Low Voltage Switchgear or LV Switchgear

Generally electrical switchgear rated upto 1KV is termed as low

voltage switchgear. The term LV Switchgear includes low voltage

circuit breakers, switches, off load electrical isolators, HRC fuses, earth

leakage circuit breaker, miniature circuit breakers(MCB) and molded

case circuit breakers (MCCB) etc i.e. all the accessories required to

protect the LV system.

The most common use of LV switchgear is in LV distribution board. This

system has the following parts
INCOMER
The incomer feeds incoming electrical power to the incomer bus. The
switchgear used in the incomer should have a main switching device.
The switchgear devices attached with incomer should be capable of
withstanding abnormal current for a short specific duration in order
to allow downstream devices to operate. But it should be cable of
interrupting maximum value of the fault currentgenerated in the
system. It must have interlocking arrangement with downstream
devices. Generally air circuit breakers are preferably used as
interrupting device. Low voltage air circuit breaker is preferable for
this purpose because of the following features
1. Simplicity
2. Efficient performance
3. High normal current rating up to 600 A
4. High fault withstanding capacity upto 63 kA
Although air circuit breakers have long tripping time, big size, high
cost but still they are most suitable for low voltage switchgear for the
above mentioned features.
SUB - INCOMER
Next downstream part of the LV Distribution board is sub - incomer.
These sub - incomers draw power from main incomer bus and feed
this power to feeder bus. The devices installed as parts of a sub
incomer should have the following features
1. Ability to achieve economy without sacrificing protection and safety
2. Need for relatively less number of inter - locking since it cover limited
are of network.
ACBs (Air Circuit Breakers) and switch fuse units are generally used as
sub - incomers along with molted case circuit breakers ( MCCB ).
Feeders
Different feeders are connected to the feeder bus to feeds different
loads like, motor loads, lighting loads, industrial machinery loads, air
conditioner loads, transformer cooling system loads etc. All feeders are
primarily protected by switch fuse unit and in addition to that,
depending upon the types of load connected to the feeders, the
different switchgear devices are chosen for different feeders. Let's
discuss in details Motor Feeder
• Motor feeder should be protected against over load, short circuit, over
current up to locked rotor condition and single phasing.
• Industrial Machinery Load Feeder
• Feeder connected industrial machinery load like oven, electroplating
bath etc are commonly protected by MCCBl and switch fuse
disconnector units
• Lighting Load Feeder
• This is protected similar to industrial machinery load but additional
earth leakage current protection is provided in this case to reduce any
damage to life and property that could be caused by harmful leakages
of current and fire.
In LV switchgear system, electrical appliances are protected
against short circuit and over load conditions by electrical fuses or
electrical circuit breaker. However, the human operator is not
adequately protected against the faults occurs inside the appliances.
The problem can be overcome by using earth leakage circuit breaker.
This operates on low leakage current. The earth leakage circuit
breaker can detect leakage current as low as 100 mA and is capable
of disconnecting the appliance in less than 100 msec.
A typical diagram of low voltage switchge r is shown above. Here he main
incomer comes from LV side of an electrical transformer. Th s incomer
through an electrical isolator as well as an MCCB ( not shown in the
figure) feeds the incomer bus. Two sub-incomers are connected to the
incomer bus these sub incomers are protected y means of either switch
fuse unit or air circuit breaker. These switches are so interlocked along
with bus section switch or bus oupler that only one incomer switch can
be put on if bus section witch is in on position and both sub incomer
switches can be put on o ly if bus section switch is at off position. This
arrangement is f uitful for preventing any mismatch of phase sequence
between the s b - incomers. The different load feeders are connected to
any of th both sections of the feeder bus. Here motor feeder is protected
by hermal overload device along with conventional switch fuse unit. eater
feeder is protected only by conventional switch fuse uni . The domestic
lighting and AC loads are se arately protected b
miniature circuit breaker along with common conven ional switc
fuse unit This is most basic and s

MEDIUM VOLTAGE SWITCHGEAR

From 3 KV to 36 KV switchgear system is categorized as medium
voltage switchgear or MV switchgear. These switchgears are of
many types. They may metal enclosed indoor type, metal enclosed
outdoor type, outdoor type without metal enclosure, etc. The
interruption medium of this switchgear may be oil, SF6 and vacuum.
The main requirement of MV power network is to interrupt current
during faulty condition irrespective of what type of CB is used in the
MV switchgear system. Although it may be capable of functioning in
other conditions also.
Medium voltage switchgear, should be capable of,

1. Normal ON/OFF switching operation.

2. Short circuit current interruption.
3. Switching of capacitive currents.
4. Switching of inductive currents.
5. Some special application.
All the above mentioned function must be carried out with high
degree of safety and reliability.

SHORT CIRCUIT CURRENT INTERRUPTION

The main focus of circuit breaker design is to that all circuit breaker
should be capable of interrupting short circuit current with high
degree of reliability and safety. The number of faulty tripping
occurred during total life span of a circuit breaker mainly depends
upon location of the system, quality of system and environment
condition. If the number of tripping is much high, the best choice is
vacuum circuit breaker as it may not require any maintenance up to
100 faulty tripping with short circuit current up to 25 KA. Whereas
other circuit breakers require maintenance after 15 to 20 faulty
tripping with same short circuit current of CB. The substations
reunited in rural areas are generally of outdoor type, and most of
them are unattended type. Hence for this type of applications
maintenance free outdoor type, medium voltage switchgear is
most suitable. Porcelain clad vacuum circuit breaker meets this
demand against the conventional indoor kiosks.

SWITCHING OF CAPACITIVE CURRENT

The capacitor bank is used in medium voltage power system to
improve power factor of the system. Unloaded cable and unloaded
overhead lines has also capacitive charging current. The capacitor
bank and unloaded power lines should be disconnected from the
system safely without re-ionization. Re-ionization in the contact gap
causes over voltage in the system. Vacuum circuit breaker meets the
requirement.
While switching on a capacitor bank, a high rate of rise of making
current will flow through the CB contacts. Circuit breaker with liquid
quenching medium and tulip contacts may suffer from contact pin
retardation. Vacuum medium voltage switchgear is most perfect
choice for this purpose, as vacuum circuit breaker has low arcing
during short pre arcing time.
SWITCHING OF INDUCTIVE CURRENT
Older VCB had current chopping level of 20 A when these breakers
were used to switch transformers, special surge protection device
were required. Modern VCB has very low chopping current which is
about 2 - 4A. Hence modern vacuum medium voltage switchgear is
very much suitable for switching unloaded transformer. As the
modern VCB chops the current at very low level, there is no risk of
additional surge protection devices. Hence VCB is suitable for very
low inductive load switching. But when the inductive current in the
system is low but not very low VCB is the best choice.
SPECIAL APPLICATION OF MEDIUM VOLTAGE
SWITCHGEAR
Arc Furnace
An arc furnace is required to be switch off and on frequently. The
current to be switched may be from 0 to 8 times of the rated current
of the furnace. An arc furnace is to be switched on and off at its
normal rated current up to 2000A, around 100 times per day. A
normal, SF6 circuit breaker , air circuit breaker and oil circuit breaker is
not at all economical for this frequent operation. Standard vacuum
circuit breaker is most suitable alternative for this frequent high
current circuit breaker operation.

Railway Traction
Another application of medium voltage switchgear is single phase
railway track system. The main function of the circuit breaker
associated with railway traction system, is to interrupt short circuit,
on the overhead catenary system which occur frequently and are
transient in nature. Hence circuit breaker used for this purpose should
have, short breaking time for small contact gap, short arcing time,
quick breaking, and VCB is the best possible solution. Actually arcing
energy is much higher in the single phase CB than 3 phase
CB. It is still much lower in a vacuum circuit breaker than that in
conventional circuit breaker. The number of short circuit occurs in the
overhead catenary system is much higher than those occurring on
electrical transmission system. Medium voltage switchgear with
vacuum circuit breaker is most suitable for traction application.
It can be concluded that, in medium voltage system where tripping
rate is very high, MV Vacuum Switchgear is most suitable solution
HIGH VOLTAGE SWITCHGEAR
The power system deals with voltage above 36KV, is referred as high
voltage switchgear. As the voltage level is high the arcing produced
during switching operation is also very high. So, special care is to be
taken during designing of high voltage switchgear. High voltage
circuit breaker, is the main component of HV switchgear, hence high
voltage circuit breaker (CB) should have special features for safe and
reliable operation. Faulty tripping and switching operation of high
voltage circuit are very rare. Most of the time these circuit breakers
remain, at ON condition, and may be operated after a long period of
time. So CBs must be reliable enough to ensure safe operation, as
when required. High voltage circuit breaker technology has changed
radically in the last 15 years. Minimum oil circuit breaker (MOCB), air
blast circuit breaker and SF6 circuit breaker are mostly used for high
voltage switchgear.

Vacuum circuit breaker is rarely used for this purpose as till date
vacuum technology is not adequate for interrupting very high voltage
short circuit current. There are two types of SF6 circuit breaker, single
pressure SF6 breaker and two pressures circuit breaker. The single
pressure system is the state of art for high voltage switchgear
system, in present time. Now days SF6 gas as arc quenching medium,
has become most popular for high and extra high voltage electrical
power system. Although, SF6gas contributes to the greenhouse effect.
It has 23 times stronger impact on the greenhouse effect, than that
of CO2. Hence, leakage of SF6 gas
during the service life of circuit breaker must be prevented. In order
to minimize the emission of SF6 gas, the N2 - SF6 and CF4 - SF6 gas
mixture, may be used in circuit breaker in future, as substitute of
pure SF6. It must always be taken care of that, no SF6 gas comes out
in atmosphere during maintenance of the CB. On the other hand, SF6
circuit breaker has the major advantage of low maintenance.
High voltage switchgears are categorized
as, 1. Gas insulated indoor type ( GIS), 2. Air
insulated outdoor type.
Again, outdoor type air insulated circuit breakers are classified as,

1. Dead tank type circuit breaker

2. Live tank type circuit breaker
In dead tank type CB, the switching device is located, with suitable
insulator supports inside a metallic vessel(s) at ground potential filled
with insulating medium.
In live tank circuit breaker, the interrupts are located in an insulated
bushing, at the system potential. The live tank circuit breakers are
cheaper and required less mounting space. There are mainly three
types of circuit breaker, as we said earlier, used in high voltage
switchgear system i.e. air blast circuit breaker, SF6 circuit breaker,
oil circuit breaker and vacuum circuit breaker is rarely used.

Air Blast Circuit Breaker

In this design, a blast of high pressure compressed air is used to
quench arc between two detaching contacts, when the arc column
ionization is least at currents zero.

Oil Circuit Breaker

This is further classified as bulk oil circuit breaker (BOCB) and
minimum oil circuit breaker (MOCB). In BOCB, the interrupting unit
is placed inside an oil tank of earth potential. Here oil is used as both
insulating and interrupting medium. In MOCB on the other hand, the
oil requirement can be minimized by placing the interrupting units in
an insulating chamber at live potential in an insulator column.
SF6 CIRCUIT BREAKER
SF6 gas is widely used as arc quenching medium in HV applications
today. Sulfur hexafluoride gas is a high electronegative gas having
excellent dielectric and arc quenching properties. High dielectric and
insulating properties of SF6, make it possible to design high voltage
circuit breaker with smaller overall dimension, shorter contact gap.
Excellent insulating property helps to design and construct indoor
type high voltage switchgear.

VACUUM CIRCUIT BREAKER

In vacuum, there is no further ionization between two separated
current carrying contacts, after current zero. The initial arc is caused
by it will die as soon as next zero crossing but as there is no provision
of further ionization once the current is crossed its first zero, the arc
quenching is completed. Although the arc quenching method is very
fast in VCB, but till it is not a suitable solution for high voltage
switchgear, as VCB made for very high voltage level is not economical
at all.
The essential features to be provided in high voltage circuit breaker,
to ensure safe and reliable operation the breakers used in high
voltage switchgear, must be capable of being operated safely for,

1. Terminal faults.
2. Short line faults.
3. Transformer or reactors magnetizing current.
4. Energizing long transmission line.
5. Charging capacitor bank.
6. Switching of out of phase sequence.
Terminal Fault
Generally the load connected to the power system is inductive in
nature. Due to this inductance, when short circuit current is just
interrupted by a circuit breaker, there is a chance of high restriking
voltage of high frequency oscillation in order of few hundred Hz.
This voltage has two parts
1. Transient recovery voltage with high frequency oscillation
immediately after the arc extinction.
2. After die down this high frequency oscillation, power frequency
recover voltage appears across the CB contacts.
TRANSIENT RECOVERY VOLTAGE
Just after extinction of arc transient recovery voltage appears across

the CB contacts, with high frequency. This transient recovery voltage

ultimately approaches to open circuit voltage. This recovery voltage

can be represented as

The frequency of oscillation is governed by the circuit parameter L

and C. The resistance present in the power circuit damps out this
transient voltage. The transient recovery voltage has not a single
frequency, it is combination of many different frequencies due to
complexity of the power network.
POWER FREQUENCY RECOVERY VOLTAGE
This is nothing but open circuit voltage appears across the CB
contacts, just after the transient recovery voltage damped out. In
three phase system the power frequency recovery voltage differs in
different phase. It is highest in first phase. If the network neutral
is not earthed, the voltage across the first pole to be cleared is 1.5 U
where U is the phase voltage. In an earthed neutral system it will be
1.3 U.
By using damping resistor, the magnitude and rate of rise of transient
recovery voltage can be limited. The dielectric recovery of the arc
quenching medium and rate of rise of transient recovery voltage has
great influence on the performance of the circuit breaker used in high
voltage switchgear system.
In air blast circuit breaker, once ionized air is de-ionized very slowly,
thus air takes long time to recover dielectric strength. That is why it
is preferable very slowly, thus air takes long time to recover dielectric
strength. That is why it is preferable to used low value breaker
resistor to slow down rate of rise of recovery voltage. On the other
hand ABCB is less sensitive to the initial recovery voltage because of
high arc voltage in SF6circuit breaker, the interrupting medium (SF6)
has faster rate of recovery of dielectric strength, than air. Lower arc
voltage, makes SF6 CB more sensitive to the initial recovery voltage.
In oil circuit breaker, during arc having pressurized hydrogen gas
(produced during recombination of oil due to arc temperature)
provides quick recovery of dielectric strength immediate after current
zero. Hence OCB is more sensitive to rate of rise of recovery voltage.
It is also more sensitive to initial transient recovery voltage.

SHORT LINE FAULT

Short line fault in transmission network is defined as the short circuit
faults occurred, within 5km of the line length. Double frequency being
impressed on the circuit breaker and the difference of source and line
side transient recovery voltage, both voltages start from
instantaneous values at the opposition of the circuit breakers prior to
the interruption. On the supply side the voltage will oscillate at supply
frequency and ultimately approaches to open circuit voltage. On the
line side, after interruption, trapped charges initial traveling waves
through the transmission line, since there is no driving voltage on the
driving side, the voltage ultimately becomes zero because of the line
losses. The network diagram and the line side and supply side voltage
wave forms are shown in the figure below.

GIS or Gas Insulated Switchgear

It is very much required to establish an electrical substation at load
center. Since, establishing a substation at load center is quite
economical and profitable in many aspects. As it reduces length of
feeders and due to short length feeders, the quality of voltage
regulation improves. But the main obstruction of establishing a
substation at load center is space. Generally main load center of any
place is situated at very congested place where, sufficient land for
establishing conventional electrical substation is very hardly

available. This problem can be

solved by using gas insulated switchgear technology. In this type
of switchgear, all the necessary components of switchgear can be
assembled in very limited space. GIS is a kind of metal enclosed
switchgear. That means, all the equipments of the electrical switchgear
are enclosed by gas tight metal enclosure and SF6 gas is used as
insulation between live parts of the equipments and earthed metal
enclosure. This type of switchgear, means, and gas insulated
switchgear is available from 12 KV systems to 800 KV system. For
establishing electrical substation in very limited place this type of SF6
insulated electrical switchgear plays the major role.
 Gas insulated components of substation are generally,
1. Electrical bus bars.
2. Electrical isolators or disconnectors.
3. Circuit breakers .
4. Current transformers .
5. Voltage transformers .
6. Earth switches.
7. Surge arrestors or lightning arresters .
The substation, assembled by gas insulated switchgear, is popularly
known as gas insulated metal enclosed substation ( GIMES ).
GIMES technology is not very recent invention, it is successfully
running for over thirty years.
In gas insulated medium voltage switchgear, vacuum technology is used
as interrupting purpose and SF6 gas is used as insulation material.
Although for both interruption and insulation, SF6 gas is used in many
medium voltage GIS system. But for such equipments rated SF6 gas
pressures are different for interruption and insulation. SF6 gas
pressure for insulating purpose is generally kept below 2.5 bar
whereas SF6 gas pressure for interrupting purpose is ranged from 5
bar to 7 bar. As vacuum technology is not available for high voltage,
so for GIS or gas insulated switchgear system above 72.5 KV,
only SF6 is used both for interruption medium and insulation.
There are different types of gas insulated metal enclosed switchgears
available depending upon their constructional feature.
ISOLATED PHASE GIS
In this configuration, each phase of the bay is assembled separately.
That is, for each phase, one pole of circuit breaker, a single pole of
electrical isolator, one phase assembly of current transformer are
assembled together. This type of GIS requires larger bay width as
compared to other gas insulated switchgear system.
INTEGRATED 3 PHASE GIS
In this configuration all three phase of circuit breaker, 3 phases of
disconnectors and three phase current transformer are encapsulated
in an individual metal enclosure. The arrangement forms a three
phase module for the element. The size of this type of module is one
third of the isolated phase GIS.
HYBRID GIS SYSTEM
It is a suitable combination of isolated phase and three phase
common elements. Here three phase common bus bar system
simplifies the connection from the bus bar. The isolated phase
equipment prevents phase to phase faults. This is an optimum design
considering, both facts in mind, i.e. space requirement and
maintenance facility.
COMPACT GIS
In this GIS or gas insulated switchgear system than one functional
element are encapsulate in a single metal enclosure. For example, in
some design, a three phase circuit breaker, current transformer,
earth switches, even other feeder elements are covered together in
a single metal capsule.
HIGHLY INTEGRATED SYSTEM
This design was introduced in the year of 2000, where, total
substation equipments are encapsulated together in single enclosure
housing. This single unit gas insulated substation has gained user
appreciation as it is a complete solution for an outdoor substation, in
a single unit. As such, only equipment (HIS) is substitute of a total
outdoor switch yard.

METAL ENCLOSED SWITCHGEAR

This type of electrical switchgear has essentially an earthed metallic

enclosure. This type of switchgear has essentially three
compartments, the front compartment is for circuit breaker, the top
compartment is for bus bar assembly and back or rear compartment
for current transformer and cable connection.
Generally metal enclosed switchgear has compartments with
metal partitions that are intended to be earthed hence this is called
metal clad switchgear. Although some of these electrical
switchgears may have one or more non metallic partitions and then
this switchgear is known as compartmented switchgear.
DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF METAL ENCLOSED
SWITCHGEAR
This type of switchgear is designed and constructed in such a way,
that, normal operation, maintenance, inspection can be carried out
very easily and safely. All the components can easily be replaced.

Another essential feature of metal enclosed switchgear is that, it

should have proper interlocking arrangement between different
components to ensure most safe operation.
To ensure safe and proper sequence of operation, the following
provisions to be provided,
1. The circuit breaker cannot be removed or drawn out from its
compartment unless it is in OFF condition.
2. Not only that, it should be impossible to isolate the circuit
breaker from bus bar unless it is in OFF condition.The operation of
the CB is impossible unless it is in service position, isolated position,
earthed position, and removed from the compartment.
3. It is impossible to switch ON the circuit breaker in its service
position unless auxiliary circuit is connected with it.
Now let’s discuss the constructional details of metal enclosed
switchgear.
METAL ENCLOSED INDOOR SWITCHGEAR
There are mainly two types of metal enclosed indoor switchgear-

1. Vertical isolation and horizontal draw out,

2. Horizontal isolation and horizontal draw out.
Generally indoor switchgear housing has three chambers, namely
circuit breaker chamber (Front), bus bar chamber (Top), and current
transformer cum cable connection chamber (Rear). The metering and
really panel consists of a separate low voltage chamber may or may
not be fixed with the main gear housing. The withdrawble partition
comprises a wheel mounted truck with an operating mechanism,
interrupters and isolating units. The spring charging mechanism may
be either hand operated or motor operated. For motor operated
spring charging mechanism, a manual charging provision should be
provide to charge the spring during failure of spring charging motor
or absent of auxiliary supply.

The withdrawal portion with CB generally has three position i.e.

SERVICE, TEST, and ISOLATED position. The positions should be
clearly visible from front of the switchgear.
Three bus bars for three phase run paralelly inside the bus bar
chamber. The bus bars are made of either aluminum or copper and
cross-section of the bars depends upon the current rating of the
system. The bus is supported on epoxy support insulators. The
current transformers and cable termination chamber of earthed metal
constriction are designed to be able to mount the CT and have a
provision for cable termination.
GAS INSULATED MEDIUM VOLTAGE SWITCHGEAR
This is fixed type metal enclosed design which does not have any
withdrawal portion. This design of metal enclosed switchgear,
mainly has two main compartments, namely CB compartment and
bus bar compartment. Here bus bar compartment is provided with
three position switch marked with SERVICE, ISOLATED and EARTH.
The CB compartment consists of three interrupters. The interrupters
are generally of vacuum type but some manufacturers also design
gas isolated medium voltage switchgear with SF6 interrupters.

METAL ENCLOSED OUTDOOR TYPE MEDIUM VOLTAGE

SWITCHGEAR
This is basically similar to metal enclosed indoor type medium voltage
switchgear, except its external housing. The external housing or
metal enclosure is made of welded sheet steel with slanting roof and
rain shields. The housing is designed in such a way, that it becomes
perfectly suitable for outdoor application. This type of design of
medium voltage switchgear is not commonly used except for some
special utilities like city distribution networks with underground cable
system.
Vacuum Switchgear
Now days, vacuum switchgear getting popularity very rapidly. In
medium voltage switchgear application, medium voltage vacuum
switchgear ranges from 3 to 36 KV. Now days, vacuum interruption
technology, in medium voltage application, dominates, air, SF6 and
oil technologies. Since, vacuum circuit breaker is more safely and
reliably operated where number of faulty and normal operation is
much high.

Vacuum as an Interruption Medium

The performance of a circuit breaker mainly depends upon the
dielectric medium used for arc quenching. Another major advantage
of this technology, is that vacuum switchgear is nearly maintenance
free.
Now we will discuss one the different features of this technology,
which make it so popular-

Dielectric Strength of Vacuum

For a given contact gap, vacuum provides, about eight times more
dielectric strength than air and four times more dielectric strength
than SF6 gas at one bar. As the dielectric strength is so high, the
contact gap of vacuum circuit breaker can be maintained very small.
In this small contact gap, arc quenching is safely possible due to high
dielectric strength and also vacuum has the fast recovery strength
after full arc interruption to its full dielectric value at current zero.
This makes, vacuum switchgear, most suitable for capacitor
switching.

Law Arc Energy in Vacuum

The energy dissipated during arc in vacuum is about one tenth of that
of oil and one fourth of that of SF6 gas . Law energy dissipation mainly
due to low interruption time (due to small contact gap) and small arc
length (this is also due to small contact gap). Because of this low arc
energy dissipation, vacuum switchgear has negligible contact erosion
and this gives it nearly maintenance free life span.
It is also to be noted that, for breaking certain current, the energy
required by vacuum circuit breaker is minimum compared to air
circuit breaker and oil circuit breaker.
Simple Driving Mechanism
In SF6, oil and air circuit breaker, movement of contacts is highly
resisted by highly compressed medium of arc quenching chamber.
But in vacuum switchgear, there is no medium, and also movement
of contacts is quit less due to its small contacts gap, hence driving
energy required is much smaller, in this circuit breaker. That is why
simple spring-spring operating mechanism is sufficient for this
switchgear system, no need of hydraulic and pneumatic mechanism.
Simpler driving mechanism gives a high mechanical life of vacuum
switchgear.

Rapid Arc Quenching

During opening of contacts in current carrying condition, metal vapor
is produced between the contacts, and this metal vapor provides a
path through which electric current continuous to flow until the next
current zero. This phenomenon is also known a vacuum arc. This arc
is extinguished near the current zero and the conductive metal vapor
is re-condensed on the contact surface in a matter of micro seconds.
It has been observed that, only 1% of the vapor is re-condensed on
arc chamber’s side wall, and 99% of vapor re-condensed on the
contact surface from where it was vaporized. From above discussion,
it is almost clear that, the dielectric strength of vacuum switchgear
recovers very fast and contact erosion is almost negligible.
It has been observed that, up to 10 KA, the arc remains diffused. It
takes the form of vapor discharge and covers the entire contact
surface. But above 10 KA, the diffused arc is concentrated at central
point of the contact surface due to its own magnetic field. Due to this
phenomenon, the center of the contacts over heated. This problem
can be solved by providing specially designed contact surface so that,
the arc can travel throughout the surface area, instead of being
stationery at certain point. Different manufacturers use different
contact surface designs to chive this travelling of arc due to its own
magnetic field. This causes minimum and uniform contact erosion