Fuse-contactor combinations

The outgoing switching device in a high current, high fault level, switchboard will usually be a power circuit breaker if it feeds more that about 400 amps to the load. Below 400 amps the circuit could have a fuse-contactor combination, see sub-section 7.3.2 for comments on contactors and Chapter 8 on fuses. Therefore if the outgoing device must be a circuit breaker then the comments and discussion in sub-section 7.2.3 above apply. Low voltage switchboards often use moulded case circuit breakers... 

Switching devices for the power circuits that need to be operated frequently are usually circuit breakers and contactors. Manually operated load break switches, fuse-switch combinations and molded case circuit breakers are used for feeder circuits that are infrequently operated. 

Line Starters and Combination Starters A line starter consists of a contactor (motor-starting switch) and motor-overload relays, (Contactors are capable of canving and interrupting normal motor-starting and -running currents they are not, hovv ever, normally capable of interrupting short-circuit currents. They must be backed up by fuses or a circuit breaker for this function,... 

When a disconnect switch, circuit breaker, or set of fuses is included in the same enclosure as the contactor, the starter is then called a combination starter. In addition to the fault-current-interrupting function, the breaker or fuses serve as the disconnecting device. Figure 29-5 illustrates schematically combination starters of various types. The latch is arranged to open the disconnect before the door can be swung open. There are also provisions for padlocking the disconnect open with the door closed so that maintenance wonc on the motor may proceed in safety. 

When high voltage motors are being considered, it is usually found that the minimum conductor size of the cable is determined by the let-through fault withstand capability rather than the full-load or starting current. Cable manufacturers provide graphical data for fault withstand capabilities of their cables, which are based on practical tests. These aspects are also associated with the protection system used for the motor, e.g. a contactor-fuse combination, a circuit breaker, the protective relay characteristics (thermal, inverse time with or without instantaneous or earth fault elements). 

The circuit may be controlled by a circuit breaker or a combination of a contactor and fuses. In some circuits that are controlled frequently as in the case of heaters controlled by thermostats or thermometers, the main protection may be incorporated into a circuit breaker whilst the control would be given by a contactor. 

In a combination starter, the magnetic or sohd-state contactor or starter is coordinated with a circuit breaker or set of fuses so that the equipment will successfully complete a fault interruption up to its pubhshed rating. The same coordination is built into the self-protected combination controller. 

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