Guide To An Earth Leakage Circuit Breaker

An earth leakage circuit breaker or ELCB tends to be a voltage detecting device. It gets switched by current sensing devices or RCD/RCCB. The current sensing devices are generally known as RCCB whilst voltage detecting devices are referred to as ELCB. Different brands manufacture ECLBs nowadays.

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What is an ELCB

Let us begin by explaining what an ELCB is. It is a type of safety device employed for installing an electrical device that has high earth impedance. This is done to avoid shock.

The devices can identify small stray voltages particularly of the electrical device upon the metal enclosures. They intrude the circuit when a harmful voltage gets identified.

An ELCB is important and needed as it can halt harm to humans as well as animals which can occur because of electric shock.

How does an ELCB work?

An ELCB can be said to be a specialized kind of latching relay thathas a particular building’s incoming main power connected via its switching contacts. This is why the ELCB can disconnect the power at the time that an earth leakage gets detected.

The ELCB can detect fault currents precisely from the live to the earth wire in the installation that it protects. When sufficient voltage comes across the ELCB’s sense coil, the power will get switched off by it. It remains off till manually reset.

When it comes to a voltage-sensing ELCB, this cannot sense fault currents coming from life to Earthed bodies.

Types of ELCSs

You can find two types of Earth leakage circuit breakers. This includes the voltage-operated or ELCB one and the current operated of RCCB one.

The voltage-operated or ELCB

The voltage ELCBs have been used for some time and some are still being used today. However, they are not being installed in new constructions now.

With a voltage-operated ELCB, it is possible to detect any rise in potential occurring amongst the protected interconnected metalwork along with a distant isolated Earth reference electrode.

Current sensing devices or RCD/RCCB

This is the commonly employed ELCB type. This includes a current transformer that possesses multiple primary windings along with one secondary winding.

It is the neutral and line wires that behave like the primary windings. The secondary winding tends to be a wire-wound coil.

It is important to know that the current through a secondary winding is zero when at the balanced condition. If a fault happens, a small current flows to the ground as well. An imbalance occurs between line as well as neutral current, therefore, making an unbalanced magnetic field. A current across the secondary winding occurs because of this. This is connected to the particular sensing circuit. This can sense the leakage and then send a signal to the tripping system.

If you need to get an ELCB to check out the variety available. You can for instance get an earth leakage circuit breaker at Eaton. Look at the different manufacturers selling these and know what you need.

Read more: Tips for Thoughtful Hiring of Best Electrician Services