Breaker Contact Behavior with Rapid Sequential Switching Above Fault Rating

This paper is concerned with the behavior of closed circuit breaker contacts of diverse types when subjected to peak fault currents which for one cycle exceed rating by 60 to 100 percent. The problem is crucial to the feasibility of a proposed simplified method of meeting transmission needs for fault current limiting devices [3]. High current tests have been run on components representative of the important transmission class circuit breakers employed in the U.S. A specific application of the proposed fault limiting concept is described.