4.4 Selection of a circuit-breaker
Choice of a circuit-breaker
The choice of a CB is made in terms of:
b Electrical characteristics of the installation for which the CB is intended
b Its eventual environment: ambient temperature, in a kiosk or switchboard
enclosure, climatic conditions, etc.
b Short-circuit current breaking and making requirements
b Operational specifications: discriminative tripping, requirements (or not) for
remote control and indication and related auxiliary contacts, auxiliary tripping coils,
connection
b Installation regulations; in particular: protection of persons
b Load characteristics, such as motors, fluorescent lighting, LV/LV transformers
The following notes relate to the choice LV circuit-breaker for use in distribution
systems.
Choice of rated current in terms of ambient temperature
The rated current of a circuit-breaker is defined for operation at a given ambient
temperature, in general:
b 30 °C for domestic-type CBs
b 40 °C for industrial-type CBs
Performance of these CBs in a different ambient temperature depends mainly on the
technology of their tripping units (see Fig. H40).
Uncompensated thermal magnetic tripping units
Circuit-breakers with uncompensated thermal tripping elements have a trippingcurrent
level that depends on the surrounding temperature. If the CB is installed
in an enclosure, or in a hot location (boiler room, etc.), the current required to trip
the CB on overload will be sensibly reduced. When the temperature in which the
CB is located exceeds its reference temperature, it will therefore be “derated”. For
this reason, CB manufacturers provide tables which indicate factors to apply at
temperatures different to the CB reference temperature. It may be noted from typical
examples of such tables (see Fig. H41) that a lower temperature than the reference
value produces an up-rating of the CB. Moreover, small modular-type CBs mounted
in juxtaposition, as shown typically in Figure H27, are usually mounted in a small
closed metal case. In this situation, mutual heating, when passing normal load
currents, generally requires them to be derated by a factor of 0.8.