Ans. It protects the alternator from high frequency surges coming in from the outside, and limits the current from other machines on the same bus.
Fig. 2,245.—General Electric magnetic blow out circuit breaker. This type may be used in air or water tight boxes and is peculiarly adapted for service where the arc must be confined.
Circuit Breakers.—The importance of circuit protective devices, commonly called circuit breakers, is fully recognized. The duty of a circuit breaker is to protect the apparatus in an electrical circuit from undesirable effects arising from abnormal conditions, by automatically breaking the circuit. Accordingly a circuit breaker must comprise a switch in combination with electrical control devices designed to act under abnormal conditions in the circuit.
A circuit breaker is a device which automatically opens the circuit in event of abnormal conditions, in the circuit.
Fig. 2,246.—Magnetic blow out circuit breaker. This is a direct current breaker in which the final break occurs in a magnetic field. It is a principle in electromagnetics that a conductor carrying a current in a magnetic field will tend to move in a direction at right angles to the field. The arc set up on breaking a circuit constitutes a conductor, and in magnetic blow out circuit breakers, as generally manufactured, there is an electromagnet, energized by the current to be broken, which produces a field in the neighborhood of the arc, with the result that the arc moves outward, and so becomes attenuated and is finally extinguished. The form shown in the figure is used on cars equipped with heavy motors. When so used, it is in many cases mounted in a box with the handle H projecting at one end. A and K are the terminals of the breaker and B is the tripping coil, which also serves to set up the magnetic field necessary for blowing out the arc. X is the armature of coil B and is pulled down against the action of the spring S whenever the current exceeds that for which the breaker is set. The tripping current is adjusted by means of nut T. The iron plate P and a similar one back of it are magnetized by the current in coil B, and as the break takes place between these two poles, the arc is promptly extinguished by the field that exists there. In operation, A and K are the terminals, D D is a contact that is forced up against F, F when the breaker is set. The current then takes the path A-B-F-D D-F-K. When the breaker trips, the contact piece D D flies down and the tendency is for an arc to form between F, F; the magnetic field blows the arc upwards, and whatever burning takes place is on the contacts E, E, which are so constructed that they may be readily renewed. To trip the breaker by hand, the knob N is pressed.
In the design of circuit breakers, there are several methods used to effect the rupturing of the arc between contacts when opened on heavy overload, such as:
1. Magnetic blow out; 2. Thermal break; 3. Carbon break.