Electrical Protection Testing

Circuit breakers protect circuits from high voltage spikes.

Electrical protection involves testing a circuit against short-circuit voltage spikes. For this reason, it involves testing the effectiveness of the circuit breaker and the design interface to the circuit breaker to ensure it works as intended. Testing activities generally include a test plan, test setup and test performance.

Test Plan

The testing process starts with a test plan. During the design, engineers perform a worst-case circuit analysis to determine what short circuit or voltage spike events are most likely to occur. As a result of the analysis, they add circuit protection to their designs. The test plan will outline a test procedure and setup to validate if the design works. Also, in many cases, the test plan must also prove compliant to various electrical specifications.

Test Setup

Test setup involves choosing and positioning the necessary testing and measuring equipment to perform the test according to the plan. The setup generally include equipment such as a signal generator, which generates a test signal and voltage, the circuit under test and the measuring equipment, which is needed to capture how the circuit and the associated circuit breakers respond to the test signal.

Test Performance

Once the test is set-up, engineers perform the test according to the test plan. They compare the results to the desired response and specification tolerances. If required, they redesign the circuit and add additional circuit protection components.

References

• Megger: Circuit Breaker Test Equipment
• ETI Electrical Systems: Circuit Breakers