Circuit Breaker - Other Breakers

Other Breakers

The following types are described in separate articles.

• Breakers for protections against earth faults too small to trip an over-current device:
  • Residual-current device (RCD, formerly known as a residual current circuit breaker) — detects current imbalance, but does not provide over-current protection.
  • Residual current breaker with over-current protection (RCBO) — combines the functions of an RCD and an MCB in one package. In the United States and Canada, panel-mounted devices that combine ground (earth) fault detection and over-current protection are called Ground Fault Interrupter (GFI) breakers; a wall mounted outlet device or separately enclosed plug-in device providing ground fault detection and interruption only (no overload protection) is called a Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI).
  • Earth leakage circuit breaker (ELCB)—This detects earth current directly rather than detecting imbalance. They are no longer seen in new installations for various reasons.
• Autorecloser—A type of circuit breaker that closes automatically after a delay. These are used on overhead power distribution systems, to prevent short duration faults from causing sustained outages.
• Polyswitch (polyfuse)—A small device commonly described as an automatically resetting fuse rather than a circuit breaker.