How circuit breakers work? What makes them trip?
In: Engineering
It uses magnetism usually to trip it.
Current running through a wire creates a magnetic field, the amount of magnetic field is proportional to the current.
We can put a magnet at the end of a switch, think of it like a typical light switch, and a coil hovering above that. If the magnetic field becomes big enough (if the current is large enough), it will apply a strong enough force on the magnet to switch the switch off.
You can calibrate the coil and other parameters to make the trip point be whatever you want.
There is a spring and a coil. When too much current runs through it the coil creates a magnetic field stronger than the spring and pulls the switch into Off position.
It’s basically a Relay with a clearly defined activation current
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