Earth leakage circuit breaker
Encyclopedia
An Earth Leakage Circuit Breaker (ELCB) is a safety device used in electrical installations with high earth impedance
to prevent shock. It detects small stray voltages on the metal enclosures of electrical equipment, and interrupts the circuit if a dangerous votlage is detected. Once widely used, more recent installations instead use residual current circuit breakers which instead detect leakage current directly.
. Nowadays, ELCBs have been mostly replaced by residual-current device
s (RCDs). However many ELCBs are still in use.
Early ELCBs responded to sine wave
fault currents, but not to rectified
fault current. Over time, filtering against nuisance trips has also improved. Early ELCBs thus offer a little less safety and higher risk of nuisance trip. The ability to distinguish between a fault condition and non-risk conditions is called discrimination.
ELCB manufacturers include: Legrand, Havells, ABB
, Siemens AG
, Areva T&D
, Camsco, Telemecanique, Orion Italia, Crabtree, MEM.
. V-ELCBs have been in widespread use since then, and many are still in operation but are no longer installed in new construction. A voltage-operated ELCB detects a rise in potential between the protected interconnected metalwork (equipment frames, conduits, enclosures) and a distant isolated earth reference electrode. They operate at a detected potential of around 50 volts to open a main breaker and isolate the supply from the protected premises.
A voltage-operated ELCB has a second terminal for connecting to the remote reference earth connection.
The earth circuit
is modified when an ELCB is used; the connection to the earth rod is passed through the ELCB by connecting to its two earth terminals. One terminal goes to the installation earth CPC (circuit
protective conductor, aka earth wire), and the other to the earth rod
(or sometimes other type of earth connection).
Disadvantages of the voltage-operated ELCB are the requirement for a second connection, and the possibility that any additional connection to earth on the protected system can disable the detector.
s (RCD)s protect against earth leakage
using a different method of detection. Both circuit conductors (supply and return) are run through a sensing coil; any imbalance of the currents means the magnetic field does not perfectly cancel. The device detects the imbalance and trips the contact.
When the term ELCB is used it usually means a voltage-operated device. Similar devices that are current operated are called residual-current devices. However, some companies use the term ELCB to distinguish high sensitivity current operated 3 phase devices that trip in the milliamp range from traditional 3 phase ground fault devices that operate at much higher currents (traditional earth fault devices are insensitive due to the error inherently associated with the summation of currents from multiple current transformers).
that has a building's incoming mains power connected through its switching contacts
so that the ELCB disconnects the power in an earth leakage (unsafe) condition.
The ELCB detects fault currents from live to the earth (ground) wire within the installation it protects. If sufficient voltage
appears across the ELCB's sense coil, it will switch off the power
, and remain off until manually reset.
A voltage-sensing ELCB does not sense fault currents from live to any other earthed body.
structural framework, outdoor home appliance
s in contact with soil
, and so on.
When this occurs, fault current may pass to earth
without being sensed by the ELCB. Despite this, perhaps counterintuitively, the operation of the ELCB is not compromised. The purpose of the ELCB is to prevent earthed metalwork rising to a dangerous voltage
during fault conditions, and the ELCB continues to do this just the same, the ELCB will still cut the power at the same CPC voltage level. (The difference is that higher fault current is then needed to reach this voltage.)
When an installation has two connections to earth, a nearby high current lightning
strike will cause a voltage gradient in the soil, presenting the ELCB sense coil with enough voltage to cause it to trip.
If the installation's earth rod
is placed close to the earth rod of a neighbouring building, a high earth leakage current in the other building can raise the local ground potential and cause a voltage difference across the two earths, again tripping the ELCB. Close earth rod
s are unsuitable for ELCB use for this reason, but in real life such installations are sometimes encountered.
Both RCDs and ELCBs are prone to nuisance
trips from normal harmless earth leakage
to some degree. On one hand ELCBs are on average older, and hence tend to have less well developed filtering against nuisance trips, and on the other hand ELCBs are inherently immune to some of the causes of false trips RCDs suffer, and are generally less sensitive than RCDs. In practice RCD nuisance trips are much more common.
Another cause of nuisance tripping is due to accumulated or burden currents caused by items with lowered insulation resistance. This may occur due to older equipment, or equipment with heating elements, or even wiring in buildings in the tropics where prolonged damp and rain conditions can cause the insulation resistance to lower due to moisture tracking. If there is a 30 mA protective device in use and there is a 10mA burden from various sources then the unit will trip at 20 mA. The individual items may each be electrically safe but a large number of small burden currents accumulates and reduces the tripping level. This was more a problem in past installations where multiple circuits were protected by a single ELCB.
Heating elements of the tubular form are filled with a very fine powder that can absorb moisture if the element has not be used for some time. In the tropics, this may occur, for example if a clothes drier has not been used for a year or a large water boiler used for coffee etc. has been in storage. In such cases, if the unit is allowed to power up without RCD protection then it will normally dry out and successfully pass inspection. This type of problem can be seen even with brand new equipment.
With any mechanical device, failures occur, and ELCBs should ideally be tested periodically to ensure they still work.
If either of the earth wires become disconnected from the ELCB, it will no longer trip and the installation will often no longer be properly earthed.
Earthing system
In electricity supply systems, an earthing system defines the electrical potential of the conductors relative to the Earth's conductive surface. The choice of earthing system can affect the safety and electromagnetic compatibility of the power supply, and regulations can vary considerably among...
to prevent shock. It detects small stray voltages on the metal enclosures of electrical equipment, and interrupts the circuit if a dangerous votlage is detected. Once widely used, more recent installations instead use residual current circuit breakers which instead detect leakage current directly.
Purpose
The main purpose of earth leakage protectors is to prevent injury to humans and animals due to electric shock.History
ELCBs were mainly used on TT earthing systemsEarthing system
In electricity supply systems, an earthing system defines the electrical potential of the conductors relative to the Earth's conductive surface. The choice of earthing system can affect the safety and electromagnetic compatibility of the power supply, and regulations can vary considerably among...
. Nowadays, ELCBs have been mostly replaced by residual-current device
Residual-current device
A Residual Current Device is a generic term covering both RCCBs and RCBOs.A Residual-Current Circuit Breaker is an electrical wiring device that disconnects a circuit whenever it detects that the electric current is not balanced between the energized conductor and the return neutral conductor...
s (RCDs). However many ELCBs are still in use.
Early ELCBs responded to sine wave
Sine wave
The sine wave or sinusoid is a mathematical function that describes a smooth repetitive oscillation. It occurs often in pure mathematics, as well as physics, signal processing, electrical engineering and many other fields...
fault currents, but not to rectified
Rectifier
A rectifier is an electrical device that converts alternating current , which periodically reverses direction, to direct current , which flows in only one direction. The process is known as rectification...
fault current. Over time, filtering against nuisance trips has also improved. Early ELCBs thus offer a little less safety and higher risk of nuisance trip. The ability to distinguish between a fault condition and non-risk conditions is called discrimination.
ELCB manufacturers include: Legrand, Havells, ABB
Asea Brown Boveri
ABB is a Swiss-Swedish multinational corporation headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland, and best known for its robotics. ABB operates mainly in the power and automation technology areas. It ranked 143rd in Forbes Ranking ....
, Siemens AG
Siemens AG
Siemens AG is a German multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Munich, Germany. It is the largest Europe-based electronics and electrical engineering company....
, Areva T&D
Areva
AREVA is a French public multinational industrial conglomerate headquartered in the Tour Areva in Courbevoie, Paris. AREVA is mainly known for nuclear power; it also has interests in other energy projects. It was created on 3 September 2001, by the merger of Framatome , Cogema and...
, Camsco, Telemecanique, Orion Italia, Crabtree, MEM.
Types
There are two types of ELCB:- voltageVoltageVoltage, otherwise known as electrical potential difference or electric tension is the difference in electric potential between two points — or the difference in electric potential energy per unit charge between two points...
operated and, - currentElectric currentElectric current is a flow of electric charge through a medium.This charge is typically carried by moving electrons in a conductor such as wire...
operated.
Voltage-operated
Voltage-operated ELCBs were introduced in the early 20th century, and provided a major advance in safety for mains electrical supplies with inadequate earth impedanceEarthing system
In electricity supply systems, an earthing system defines the electrical potential of the conductors relative to the Earth's conductive surface. The choice of earthing system can affect the safety and electromagnetic compatibility of the power supply, and regulations can vary considerably among...
. V-ELCBs have been in widespread use since then, and many are still in operation but are no longer installed in new construction. A voltage-operated ELCB detects a rise in potential between the protected interconnected metalwork (equipment frames, conduits, enclosures) and a distant isolated earth reference electrode. They operate at a detected potential of around 50 volts to open a main breaker and isolate the supply from the protected premises.
A voltage-operated ELCB has a second terminal for connecting to the remote reference earth connection.
The earth circuit
Earthing system
In electricity supply systems, an earthing system defines the electrical potential of the conductors relative to the Earth's conductive surface. The choice of earthing system can affect the safety and electromagnetic compatibility of the power supply, and regulations can vary considerably among...
is modified when an ELCB is used; the connection to the earth rod is passed through the ELCB by connecting to its two earth terminals. One terminal goes to the installation earth CPC (circuit
Electrical network
An electrical network is an interconnection of electrical elements such as resistors, inductors, capacitors, transmission lines, voltage sources, current sources and switches. An electrical circuit is a special type of network, one that has a closed loop giving a return path for the current...
protective conductor, aka earth wire), and the other to the earth rod
Earthing system
In electricity supply systems, an earthing system defines the electrical potential of the conductors relative to the Earth's conductive surface. The choice of earthing system can affect the safety and electromagnetic compatibility of the power supply, and regulations can vary considerably among...
(or sometimes other type of earth connection).
Disadvantages of the voltage-operated ELCB are the requirement for a second connection, and the possibility that any additional connection to earth on the protected system can disable the detector.
Current- sensing protection
Residual-current deviceResidual-current device
A Residual Current Device is a generic term covering both RCCBs and RCBOs.A Residual-Current Circuit Breaker is an electrical wiring device that disconnects a circuit whenever it detects that the electric current is not balanced between the energized conductor and the return neutral conductor...
s (RCD)s protect against earth leakage
Earthing system
In electricity supply systems, an earthing system defines the electrical potential of the conductors relative to the Earth's conductive surface. The choice of earthing system can affect the safety and electromagnetic compatibility of the power supply, and regulations can vary considerably among...
using a different method of detection. Both circuit conductors (supply and return) are run through a sensing coil; any imbalance of the currents means the magnetic field does not perfectly cancel. The device detects the imbalance and trips the contact.
When the term ELCB is used it usually means a voltage-operated device. Similar devices that are current operated are called residual-current devices. However, some companies use the term ELCB to distinguish high sensitivity current operated 3 phase devices that trip in the milliamp range from traditional 3 phase ground fault devices that operate at much higher currents (traditional earth fault devices are insensitive due to the error inherently associated with the summation of currents from multiple current transformers).
Operation
An ELCB is a specialised type of latching relayRelay
A relay is an electrically operated switch. Many relays use an electromagnet to operate a switching mechanism mechanically, but other operating principles are also used. Relays are used where it is necessary to control a circuit by a low-power signal , or where several circuits must be controlled...
that has a building's incoming mains power connected through its switching contacts
Relay
A relay is an electrically operated switch. Many relays use an electromagnet to operate a switching mechanism mechanically, but other operating principles are also used. Relays are used where it is necessary to control a circuit by a low-power signal , or where several circuits must be controlled...
so that the ELCB disconnects the power in an earth leakage (unsafe) condition.
The ELCB detects fault currents from live to the earth (ground) wire within the installation it protects. If sufficient voltage
Voltage
Voltage, otherwise known as electrical potential difference or electric tension is the difference in electric potential between two points — or the difference in electric potential energy per unit charge between two points...
appears across the ELCB's sense coil, it will switch off the power
Electric power
Electric power is the rate at which electric energy is transferred by an electric circuit. The SI unit of power is the watt.-Circuits:Electric power, like mechanical power, is represented by the letter P in electrical equations...
, and remain off until manually reset.
A voltage-sensing ELCB does not sense fault currents from live to any other earthed body.
Advantages
ELCBs have one advantage over RCDs: they are less sensitive to fault conditions, and therefore have fewer nuisance trips. (This does not mean they always do, as practical performance depends on installation details and the discrimination enhancing filtering in the ELCB.) Therefore by electrically separating cable armour from the cable circuit protective conductor, an ELCB can be arranged to protect against cable damage only, and not trip on faults in downline installations.Disadvantages
ELCBs have some disadvantages:- They do not detect faults that don't pass currentElectric currentElectric current is a flow of electric charge through a medium.This charge is typically carried by moving electrons in a conductor such as wire...
through the CPC to the earth rodEarthing systemIn electricity supply systems, an earthing system defines the electrical potential of the conductors relative to the Earth's conductive surface. The choice of earthing system can affect the safety and electromagnetic compatibility of the power supply, and regulations can vary considerably among...
. - They do not allow a single buildingBuildingIn architecture, construction, engineering, real estate development and technology the word building may refer to one of the following:...
system to be easily split into multiple sections with independent fault protection, because earthing systemEarthing systemIn electricity supply systems, an earthing system defines the electrical potential of the conductors relative to the Earth's conductive surface. The choice of earthing system can affect the safety and electromagnetic compatibility of the power supply, and regulations can vary considerably among...
s are usually bonded to pipework. - They may be tripped by external voltages from something connected to the earthing system such as metal pipes, a TN-S earth or a TN-C-S combined neutral and earth.
- As with RCDs, electrically leaky appliances such as some water heaters, washing machineWashing machineA washing machine is a machine designed to wash laundry, such as clothing, towels and sheets...
s and cookers may cause the ELCB to trip. - ELCBs introduce additional resistanceResistorA linear resistor is a linear, passive two-terminal electrical component that implements electrical resistance as a circuit element.The current through a resistor is in direct proportion to the voltage across the resistor's terminals. Thus, the ratio of the voltage applied across a resistor's...
and an additional point of failureFailureFailure refers to the state or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective, and may be viewed as the opposite of success. Product failure ranges from failure to sell the product to fracture of the product, in the worst cases leading to personal injury, the province of forensic...
into the earthing systemEarthing systemIn electricity supply systems, an earthing system defines the electrical potential of the conductors relative to the Earth's conductive surface. The choice of earthing system can affect the safety and electromagnetic compatibility of the power supply, and regulations can vary considerably among...
.
Earth bypassing
It is not unusual for ELCB protected installation to have a second unintentional connection to earth somewhere, one that does not pass through the ELCB sense coil. This can occur via metal pipework in contact with the ground, metalMetal
A metal , is an element, compound, or alloy that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat. Metals are usually malleable and shiny, that is they reflect most of incident light...
structural framework, outdoor home appliance
Home appliance
Home appliances are electrical/mechanical machines which accomplish some household functions, such as cooking or cleaning. Home appliances can be classified into:*Major appliances, or White goods*Small appliances, or Brown goods...
s in contact with soil
Soil
Soil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics...
, and so on.
When this occurs, fault current may pass to earth
Earthing system
In electricity supply systems, an earthing system defines the electrical potential of the conductors relative to the Earth's conductive surface. The choice of earthing system can affect the safety and electromagnetic compatibility of the power supply, and regulations can vary considerably among...
without being sensed by the ELCB. Despite this, perhaps counterintuitively, the operation of the ELCB is not compromised. The purpose of the ELCB is to prevent earthed metalwork rising to a dangerous voltage
Voltage
Voltage, otherwise known as electrical potential difference or electric tension is the difference in electric potential between two points — or the difference in electric potential energy per unit charge between two points...
during fault conditions, and the ELCB continues to do this just the same, the ELCB will still cut the power at the same CPC voltage level. (The difference is that higher fault current is then needed to reach this voltage.)
Nuisance trips
While voltage and current on the earth line is usually fault current from a live wire, this is not always the case, thus there are situations in which an ELCB can nuisance trip.When an installation has two connections to earth, a nearby high current lightning
Lightning
Lightning is an atmospheric electrostatic discharge accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcanic eruptions or dust storms...
strike will cause a voltage gradient in the soil, presenting the ELCB sense coil with enough voltage to cause it to trip.
If the installation's earth rod
Earthing system
In electricity supply systems, an earthing system defines the electrical potential of the conductors relative to the Earth's conductive surface. The choice of earthing system can affect the safety and electromagnetic compatibility of the power supply, and regulations can vary considerably among...
is placed close to the earth rod of a neighbouring building, a high earth leakage current in the other building can raise the local ground potential and cause a voltage difference across the two earths, again tripping the ELCB. Close earth rod
Earthing system
In electricity supply systems, an earthing system defines the electrical potential of the conductors relative to the Earth's conductive surface. The choice of earthing system can affect the safety and electromagnetic compatibility of the power supply, and regulations can vary considerably among...
s are unsuitable for ELCB use for this reason, but in real life such installations are sometimes encountered.
Both RCDs and ELCBs are prone to nuisance
Nuisance
Nuisance is a common law tort. It means that which causes offence, annoyance, trouble or injury. A nuisance can be either public or private. A public nuisance was defined by English scholar Sir J. F...
trips from normal harmless earth leakage
Earthing system
In electricity supply systems, an earthing system defines the electrical potential of the conductors relative to the Earth's conductive surface. The choice of earthing system can affect the safety and electromagnetic compatibility of the power supply, and regulations can vary considerably among...
to some degree. On one hand ELCBs are on average older, and hence tend to have less well developed filtering against nuisance trips, and on the other hand ELCBs are inherently immune to some of the causes of false trips RCDs suffer, and are generally less sensitive than RCDs. In practice RCD nuisance trips are much more common.
Another cause of nuisance tripping is due to accumulated or burden currents caused by items with lowered insulation resistance. This may occur due to older equipment, or equipment with heating elements, or even wiring in buildings in the tropics where prolonged damp and rain conditions can cause the insulation resistance to lower due to moisture tracking. If there is a 30 mA protective device in use and there is a 10mA burden from various sources then the unit will trip at 20 mA. The individual items may each be electrically safe but a large number of small burden currents accumulates and reduces the tripping level. This was more a problem in past installations where multiple circuits were protected by a single ELCB.
Heating elements of the tubular form are filled with a very fine powder that can absorb moisture if the element has not be used for some time. In the tropics, this may occur, for example if a clothes drier has not been used for a year or a large water boiler used for coffee etc. has been in storage. In such cases, if the unit is allowed to power up without RCD protection then it will normally dry out and successfully pass inspection. This type of problem can be seen even with brand new equipment.
Failure to respond
Some ELCBs do not respond to rectified fault current. This issue is the same in principle with ELCBs and RCDs, but ELCBs are on average much older and specs have improved considerably over the years, so an old ELCB is more likely to have some uncommon fault current waveform that it will not respond to.With any mechanical device, failures occur, and ELCBs should ideally be tested periodically to ensure they still work.
If either of the earth wires become disconnected from the ELCB, it will no longer trip and the installation will often no longer be properly earthed.