Simplifying circuit-breakers: dead tank circuit-breakers for 80 kA and 045-242 kV

摘要

The next time you reset a 10-A miniature circuit-breaker in your home, spare a thought for the breakers, perhaps just a few miles away, that have to handle currents as high as 80,000 A. Up at the 245-kV level, these highly engineered devices, each the size of a small car, are traditionally of the oil or two-pressure type. In short, they are relatively complex and cumbersome. A third, altogether simpler, cheaper and easier-to-use type of breaker, the SF{sub}6 dead tank puffer breaker, has never been used before for these elevated and highly demanding ratings. Now, ABB is doing just that, with a new 80-kA design that combines a single-break puffer interrupter with the proven type PM dead tank breaker.