scope:

This part of IEC 62271 is applicable to a.c. circuit-breakers designed for indoor or outdoor installation, for operation at frequencies of 50 Hz and 60 Hz on systems having voltages above 1 000 V and applied for inductive current switching with or without additional shortcircuit current breaking duties. The standard is applicable to circuit-breakers in accordance with IEC 62271-100 that are used to switch high-voltage motor currents and shunt reactor currents and also to high-voltage contactors used to switch high-voltage motor currents as covered by IEC 62271-106. For circuit-breakers applied to switch shunt reactor currents at rated voltages according to IEC 62271-1:2007 Tables 2a and 2b, combined voltage tests across the isolating distance are not required (refer to 4.2).

Switching unloaded transformers, i.e. breaking transformer magnetizing current, is not considered in this standard. The reasons for this are as follows:

a) due to the non-linearity of the transformer core, it is not possible to correctly model the switching of transformer magnetizing current using linear components in a test laboratory. Tests conducted using an available transformer, such as a test transformer, will only be valid for the transformer tested and cannot be representative for other transformers;

b) as detailed in IEC 62271-3061, the characteristics of this duty are usually less severe than any other inductive current switching duty. It should be noted that such a duty may produce severe overvoltages within the transformer winding(s) depending on the circuitbreaker re-ignition behaviour and transformer winding resonance frequencies.

hort-line faults, out-of-phase current making and breaking and capacitive current switching are not applicable to circuit-breakers applied to switch shunt reactors or motors. These duties are therefore not included in this standard.

Subclause 1.1 of IEC 62271-100:2008 is otherwise applicable.