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OT - Why do 63 amp circuit breakers exist?

J Lauffer

Hot Rolled
Joined
Feb 9, 2004
Location
Attleboro, MA, USA
I always thought that standard circuit breaker ratings went from 60 to 70 amps, but just found out today that 63 amp breakers exist. Someone told me it is common in Asia, but why such an odd value?

John
 
Seems like NEC code for certain applications call for a MIN 60 amp breaker. So maybe thats were the 63 idea sprouted. I know a 15kw 220v generator might have a 63 amp main breaker. Ive seen that one.
 
060331-1539 EST USA

Unless you build a precision electronic circuit breaker you won't have a high precision trip point.

Look at trip curves for circuit breakers and fuses, and their tolerances.

Consider a 20 A Sq-D QO series breaker. Apply a load current thru this of 19.9 A for a very long time at 70 deg F. It might trip in an hour, or it might never trip. Apply 20.1 A and it may or may not trip after a very long time. Apply 100 A and it will trip fairly quickly, but this might be seconds. Apply 1000 A and we will be in the millisecond trip range.

I do not have the curves immeadiately available so I cen not provide better information. Keep in mind the curves are only averages, and an individual breaker or fuse may deviate a fair amount.

As an example I have a DeWalt saw that draws about 80 A on startup for several seconds and this does not blow a QO-20 unless I start and stop the motor quite quickly multiple times.

The QO, as is also true of many other breakers, is at low currents primarily a thermal device, but at high currents also has a magnetic effect present. Thermal devices, thermal breakers and fuses, have an inverse current time characteristic for trip. The higher the current the shorter the trip time. For short current pulses the characteristic is approximately I squared T. In other words for short pulses of current it takes about the same amount of input energy to trip the breaker independent of the time. Fast input of energy means a short trip time.

.
 
gar, I'm not sure I understand what you are trying to say. I know how breakers work, but I don't understand why such an odd-ball value would be a standard rating, especially when 60 amp is also a standard value (63 is only 5% more than 60; as you pointed out, is the breaker precise enough to know the difference?). If 60 is too low, and 70 is too high, why 63 and not 65? There has to be a reason 63 was selected. I was just hoping someone out there knew the reason.
 
63 amp and 32 amp breakers and fused isolators have been standard in the UK for about thirty years and I don`t know why and haven`t given it any thought.Possibly to take advantage of improved cable ratings.It used to be 20,30,60 amp.
regards,Mark.
 
060331-1655 EST USA

J Lauffer:

What I am saying is that breakers and fuses are not generally sufficiently precise devices that it would be likely that you would ever be concerned with a 3 A difference at 60 A.

My reason for the description of breaker operation is that too few people understand the characteristics of breakers and/or fuses.

I do not understand the odd-ball value either.

Re-reading your question. It maybe that another part of the world has different criteria for nominial current trip point for a given size wire and/or assumed insulation rating.

.
 
Just a guess. Does it have a normal looking interface with the panel? It might have some kind of safety mechanism, for a special application. Like left hand threads on an oxygen bottle. The 63 amp rating could be a way to emphasize that it's not standard. Again, only a guess.
 
It well is made to fit some code requirement like 7.5kva, where a 60 amp would be 7.2. Just a guess on my part. For example the infamous 'Three Hands Rule' where a maximum of three breakers to turn off a building of any size.

my wheels don't slow me down
 
Like left hand threads on an oxygen bottle
thats a new one to me, i always thought left hand threads were only on fuel gas tanks and fittings so that you couldnt confuse them with oxygen fittings, seems kinda strange that they would have them on oxygen, is that for special stuff like medical or something? all the oxygen cylinders and fittings i have seen were right hand
 
You know, this is actually something that I learned about in college and thought was one of the coolest things about the way german engineers used logic for sizing everything from o-rings to circuit breakers.

63Amp breakers are sized as such to conform to a geometric progression of values which originated with DIN standard 323 in the late 1800's or early 1900's, I can't remember which.

If you have ever noticed that along with 63Amp breakers that there are 63mm cylinders or 630mm cylinders - you will realize that there is some ryhme and reason for this number (along with the whole series of numbers defined by the various resolutions of DIN Standard 323)

I have a german standards design guide with a full treatise on this standard - it was taught to me by a Czech Professor and there is very little in engineering curiculum these days associated with it. All the same, I school each of my engineering employees in it when designing a system of electrical and mechanical components.
 
Any "molded case" breaker cannot be used for a continuous load over 80% of rating.

So since 50.4 A is 80% of 63A, that size is perfect for a 50A continuous load.
 
I am having a little trouble understanding why there is a need for a 63 Amp circuit breaker, at least for applications in the US, covered by the National Electric Code. Standard circuit breaker ratings in the US are :15, 20,25,30,40,45,50,60, 70,80,90,100 and up.

Section 240-3 of the Code allows use of a circuit breaker rated the next rating higher than the rating of the wire it is supposed to protect. For example, #6 TW wire in conduit is rated at 55 amps. The Code would allow use of a 60 amp breaker. #6 THW is good for 65 amps, and the Code would allow a 70 amp breaker.

63 amps sounds like an IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) standard. IEC electrical gear has a reputation for being designed closer to the limit than NEMA gear. Among engineers designing industrial electrical systems, there is a preference for NEMA gear, as it has a reputation for being more rugged.

Thermo1
 
Guys - 63 amp breakers are standard IEC ratings and have nothing to do with anything other than it is part of a preferred number series that is based on a geometric distribution of capacities from small to large.

Think of it this way.

In the US, you can buy a 1/4 HP motor, a 1/3HP motor, a 1/2HP motor, a 3/4HP motor, a 1HP, 2HP, 3HP, 5HP, 7.5HP 10HP, 15HP, 20HP, 25HP, 30HP, 40HP, 50HP, 60HP, 75HP, 100HP.

That is 19 different motor HP ratings between 1/4HP and 100HP.

If the DIN standard is used for defining power, they do a geometric distribution of power capacities between 1/4HP and 100HP resulting in a fewer number of motors to efficiently cover the same power range.

Using the R5 DIN 323 distribution you would have
.25HP
.40HP
.63HP
1HP
1.6HP
2.5HP
4HP
6.3HP
10HP
16HP
25HP
40HP
63HP
100HP

Same range of power capacities covered with 14 motors.

If you want finer resolution, you go to the R10 scale:
1
1.25
1.6
2.0
2.5
3.15
4
5
6.3
8
10

Each increment is an approximately equal percentage increase in power / capacity / etc.

R20 goes like this:
1
1.12
1.25
1.4
1.6
1.8
2
2.24
2.5
2.8
3.15
3.55
4.00
4.50
5.00
5.60
6.30
7.10
8.00
9.00
10.00

There is also an R40 series (finest)

I have heard that detents in european machine tool adjustments are set based on these same numbers.
 
Ok, so the 63 amp breaker comes out of a geometric progression. The wire sizes then have to be designed around the breaker sizes. Because the rating of wires depends upon the temperature rating of the insulation, as well as how well the heat is dissipated from the wire (boundary conditions), current ratings of wires are probably not much simpler than the National Electric Code Standards.

In the US, we seem to favor arithmetic progressions instead of geometic progressions. However, there are exceptions. My First Edition of Marks Mechanial Engineer' Handbook has a section of design of cone pulleys, and says:

"The speeds given by cone pulleys should increase in a geometrical ratio, that is each speed should be multiplied by a constant a in order to obtain the next higher speed. In practice a ranges from 1.25 to 1.75 and even 2. ... The ideal value of a in machine tool practice, according to Carl G Barth, would be 1.189. "

That was written in 1916, 90 years ago, so the knowlege of geometric progressions has been known, but aparrantly not used in the US.

Thermo1
 
Give the below definition we use the geometric progression too:


American Wire Gage (AWG) - A standard system used in the United States for designating the size of an electrical conductor based on a geometric progression between two conductor sizes.
 








 
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