INDUSTRIAL CONTACTORS

                             ELECTRICAL CONTACTORS.

 AC Contactor

 DEFINITION:

   A contactor is an electrically controlled switch used for switching a power circuit, similar to a relay except with higher current ratings. A contactor is controlled by a circuit which has a much lower power level than the switched circuit.

   Contactors are in many forms with varying capacities and features. Contactors range from those having a breaking current of several amperes to thousands of amperes and 24 V DC to many Kilovolts. The physical size of contactors ranges from a device small enough to pick up with one hand, to large devices approximately a meter on a side.

FEATURES:

   A contactor has three components. The contacts are the current carrying part of the contactor. This includes power contacts, auxiliary contacts, and contact springs. The electromagnet (or "coil") provides the driving force to close the contacts. The enclosure is a frame housing the contact and the electromagnet. Enclosures are made of insulating materials like Bakelite, Nylon 6, and thermosetting plastics to protect and insulate the contacts and to provide some measure of protection against personnel touching the contacts. Open-frame contactors may have a further enclosure to protect against dust, oil, explosion hazards and weather.

   Magnetic blowouts use blowout coils to lengthen and move the electric arc. These are especially useful in DC power circuits. AC arcs have periods of low current, during which the arc can be extinguished with relative ease, but DC arcs have continuous high current, so blowing them out requires the arc to be stretched further than an AC arc of the same current.

    Sometimes an economizer circuit is also installed to reduce the power required to keep a contactor closed; an auxiliary contact reduces coil current after the contactor closes. A somewhat greater amount of power is required to initially close a contactor than is required to keep it closed. Such a circuit can save a substantial amount of power and allow the energized coil to stay cooler. Economizer circuits are nearly always applied on direct-current contactor coils and on large alternating current contactor coils.

    A basic contactor will have a coil input (which may be driven by either an AC or DC supply depending on the contactor design). The coil may be energized at the same voltage as a motor the contactor is controlling, or may be separately controlled with a lower coil voltage.

   Unlike ordinary relays, contactors are designed to be directly connected to high-current load devices. Relays are of lower capacity and are usually designed for both normally closed and normally open applications. Devices switching more than 15 amperes  are usually called contactors. Apart from optional auxiliary low current contacts, contactors are almost exclusively fitted with normally open contacts. Unlike relays, contactors are designed with features to control and suppress the arc produced when interrupting heavy motor currents.

  When current passes through the electromagnet, a magnetic field is produced, which attracts the moving core of the contactor. The electromagnet coil draws more current initially, until its inductance increases when the metal core enters the coil. The moving contact is propelled by the moving core; the force developed by the electromagnet holds the moving and fixed contacts together. When the contactor coil is de-energized, gravity or a spring returns the electromagnet core to its initial position and opens the contacts.

  For contactors energized with alternating current, a small part of the core is surrounded with a shading coil, which slightly delays the magnetic flux in the core. The effect is to average out the alternating pull of the magnetic field and so prevent the core from buzzing at twice line frequency.

  Because arcing and consequent damage occurs just as the contacts are opening or closing, contactors are designed to open and close very rapidly; there is often an internal tipping point mechanism to ensure rapid action.

  Rapid closing can, however, lead to increase contact bounce which causes additional unwanted open-close cycles. One solution is to have bifurcated contacts to minimize contact bounce; two contacts designed to close simultaneously, but bounce at different times so the circuit will not be briefly disconnected and cause an arc.

  A slight variant has multiple contacts designed to engage in rapid succession. The first to make contact and last to break will experience the greatest contact wear and will form a high-resistance connection that would cause excessive heating inside the contactor. However, in doing so, it will protect the primary contact from arcing, so a low contact resistance will be established a millisecond later..

 ARC SUPPRESSION TECHNIQUES:

  Without adequate contact protection, the occurrence of electric current arcing causes significant degradation of the contacts, which suffer significant damage. An electrical arc occurs between the two contact points  when they transition from a closed to an open (break arc) or from an open to a closed (make arc). The break arc is typically more energetic and thus more destructive.

  The heat energy contained in the resulting electrical arc is very high, ultimately causing the metal on the contact to migrate with the current. The extremely high temperature of the arc cracks the surrounding gas molecules creating ozone, carbon monoxide, and other compounds. The arc energy slowly destroys the contact metal, causing some material to escape into the air as fine particulate matter. This activity causes the material in the contacts to degrade over time, ultimately resulting in device failure.

PRINCIPLES OF OPERATION: 

  Most motor control contactors at low voltages (600 volts and less) are air break contactors; air at atmospheric pressure surrounds the contacts and extinguishes the arc when interrupting the circuit. Modern medium-voltage motor controllers use vacuum contactors. High voltage contactors (greater than 1000 volts) may use vacuum or an inert gas around the contacts. High-voltage electric locomotives may be isolated from their overhead supply by roof-mounted circuit breakers actuated by compressed air; the same air supply may be used to "blow out" any arc that forms.

CONTACTOR RATINGS:

   Contactors are rated by:

1. Designed load current per contact (pole)
2. Maximum fault withstand current
3. Duty cycle
4. Voltage capacity.
5. Coil voltage. 

The current rating of the contactor depends on utilization category. IEC categories are described as:

• AC-1 - Non-inductive or slightly inductive loads, resistance furnaces
• AC-2 - Starting of slip-ring motors: starting, switching-off
• AC-3 - Starting of squirrel-cage motors and switching-off only after the motor is up to speed. (Make Locked Rotor Amps, Break Full Load Amps
• AC-4 - Starting of squirrel-cage motors with inching and plugging duty. Rapid Start/Stop. (Make and Break)

CONTACTOR APPLICATIONS:

•   Lighting control:

  Contactors are often used to provide central control of large lighting installations, such as an office building or retail building. And it is equally used in street light applications.

•   Magnetic starter:

  A magnetic starter is a device designed to provide power to electric motors. It includes a contactor as an essential component, while also providing power-cutoff, under-voltage, and overload protection. 
  

•   Heating control: 

• Contactors are used to switch very large current required by industrial boilers, heating elements, and industrial ovens.

•   Other uses include: 

• capacitor banks, thermal evaporators, and other electrical loads.

This article was done by STALITE ENGINEERING LIMITED
contact us: staliteltd@gmail.com. for further inquires. Thanks