International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 6, Issue 7, July-2015 1107

ISSN 2229-5518

ULTRA FAST CIRCUIT BREAKER

FABUNMI TIMILEYIN.S, FOLORUNSO OLADIPO, OJO O. ADEDAYO

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL/ELECTRONIC AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING, AFE BABALOLA

UNIVERSITY, ADO-EKITI, NIGERIA

ABSTRACT: Electronic devices are made to operate on very low voltage; therefore a means of proper protection
against overloading, short-circuiting and surging should always be of uttermost priority to the designers. A well
designed electronic device with proper protective device would definitely lead to economic benefit, time saver, and less
energy to re-construction. This paper reports the design and construction of an Ultra Fast Circuit Breaker (UFCB) for
domestic and industrial purposes.

KEYWORDS: Ultrafast circuit breaker, Overload, Over-current, Optocoupler, Relay, Choke resistor

——————————  ——————————
(both at homes and office), industrial machine
and equipments, is the problem of high
I. INTRODUCTION voltage power surge.

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The popular method of protection for It is required that energy be controlled and
electrical, mechanical and other forms of conserved for use at all possible cost.
energy equipments from overload or short Electrical energy is required to be available at
circuit of voltage in an electrical circuit is all time for use. The lack of quality, efficient
usually the use of fuses which is normally control and conservation has hindered the
attached to the extension power supply or at equality of power and its distribution in most
the end of the appliance's plug. In terms of developing countries (Nigeria especially).
appliances protection advancement, circuit
breakers and surge protectors have being of II. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
use for proper protection of the appliances, OF CIRCUIT BREAKERS
bimetallic strip is used for enhancement in the
breakage of the circuit. Electric circuit Circuit Breaker was invented over hundred
breakers are found in industries, in their sizes years ago. It was first described by Thomas
depending on the requirement. Edison (1900) as fuse used by his commercial
power distribution. The initial reasons for
Electricity is one of the world most important developing the circuit breaker was to protect
form of energy that has being of use for the lighting circuit wiring from impulse short-
centuries, and will also be in use for a very circuit and overload (Isreal, 1986).
long time till other form of energy are Advancement in the circuit breaker
generated. In the world, it is used by mankind technology was done with the advance in
for their personal satisfaction, by industries for general technology. It advancement include
powering and operating their machines, it is the modern miniature circuit breakers similar
used at home, offices for powering appliances to those used currently and it was patented by
, electronic equipments and most importantly Brown and Boveri over 90 years ago (1924).
used in conversion from one form of energy to As time pass, requirement for various other
another. Without electricity, most of the types were created due to advancements, for
electrically powered machine (industrial) will instance, the thermal magnetic breaker which
not operate or work at all. A factor that has is still in use till date was created by (Stotz,
hindered and destroyed most of our appliances

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International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 6, Issue 7, July-2015 1108
ISSN 2229-5518

2006), who advanced on the low voltage the arc by superimposing a counter flow of
circuit breakers with the introduction of the current, for an oscillating circuit evoked only
thermal and thermal magnetic circuit breakers. during circuit breaking. Solid state circuit
breakers make use of power electronic
As a result of miniaturization in Circuit switches for interrupting the current without
breaker technology advancement, with respect arcing (Santoso, 2012). Disadvantages of solid
to the required satisfaction of electronics state circuit breaker are the absence of
compactness, it has being created to be easily galvanic isolation and lack of the same
portable and compactable with simple and withstand against transient over voltage. Even
complex electronic designs, electrical circuit though the type of circuit breaker allow for
and appliances. very high interruption speeds, existing
protection relays typically do not use this
Without circuit breakers (or the alternative, feature (Santoso, 2012). Relays associate with
fuses), household electricity would be converters are used to detect and clear faults
impractical because of the potential for fires in a Direct current distribution system.
and other mayhem resulting from simple
wiring problems and equipment failures III. ULTRA FAST ELECTRICAL
(Harris, 2015). CIRCUIT BREAKER

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According to (Mohankumar, 2013), Ultra fast circuit breaker is an advanced, more
“Electrical circuit breaker is a device that effective and reliable circuit breaker. This
senses an overload and short circuit condition, circuit breaker is different from the ordinary
then breaking the circuit to protect the system circuit breakers such as the miniature circuit
or circuit from damages or breakdown”. It is breaker that makes use of the temperature
an ideal circuit to protect uninterrupted power nature and property of thermal bimetallic strip,
supply like inverter (D.Mohankumar, 2013). to trip off when there is an overload or short
circuit. The ultrafast circuit breaker makes
Circuit breakers are in varying sizes from use of comparator(s), series elements
small devices that protects and individual depending on the appliances on which they are
household appliances up to large switch gear to be installed, micro-controller and some
for high voltage circuits. They are used for other devices to perform its ultra fast tripping
fault interruption in both D.C and A.C process (Ravi, 2013).
currents.
IV. METHODOLOGY
According to (Santoso, 2012), “Existing and
proposed techniques for interrupting DC fault The methods involves are summarized in the
current utilize electromechanical circuit block diagram of figure 1.
breakers (EMCBs), solid state switches and
their combination in DC systems . It is
proposed to generate artificial current zero in

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International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 6, Issue 7, July-2015 1109
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Figure 1: Block diagram of the operation processes and design methods of the UCB

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The Ultra Fast Circuit Breaker has 5 major with a variable resistor between pin 1 and
sections which are as follows: 3.The LCD displays the information about the
system and indicate that the system is ready
1. Power Supply Section for load.
2. Comparator Section On loading with a single 60W lamp, the LCD
3. Microcontroller Section displays the condition of the UFCB as
4. Relay Tripping Section "normal loading". Here, the system operates
5. Output Section properly until the second 60Watt lamp is
added. The optocoupler sends a signal to the
V. OPERATION OF ULTRA microcontroller. The microcontroller in 1µsec
FAST CIRCUIT BREAKER sends electrical signal to the relay, which in
turn actuated the trigger from normally closed
The 220/12V, 500mA transformers, bridge to normally open and the buzzer is activated
rectifiers ,2200µF capacitors, 470µF immediately. The system switch off the 2
capacitors, voltage regulator are all connected lamps and the LCD displays an overload
to microcontroller and the opto-coupler, these condition of the system. The overload (a
are used for the monitoring and control of the lamp) is then removed and the reset button is
circuit condition at no load, load and over pushed, then the switch is pushed for the lamp
load. The relay is connected to one end of the to be on. This process is repeated for the
load and the other end going to the comparator various times there is an overload present in
circuit along the life wire (supply). The circuit the system.
is powered by the 220/12V, 300mA
transformer, then the bridge rectifier, the The following tests were involved in the
voltage regulator supply the necessary 5V to operation of the circuit to determine its overall
the microcontroller and as well, the performance after casing with a transparent
optocoupler. The LCD is also powered by the plastic:
5V and the back light contrast are controlled 1. Start up time and No-Load test

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International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 6, Issue 7, July-2015 1110
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2. Load test VIII. RECOMMENDATIONS

3. Overload test
The UFCB has performed as desired
according to the design objectives. We hereby
VI. RESULTS make the following recommendations for
improving on this UFCB designed in Afe
Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, and
The tripping circuit was able to switch ON Electrical/Electronic laboratory and also for
and OFF the system loads when there is an further studies on it.
over current or overload. The timed relay
circuit with the microcontroller worked a. The use of a 240/12V, 300A
satisfactorily within 1µsecs. The buzzer alarm transformer for the power supply will
to indicate when there is an overload with the also conveniently power the circuit.
tripping process worked satisfactorily. When b. The use of a good current sense op
the system loads are off, the reset switch is off amp could be employed on the circuit
and then pushed on, to activate the single load alongside a PIC microcontroller to
on, after the overload is eliminated. Measured obtain the same ultrafast attribute of
results are given as: 4.7ohms of Choke the circuit breaker.
resistor, 220V (A.C) from source, c. Solid state switches can also be used

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Microcontroller voltage measured between for the Ultra Fast Switching.
VCC and GND is 4.93V, LCD voltage d. For larger load capacity the choke
measured between pin VCC (2) and GND (5) resistor can be increased.
is 4.91V. Also the lamps voltage measured e. For more load to overload ratio the
2.13V for lamp 1 and 3.15V for lamp 2. reference voltage set by the controller
Voltage difference = 1.03V. The tripping time can be increased, while the overload
and shutdown of the system when there is any voltage can also be increased are
form of over current is approximately required.
1microsec. f. An uninterrupted power supply can be
implemented in the system to enhance
VII. BENEFITS and improve its efficiency when there
is power shutdown due to faults, over-
The benefits of UFBC includes current or any form of power
1. To provide a cost effective and reliable shutdown.
circuit breaker that response to very
little over current that can damage IX. CONCLUSION
some of our electronics if not properly
protected. A general view of the different types of the
2. To provide solution to the high rate of circuit breakers has been presented. It is
damage to our appliance in remote observed that the benefits offered by the ultra
areas of Nigeria. fast circuit breaker for electronics is more than
3. To provide lots of benefit from its use that of some other circuit breakers like low
in numbers, which includes; industrial voltage circuit breakers, medium voltage
machines, heavy and light office circuit breakers, miniature circuit breakers, oil
equipments and home appliances. circuit breakers and fuses.
This UFCB designed has been proven to be
very reliable and can be of great use in houses,
offices, industrial settings and all

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environments where constant power supply 10. Santoso, S. K. (2012). Interrupting Short
are of great importance. With improved rating Circuit Direct Current Using an AC Circuit
of the generator more percentage of loads can Breaker in Series with a Reactor. Advance in
be placed on them. Power Electronics. , volume 2012, 14.

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