An autorecloser is a circuit breaker equipped with a mechanism that can automatically close the breaker after it has been opened due to a fault.

They are used in coordinated protection schemes for overhead line power distribution circuits. These circuits are prone to transitory faults such as nearby lightning strikes, wind-borne debris, squirrels climbing insulators, and the like. With a conventional circuit breaker or fuse, a transient fault would open the breaker or blow the fuse, disabling the line until a technician could manually reclose the circuit breaker or replace the blown fuse. But an autorecloser will make several pre-programmed attempts to re-energize the line. If the transient fault has cleared, the autorecloser's circuit breaker will remain closed and normal operation of the power line will resume. If the fault is some sort of a permanent fault (downed wires, tree branches lying on the wires, etc.) the autorecloser will exhaust its pre-programmed attempts to re-energize the line and remain tripped off until manually commanded to try again.

Autoreclosers are made in single-phase and three-phase versions, and use either oil or vacuum interrupters. Controls for the reclosers range from the original electromechanical systems to digital electronics with metering and SCADA functions. The ratings of reclosers run from 40 amperes at 2400 volts up to 1200 amperes at 35000 volts.

Autoreclosers in action

Residential customers can occasionally see the effects of an autorecloser in action. If the fault affects the customer's own distribution circuit, they may see one or several brief, complete outages followed by either normal operation (as the autorecloser succeeds in restoring power after a transient fault has cleared) or a complete outage of service (as the autorecloser exhausts its retries). If the fault is on an adjacent circuit, the customer may see several brief "dips" (sags) in voltage as the heavy fault current flows into the adjacent circuit and is interrupted one or more times.

External links

http://www.cooperpower.com/Products/Distribution/Reclosers/