Circuit breaker Contact design:

Straight-through contact
The current flowing in a circuit controlled by a circuit breaker flows through the circuit breaker’s contacts. When a circuit breaker is turned off or is tripped by a fault current, the circuit breaker interrupts the flow of current by separating its contacts.
Many circuit breakers use a straight-through contact arrangement, so called because the current flowing in one contact arm continues in a straight line through the other contact arm.



Blow-Apart Contacts:
As an improvement over the straight-through contact design, Siemens developed the blow-apart contact design now commonly used by circuit breakers with higher interrupting ratings. With this design, the two contact arms are positioned parallel to each other as shown in the following illustration. As current flows through the contact arms, magnetic fields are set up around each arm. Because the current flow in one arm is opposite in direction to the current flow in the other arm, the two magnetic fields oppose each other. Under normal conditions, the magnetic fields are not strong enough to force the contacts apart.




When a fault develops, current increases rapidly causing the strength of the magnetic fields surrounding the contacts to increase as well. The increased strength of the opposing magnetic fields helps to open the contacts faster by forcing them apart.






By reducing the time required to open circuit breaker contacts in the event of a fault condition, the blow-apart contact design exposes the electrical equipment protected by the circuit breaker to less damaging heat.








Arc Chute Assembly :
As the contacts open a live circuit, current continues to flow for a short time by jumping the air space between the contacts in the form of an arc. When the contacts open far enough, the arc is extinguished and the current flow stops.

Minimizing the arc is important for two reasons. First, the arc can damage the contacts. In addition, the arc ionizes gases inside the molded case. If the arc isn’t extinguished quickly the pressure from the ionized gases could cause the molded case to rupture.






Circuit breakers commonly use an arc chute assembly to quench the arc. This assembly is made up of several “U” shaped steel plates that surround the contacts. As the arc is developed, it is drawn into the arc chute where it is divided into smaller arcs, which are extinguished faster.