Protection Circuits: by Murtuza Bohari Sanket Patil Ankit Khandekar

Protection Circuits
By
Murtuza Bohari
Sanket Patil
Ankit Khandekar
INTRODUCTION
 An electrical unit is built with great care to ensure that each separate
electrical circuit is fully insulated from all the others. This is done so that the
current in a circuit will follow its intended path. Once the unit is placed into
service, however, many things can happen to alter the original circuitry. Some
of the changes can cause serious problems if they are not detected and
corrected. While circuit protection devices cannot correct an abnormal
current condition, they can indicate that an abnormal condition exists and
protect personnel and circuits from that condition. In this presentation you
will learn what circuit conditions require protection devices and the types of
protection devices used.
 While you study this presentation, it should be kept in mind that a circuit
protection device is used to keep an undesirably large current, voltage, or
power surge out of a given part of an electrical circuit.
What is Circuit Protection?
 Circuit Protection is a intentional installation of a “weak link” in an electrical

circuit.
 This a fuse or circuit breaker referred to here as a circuit protection device or
CPD.
 Traditionally, fuses were the main devices chosen for final circuit protection,
up until the 1970’s when circuit breaker technology started to become
dominant. Today, the principle circuit protection devices are: Miniature
Circuit Breakers (MCBs), Residual Current Circuit Breakers (RCCBs) and
Residual Current Circuit Breakers with Overcurrent protection (RCBOs).
 All of the conditions mentioned are potentially dangerous and require the use
of circuit protection devices. Circuit protection devices are used to stop
current flow or open the circuit. To do this, a circuit protection device
must ALWAYS be connected in series with the circuit it is
protecting. If the protection device is connected in parallel,
current will simply flow around the protection device and continue
in the circuit. A circuit protection device operates by opening and
interrupting current to the circuit. The opening of a protection device shows
that something is wrong in the circuit and should be corrected before the
current is restored. When a problem exists and the protection device opens,
the device should isolate the faulty circuit from the other unaffected circuits,
and should respond in time to protect unaffected components in the faulty
circuit. The protection device should NOT open during normal circuit
operation.
Applications Of Circuit Protection
 Electrical Switch Boards

 Electronic Circuits
 Battery Packs
 Network Systems
 Wireless Communication Systems
CIRCUIT CONDITIONS REQUIRING
PROTECTION DEVICES
 Direct Short
 Excessive Current
 Excessive Heat
Introduction to Different Types of
Circuit Protection
There are various types of circuit protectors:
 Electronic Fuse
 Thermal Magnetic Circuit Breakers
 Miniature Circuit Breakers
 Residual Current Device
 Residual Current Breaker with Overload Protection
 Varistor MOV
Electronic Fuse
 fuse is the simplest circuit protection device. It derives its name from the
Latin word "fusus” meaning "to melt." Fuses have been used almost from the
beginning of the use of electricity. The earliest type of fuse was simply a bare
wire between two connections. The wire was smaller than the conductor it
was protecting and, therefore, would melt before the conductor it was
protecting was harmed.
 An electronic fuse is a low resistance resistor that provides protection in the
event of a load overcurrent. Short circuits, device failure or overloading can
cause a load overcurrent.
 In an electronic fuse, a metal wire melts in the event of an overcurrent,
therefore causing an interruption in the circuit.
Construction & Working:
 A fuse consists of a metal strip or wire fuse element, of small cross-section

compared to the circuit conductors, mounted between a pair of electrical
terminals, and (usually) enclosed by a non-combustible housing.
 The fuse is arranged in series to carry all the current passing through the
protected circuit. The resistance of the element generates heat due to the
current flow.
 If too high a current flows, the element rises to a higher temperature and
either directly melts, or else melts a soldered joint within the fuse, opening
the circuit.
Typical fuses and schematic symbols
Applications
 Computer and peripherals

 Electronic Circuits
 Wireless Communication Systems
Thermal Magnetic Circuit Breakers
 A thermal magnetic circuit breaker is a safety device which breaks an

electrical circuit if the temperature gets too high. These devices are used to
prevent fires, damage due to voltage fluctuations, and other dangerous
electrical situations.
Construction & Working:
 Thermal-magnetic circuit breakers contain two different switching

mechanisms, a bimetal switch and an electromagnet.
 The bimetal serves as a means of handling overcurrents.
 Thermal magnetic circuit breakers incorporate both techniques with the
electromagnet responding instantaneously to large surges in current (short
circuits) and the bimetallic strip responding to less extreme but longer-term
over-current conditions.
 The thermal portion of the circuit breaker provides a time response feature,
that trips the circuit breaker sooner for larger overcurrents but allows smaller
overloads to persist for a longer time.
Miniature Circuit Breakers
 An MCB or miniature circuit breaker is an electromagnetic device that
embodies complete enclosure in a molded insulating material.
 The main function of an MCB is to switch the circuit, i.e., to open the circuit
automatically when the current passing through it (MCB) exceeds the value
for which it is set.
 It can be manually switched ON and OFF as similar to normal switch if
necessary.
Construction & Working
 An MCB embodies complete enclosure in a moulded insulating material. This
provides mechanically strong and insulated housing.
 The switching system consists of a fixed and a moving contact to which incoming
and outgoing wires are connected.
 The metal or current carrying parts are made up of electrolytic copper or silver
alloy depending on the rating of the circuit breaker.
 Under normal working conditions, MCB operates as a switch to make the circuit
ON or OFF.
 Under overload or short circuit condition, it automatically operates or trips so
that current interruption takes place in the load circuit.
 The visual indication of this trip can be observed by automatic movement of the
operating knob to OFF position. This automatic operation MCB can be obtained in
two ways as we have seen in MCB construction; those are magnetic tripping and
thermal tripping.
Metal Oxide Varistor
 The Metal Oxide Varistor or MOV for short, is a voltage dependant resistor in
which the resistance material is a metallic oxide, primarily zinc oxide (ZnO)
pressed into a ceramic like material.
 Metal oxide varistors consist of approximately 90% zinc oxide as a ceramic
base material plus other filler materials for the formation of junctions
between the zinc oxide grains.
Construction & Working
 The boundary between each grain and its neighbour forms a diode junction, which
allows current to flow in only one direction. The mass of randomly oriented grains
is electrically equivalent to a network of back-to-back diode pairs, each pair in
parallel with many other pairs.
 When a small or moderate voltage is applied across the electrodes, only a tiny
current flows, caused by reverse leakage through the diode junctions. When a
large voltage is applied, the diode junction breaks down due to a combination
of thermionic emission and electron tunneling, and a large current flows.
 The result of this behaviour is a highly nonlinear current-voltage characteristic, in
which the MOV has a high resistance at low voltages and a low resistance at high
voltages.
Applications of Varistors
 Varistors have many advantages and can be used in many different types of
applications for the suppression of mains borne transients from domestic
appliances and lighting to industrial equipment on both AC or DC power lines.
 Varistors can be connected directly across mains supplies and across
semiconductor switches for protection of transistors, MOSFET’s and thyristor
bridges.
Thank You

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Protection Circuits

 Circuit Protection is a intentional installation of a “weak link” in an electrical

 Electrical Switch Boards

 A fuse consists of a metal strip or wire fuse element, of small cross-section

 Computer and peripherals

 A thermal magnetic circuit breaker is a safety device which breaks an

 Thermal-magnetic circuit breakers contain two different switching

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