A case study of the application of medium voltage circuit breakers in adverse transient recovery voltage conditions

Medium voltage circuit breakers are easily misapplied with respect to power system transient recovery voltage (TRV) characteristics. This paper examines one such heavy industrial application in which circuit parameters as originally designed would have exceeded the circuit breakers ratings had corrective measures not been taken. Adverse TRV conditions were being created from more than one source. This paper illustrates this case and discusses the basis of TRV, how TRV is assessed, and alternative actions taken to bring circuits to within the circuit breaker ratings.<>