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Contactor
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- In semiconductor testing, contactor can also refer to the specialised socket that connects the device under test.
- In process industries a contactor is a vessel where two streams interact, for example, air and liquid.
A contactor is an electro-magnetic switching device (a relay) used for remotely switching a power or control circuit. A contactor is activated by a control input which is a lower voltage / current than that which the contactor is switching.
Contactors come in many forms with varying capacities and features. Unlike a circuit breaker a contactor is not intended to interrupt a short circuit current.
Contactors range from having a breaking current of several amps and 110 volts to thousands of amps and many kilovolts. The physical size of contactors ranges from a device small enough to pick up with one hand, to large devices approximately a metre (yard) on a side.
Contactors are used to control electric motors, lighting, heating, capacitor banks, and other electrical loads.
Construction
A contactor is composed of three different systems. The contact system is the current carrying part of the contactor. This includes Power Contacts, Auxiliary Contacts, and Contact Springs. The electromagnet system provides the driving force to close the contacts. The enclosure system is a frame housing the contact and the electromagnet. Enclosures are made of insulating materials like Bakelite, Nylon 6, and thermosetting plastics to protect and insulate the contacts and to provide some measure of protection against personnel touching the contacts. Open-frame contactors may have a further enclosure to protect against dust, oil, explosion hazards and weather.
Contactors used for starting electric motors are commonly fitted with overload protection to prevent damage to their loads. When an overload is detected the contactor is tripped, removing power downstream from the contactor.
High voltage contactors (greater than 1000 volts) often have arc suppression systems fitted (such as a vacuum or an inert gas surrounding the contacts).
Magnetic blowouts are sometimes used to increase the amount of current a contactor can successfully break. The magnetic field produced by the blowout coils force the electric arc to lengthen and move away from the contacts. This is especially useful in contactors used in DC power circuits; AC arcs have periods of low current, during which the arc can be extinguished with relative ease, but DC arcs have continuous high current, so blowing them out requires the arc to be stretched further than an AC arc of the same current. The magnetic blowouts in the pictured Albright contactor (which is designed for DC currents) more than double the current it can break, increasing it from 600 amps to 1500 amps.
Sometimes an economizer circuit is also installed to reduce the power required to keep a contactor closed. A somewhat greater amount of power is required to initially close a contactor than is required to keep it closed thereafter. Such a circuit can save a substantial amount of power and allow the energized coil to stay cooler. Economizer circuits are nearly always applied on direct-current contactor coils and on large alternating current contactor coils.
Contactors are often used to provide central control of large lighting installations, such as an office building or retail building. To reduce power consumption in the contactor coils, latching contactors are used, which have two operating coils. One coil, momentarily energized, closes the power circuit contacts, which are then mechanically held closed; the second coil opens the contacts.
A basic contactor will have a coil input (which may be driven by either an AC or DC supply depending on the contactor design). The coil may be energized at the same voltage as the motor, or may be separately controlled with a lower coil voltage better suited to control by programmable controllers and lower-voltage pilot devices. Certain contactors have series coils connected in the motor circuit; these are used, for example, for automatic acceleration control, where the next stage of resistance is not cut out until the motor current has dropped.
Operating Principle
Unlike general-purpose relays, contactors are designed to be directly connected to high-current load devices. Relays tend to be of lower capacity and are usually designed for both Normally Closed and Normally Open applications. Devices switching more than 15 amperes or in circuits rated more than a few kilowatts are usually called contactors. Apart from optional auxiliary low current contacts, contactors are almost exclusively fitted with Normally Open contacts. Unlike relays, contactors are designed with features to control and suppress the arc produced when interrupting heavy motor currents.
When current passes through the electromagnet, a magnetic field is produced which attracts ferrous objects, in this case the moving core of the contactor is attracted to the stationary core. Since there is an air gap initially, the electromagnet coil draws more current initially until the cores meet and reduct the gap, increasing the inductive impedance of the circuit. The moving contact is propelled by the moving core; the force developed by the electromagnet holds the moving and fixed contacts together. When the contactor coil is de-energized, gravity or a spring returns the electromagnet core to its initial position and opens the contacts.
For contactors energized with alternating current, a small part of the core is surrounded with a shading coil, which slightly delays the magnetic flux in the core. The effect is to average out the alternating pull of the magnetic field and so prevent the core from buzzing at twice line frequency.
Most motor control contactors at low voltages (600 volts and less) are "air break" contactors, since ordinary air surrounds the contacts and extinguishes the arc when interrupting the circuit. Modern medium-voltage motor controllers use vacuum contactors.
Motor control contactors can be fitted with short-circuit protection (fuses or circuit breakers), disconnecting means, overload relays and an enclosure to make a combination starter. In large industrial plants many contactors may be assembled in motor control centers.
Ratings
Contactors are rated by designed load current per contact (pole), maximum fault withstand current, duty cycle, voltage, and coil voltage. A general purpose motor control contactor may be suitable for heavy starting duty on large motors; so-called "definite purpose" contactors are carefully adapted to such applications as air-conditioning compressor motor starting. North American and European ratings for contactors follow different philosophies, with North American general purpose machine tool contactors generally emphasizing simplicity of application while definite purpose and European rating philosophy emphasizes design for the intended life cycle of the application.
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