Trip Free Breakers...

ooh you are the one who quarreled with shopkeeper regarding bacteria free drinking water

A trip-free circuit breaker is a circuit breaker that will trip (open) even if the operating mechanism (ON-OFF switch) is held in the ON position.

Yes, it prevents idiots with a death wish from taping or blocking the breaker handle to try to keep it from tripping, rather than try to find out WHY it is doing its job...

Exactly! And how many times have we seen this in the field?

GA

I'm going to be blunt here sauravbabu, you are incompetent and a danger to others that you work with.

For the sake of humanity and our sanity will you please find a new occupation!

Typical English over reaction to a reasonable question.

We hardly hear the term 'trip-free' here in North America. Most probably, it is a term defined in IEC only. In IEC 60947-1, section 2.4.23, it is defined as

"Trip-free mechanical device: mechanical switching device, the moving contacts of which return to and remain in the open position when the opening (i.e. tripping) operation is initiated after the initiation of the closing operation, even if the closing command is maintained" with the NOTE 1 "To ensure proper breaking of the current which may have been established, it may be necessary that the contacts momentarily reach the closed position."

What this means is "the trip-free mechanism allows the circuit breaker to trip even though the operating handle may be restricted (by a handle operating mechanism or padlock attachment or by any other means) in the ON position.

If not restricted, the operating handle moves to a position between ON and OFF when the circuit breaker is tripped.

- MS

It is a requirement on all circuit protective devices in the US, it is part of ANSI design specs and has been since the late 70s. The reason you don't hear it used any more is because we now take it for granted. But when I started in this business in the late 70s, we still used it in specifications as a way to avoid getting breakers and overload relays that did not have this feature yet. They were still out there at that time, they are all gone now. Adapt or perish, some of them perished.

Thanks JRaef for this information. I think it is now an inherent characteristic of the circuit breakers used anywhere in the planet.

- MS