Four solutions to residual current protection
Residual Current Protection plays a crucial role in preventing electrical faults, significantly reducing the risk of electric shock and electrical fires. Nowadays, there are four residual current protection solutions to ensure electrical safety, which can accurately and quickly detect abnormal leakage currents in circuits. This article will introduce the residual current protection solution from the residual current protection relay, residual current device, leakage circuit breaker, and leakage relay.
Residual Current Protection Relay
Residual Current Protection Relay is an electrical protection device used to detect leakage current in the circuit. When leakage occurs in the circuit, that is, the current of the live wire and the neutral wire is unbalanced, the residual current protection relay will operate and cut off the power supply, thereby protecting personal safety and equipment. When you adopt this residual current protection solution, you can preset the threshold to detect the current changes and take protective measures such as cutting power or issuing an alarm. Moreover, the residual current relay is typically used with circuit breakers or other protective equipment to form a comprehensive protection system. It is widely used for large industrial equipment (transformers, motors, etc.) and power generation and distribution systems.
Residual Current Device (RCD)
The Residual Current Device (RCD), known as a residual current circuit breaker, can constantly monitor the electric current flowing through one or more circuits it is used to protect. When the residual current protection device detects that the electrical current flowing through both wires is not the same, the RCD will break the current immediately and safely in the event of a fault. The whole process is done within 10 to 50 milliseconds. This residual current circuit breaker is widely used in residential, commercial, and industrial buildings, factories, distribution facilities, and data center to ensure personnel and equipment safety.
Earth Leakage Circuit Breaker (ELCB)
Earth Leakage Circuit Breaker, also called Residual Current Device (RCD), can protect against electrical faults. Its working principle is based on detecting ground faults or leakage currents in the circuit (ie, working on the principles of current or voltage imbalances). There are current earth leakage Circuit breakers or voltage earth leakage circuit breakers options. The current earth leakage circuit breaker is the same as the residual current circuit breaker, which has higher sensitivity and can detect minute anomalies and abnormalities of current. The earth leakage circuit breaker is commonly used in chemical and petroleum industries, and medical equipment.
Earth Leakage Relay
Earth Leakage Relay detects residual current for load and lines and protects them from grounding faults. It also can detect leakage of a 400A–6300A busbar. When connected to the grounding wire, the earth leakage relay detects any potential difference across the earth fault relay, and sends a signal to the circuit breaker, causing the circuit to trip or disconnect the main power supply.
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