
batteries from overheating due to the high power rectifier, the charging current is limited. During
a main power breakdown, this UPS system operates with zero transfer time. The reason is that
the backup source acts as a primary source and not the main AC input. But the presence of inrush
current and large load step current can result in a transfer time of about 4-6 milliseconds in this
system.

Line Interactive UPS

For small business and departmental servers and webs, line interactive UPS is used. This is more
or less same as that of off-line UPS. The difference is the addition of tap changing transformer.
Voltage regulation is done by this tap-changing transformer by changing the tap depending on
input voltage. Additional filtering is provided in this UPS result in lower transient loss. The block
diagram is shown below.
UPS Applications
Applications of UPS are showing below
 Data Centers.
 Industries.
 Telecommunications.
 Hospitals.
 Banks and insurance.
 Some special projects (events)