Eaton Miniature Circuit Breakers
Eaton miniature circuit breakers have a high breaking capacity that allows them to handle powerful fault currents without failing. The FAZ series benefits from global compatibility and international standard compliance, so they can work in nearly any electrical panel you can think of in the US, Europe, Asia, or elsewhere. They come in standard single-pole, double-pole, and multi-pole configurations, which means you can use them to protect nearly any non-residential circuit of pretty much any size.
Circuit breakers come with either a thermal or thermal-magnetic trip unit. The latter is more common and offers more precise response times, increasing the range of potential faults that can be handled. The trip unit measures the current in the circuit and, when necessary, opens the contacts at the preset current rating. The contacts of the breaker are to be returned to the closed position in which they make up an electrical connection to the load and, thereby, re-establish the interrupted current path.
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FAQs
Have Eaton miniature circuit breakers been tested reliability for optimum product quality in regards to their fast short circuit interruption for short circuit protection?
Yes, Eaton miniature circuit breakers have been rigorously tested for reliability and optimum product quality, ensuring fast short circuit interruption for effective short circuit protection​.
Can a two-pole miniature circuit breaker be used on load circuits to protect equipment in renewable energy applications?
Yes, a two-pole miniature circuit breaker can be used on load circuits in renewable energy applications to provide protection for both poles of the circuit and ensure safe operation​.
Trip Curve Basics Part 1
There are two critical elements in miniature circuit beakers.
Bimetal strip
This strip has two dissimilar metals attached to one another. When a prolonged overcurrent occurs, these metals begin to bend. Because the metals are different, the rate at which they bend is different, therefore causing the strip to bend. If this bending occurs long enough, the bending strip will disrupt the electrical contacts inside the breaker, causing it to trip.
Coil or solenoid
The coil or solenoid is designed for larger overcurrent events like a short circuit or lightning strike. When a large overcurrent event occurs, the plunger in the solenoid is actuated, thereby tripping the breaker.
What is a trip curve?
It is both the prolonged overcurrent protection from the bimetal strip and the higher spikes in voltage and current protection from the solenoid that make up the circuit breakers trip curve. How fast or slow these events occur determines the shape of the curve. A trip curve is simply a graphical representation of the expected behavior of a circuit protection device, in this case, a circuit breaker.
This graphical representation looks at two separate pieces of data to provide the information needed to understand when a particular breaker will trip. The first is time, more specifically, the time the circuit breaker experiences a certain amount of overcurrent. The second is the amount of current. In this case, how much more current is passing through the breaker than the protection device is actually rated for.