With the ever-increasing demand for electrical energy, electrical systems have been forced to expand and grow. Increased substation capacity, on site and distributed generation all contribute to subsequent increases in available fault currents imposed on equipment. This short-circuit current may exceed the thermal, mechanical and interrupt capability of the system, potentially causing a catastrophic failure.
The CLiP-LV Current Limiting Protector is an electronically sensed and triggered, commutating form of current limiter, sometimes referred to generically as an Is-Limiter. A built-in current transformer (CT) provides real time current values to the internal electronics. The CLiP-LV Current Limiting Protector has a field adjustable instantaneous pickup setting referred to as the trigger level. If the current exceeds the user-defined trigger level, a signal is sent by the firing logic to interrupt the current. A continuous copper busbar path carries the continuous current, which is opened during overcurrent conditions, while a parallel connected current-limiting fuse interrupts the fault. The CLiP-LV Current Limiting Protector unique ability provides high continuous current ratings with current limitation and ultra-high-speed operation in one package. This makes it an economical solution to protect against short-circuit interruptions without having to add new equipment.