Evaluation of Controlled Energization Zone of a Circuit Breaker using Binary Search Algorithm

Circuit breaker is an important switching device predominantly used in the utilities. Most recently, it is also being used to perform controlled switching of various passive loads. The concept of controlled energizing is very much dependent on the circuit breaker characteristics like Rate of Decay of Dielectric strength (RDDS) and its scatter. Performing a nearly accurate evaluation of the switching instant is very much required to avoid unintended switching. This paper presents a Binary search algorithm which uses the values of the RDDS and scatter of the breaker to evaluate the optimal zone of energizing. This algorithm can be implemented in numerical relays and in turn can be used to control the energizing of the breakers. The method has been tested in MATLAB and supporting results have been published.