what are the benefits of short circuit current limiting?
Benefits of limiting:
Long installation service life
Thermal effects
Lower temperature rise at the conductor level, hence increased service life for cables and all components that are not self-protected (e.g. switches, contactors, etc.)
Mechanical effects
Lower electrodynamic repulsion forces, hence less risk of deformation or breakage of electrical contacts and busbars.
Electromagnetic
effects Less interference on sensitive equipment located in the vicinity of an electric circuit.
Savings through cascading
Cascading is a technique derived directly from current limiting: downstream of a current-limiting circuit breaker it is possible to use circuit breakers of breaking capacity lower than the prospective short-circuit current (in line with the cascading tables). The breaking capacity is heightened thanks to current limiting by the upstream device. Substantial savings can be achieved in this way on switchgear and enclosures.
Discrimination of protection devices
The circuit breakers' current limiting capacity improves discrimination with the protection devices located upstream: this is because the required energy passing through the upstream protection device is greatly reduced and can be not enough to cause it to trip. Discrimination can thus be natural without having to install a time-delayed protection device upstream.
Long installation service life
Thermal effects
Lower temperature rise at the conductor level, hence increased service life for cables and all components that are not self-protected (e.g. switches, contactors, etc.)
Mechanical effects
Lower electrodynamic repulsion forces, hence less risk of deformation or breakage of electrical contacts and busbars.
Electromagnetic
effects Less interference on sensitive equipment located in the vicinity of an electric circuit.
Savings through cascading
Cascading is a technique derived directly from current limiting: downstream of a current-limiting circuit breaker it is possible to use circuit breakers of breaking capacity lower than the prospective short-circuit current (in line with the cascading tables). The breaking capacity is heightened thanks to current limiting by the upstream device. Substantial savings can be achieved in this way on switchgear and enclosures.
Discrimination of protection devices
The circuit breakers' current limiting capacity improves discrimination with the protection devices located upstream: this is because the required energy passing through the upstream protection device is greatly reduced and can be not enough to cause it to trip. Discrimination can thus be natural without having to install a time-delayed protection device upstream.