Scribd
Upload
46 views

Safely Testing Circuit Breakers With The ct-7000 and ct-8000

Uploaded by

Nixon Quispe Sanchez
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
46 views

Safely Testing Circuit Breakers With The ct-7000 and ct-8000

Uploaded by

Nixon Quispe Sanchez
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 6

Safely Testing Circuit Breakers Using a Dual Ground Method

With the Vanguard CT-7000 S3 and CT-8000 S3

Vanguard Instruments Company, Inc.


1520 S. Hellman Ave.
Ontario, California 91761, USA

TEL: (909) 923-9390 March 2016


FAX: (909) 923-9391 Revision 1
REV 1 SAFELY TESTING CIRCUIT BREAKERS WITH THE CT-7000 AND CT-8000 S3

Circuit Breaker Testing Methodology


Testing high voltage circuit breakers (CB) can be a hazardous task because of the risk of induced
voltages from adjacent circuits. However, these risks can now be eliminated by a novel test
technique that allows both sides of the breaker to remain grounded while testing.
Measuring the opening and closing times of the circuit breaker's main contact is an important
criterion for determining the proper operation of the circuit breaker. Timing errors outside the
manufacturer’s specified limit is the single most important diagnostic indicating the need for
breaker maintenance. For these reasons, all circuit breaker test sets provide facilities for
measuring contact timing. The most common and conventional test method is simply to apply a
DC voltage across the contacts. The voltage drop across the CB main contact is monitored
during the opening and closing operations of the circuit breaker. From this data, the opening
and closing time of the main contacts can be determined accurately. The measured operating
time should be checked against the manufacturer's specifications as well as against previous
test data. Any deviation from previous testing values should be further analyzed.
With this traditional method of testing, both sides of the CB should be grounded while test
connections are being made; however, only one side of the breaker can be grounded during
testing. Leaving one side of the circuit breaker ungrounded creates a major safety hazard as it
may be energized by induction from nearby circuits. For this reason, the ground connection
should always remain in place on the side on which there is the greatest danger of capacitive or
inductively coupled voltages.

Conventional Timing Connections

1
SAFELY TESTING CIRCUIT BREAKERS WITH THE CT-7000 AND CT-8000 S3 REV 1

Dual Ground Testing with Vanguard Circuit Breaker Analyzers


Dual ground testing is the method designed to test a circuit breaker easily with increased
personnel safety. Vanguard Instruments' state of the art CT-7000 S3 and CT-8000 S3 circuit
breaker analyzers offer a Dual Ground option for testing circuit breakers in which both sides are
grounded. With Vanguard's circuit breaker analyzers, users can safely perform tests with both
sides grounded using the same procedures they are familiar with for performing traditional
tests. This allows for efficient testing without a complicated process. For further simplicity, the
same test plans that are used for traditional testing can be used for dual ground testing.

Dual Ground Timing Connections


Vanguard’s dual ground testing of circuit breakers requires the user to connect the
measurement probe on one side of the grounding cable in each phase. It uses a novel patent
pending technique for the OPEN and CLOSE timing measurement of the main contacts. With
this technique, a high frequency voltage signal is injected by the transmitter embedded in the
measurement probe. If the main CB contacts are closed, this high frequency voltage signal will
cause high frequency current to flow through the ground loop and closed CB main contacts. The
receiver embedded in the measurement probe senses the high frequency current flow due to
the injected signal by the transmitter. When the CB main contacts open, the closed ground loop
is broken and the receiver of the measurement probe senses the loss of the current signal. The
receiver signals are sent to the Vanguard CB analyzer and the algorithm in the unit computes
the CB main contact open and close times. Field trials carried out with this dual ground testing
method have produced results that compare well with traditional testing results.

2
REV 1 SAFELY TESTING CIRCUIT BREAKERS WITH THE CT-7000 AND CT-8000 S3

The biggest advantages of dual ground testing circuit breakers are:


• Increased test personnel safety since both sides of the circuit breaker bushing are
grounded during testing.
• No need to connect DC contact probes to CB bushing and remove one side ground. This
results in shorter outage time.
• Same simple testing procedure as traditional testing.
• Ability to use existing test plans designed for traditional testing.
• Comparable test results with traditional test results.
CT-7000 S3 and CT-8000 S3 Features
The Vanguard CT-7000 S3 and CT-8000 S3 both offer a dual ground testing option that can test
circuit breakers safely by keeping the grounding cable connected to the circuit breaker during
testing. They are housed in a field-rugged enclosure and feature a QWERTY-style membrane
user interface keypad and a built-in thermal printer. Each instrument can store up to 100 test
plans as well as 200 test records internally. They can also be computer-controlled via the USB
PC interface or an optional Bluetooth wireless PC interface.
For further information on Vanguard Instruments' offerings for circuit breaker testing, please
contact our local channel partner or visit our web site at www.vanguard-instuments.com.

3
1520 S. Hellman Ave • Ontario, CA 91761 • USA
Phone: 909-923-9390 • Fax: 909-923-9391
www.vanguard-instruments.com

Copyright © 2016 by Vanguard Instruments Company, Inc.

Safely Testing Circuit Breakers with the CT-7000/CT-8000 S3 • Revision 1.0 • March 18, 2016 • TA

You might also like