Contactors are compact and easy to mount electrically operated solenoid switches.

Contactors
are. used for switching (establishing and interrupting) and control of loads of higher current
loads and higher system voltages. The medium of quenching of arc is air, so they are called air
break contactors.
Contactor have a top housing which have multiple contacts. The contacts are mostly normally
open, and they provide operating power to the load whenever the contactor coil is powered. The
auxiliary contact is often used in a relay logic circuit, or for some other part of the motor control
scheme. One contactor may have several auxiliary contacts, either normally-open or normally-
closed if required.
 

The bottom housing has a set of magnet and coil with external cover to protect all the internal
parts.

Contactors contain spring-loaded contacts to ensure that the circuit is broken when de-energized,
spring loaded contacts also prevents the contact bouncing which result in long life of contacts.
Contactors have fast switching speed and special designed arc suppression is used to quench the
arc faster.

Operating Principle of a Contactor:

The operating principle of the contactor is quite simple; the current flowing through the contactor
energizes the electromagnet. The energized electromagnet creates a strong magnetic field and
attraction force between fixed and moving core. This magnetic field pulls the moving armature
rod into the coil and holds the moving and fixed contacts together. In the process this
creates an electrical arc between closing fixed and moving contacts.
The circuit is then completed between the fixed and moving contacts by a closed (C) contact
allowing the current to pass through the contacts to the load from supply.

Spring mechanical
When the current in coil is stopped, the coil magnetic field is de-energized.
action moves back the armature rod to its initial position and there is no flow of
current in the power circuit.

With electro-magnet and mechanical spring, the contactors contacts are able to rapidly open and
close. Therefore, the function of the contactor is to switch an electrical circuit on or off with high
speed and less arcing time.

The current input to the contactor coil may be DC or AC (available in different voltage ranges
between 12VAC or 12VDC to 415VAC). Small amount of power is used up by the contactor coil
during its operation.
Contactors with AC coils are equipped with shading coils. Which manage some magnetic
attraction even at current zero instant to avoid chattering. DC coils do not need shading as the
flux produced is always constant.

Magnetic Contactors
The magnetic contactor does not require human intervention and operates
electromechanically. These are the most common and more efficient than manual or mechanical
contractors.  They can be operated remotely, and safely. Only a small amount of current is
needed by the magnetic contactor to open and close the circuit, so it is also energy efficient.

Contactor Components
The following three are crucial components of the contactor:
Coil or Electromagnet: The coil is wound on electromagnetic core and behaves as an
electromagnet. For AC applications, the electromagnetic core is made up of laminated
soft iron to reduce the eddy current. For DC applications, there is no issue of eddy
current, the core is made up of solid steel. Generally, it has two parts, one is a fixed part
and the second is a movable part. A spring is connected between both parts. Hence,
there is a spring return arrangement. An armature rod is connected with the moving
part. The driving force that is required to close the contacts is provided by the coil or
electromagnet of the contactor. A very small amount of current will flow through the spring
from the supply or external control circuit to excite the core of the electromagnet When
a force of coil is more than the force of spring, both contacts are connected and when
the force of spring is more than the force of the coil, both contacts are extracted with
each other. The coil or electromagnet and contacts are protected by an enclosure.

Contacts
The contactor consists of
The current carrying task of the contactor is done by the contacts.
two iron cores, where one is fixed and the other one is the movable. The contacts are
classified as power contact, auxiliary contact, and contact spring. There are six main
contacts for power connection, where three are fixed cores and the other three are
movable cores. These contacts are made from pure copper, and the contact points are
made from special silver alloy to withstand high starting current, arc, mechanical
stress, erosion and temperature. The entire load current will flow through power
contacts. The armature of the electromagnet is connected with the moving contact.
Hence, the moving contact moves with the action of an electromagnet and
connect/disconnect with the fixed contact. The contact resistance of power contacts is
very low to reduce temperature rise from load currents and inrush starting currents.
The rating of the contactor depends on the size, shape and material of the
contacts and on the efficiency of the arc extinction method used. Modern
contactors use a silver alloy contact tip, (typically contains 10–12% cadmium
oxide or tin oxide) attached to a brass or copper backing strip.
Encloser or Frame
The encloser provides housing to the electromagnet and contacts. Enclosure in contactor
provides insulation and protection from personnel touching the contacts. The protective
enclosure is made from different materials, such as polycarbonate, polyester, Nylon 6, Bakelite,
thermosetting plastics, and others. The encloser provide protection from the dust, oil,
weather, and other explosion hazards. It avoids direct touching of contact when it is
powered.

The Life Expectancy of a Contactor or Contact

Life
The opening and closing of the contacts create an electric arc, which generates additional heat.
The continued production of these arcs can damage the contact surface and cause pitting.

In contactor, contacts close very quickly and energetically without bouncing. This extinguishes
the arc efficiently and increase the life of the contact.

Applications
Lighting Control
Contactors are often used to provide central control of large lighting installations, such as an
office building or retail building.

Electric Motor Starter

Contactors can be used as a magnetic starter. A magnetic starter is a device designed to
provide power to electric motors. It includes a contactor as an essential component, while also
providing power-cutoff, under-voltage, short circuit and overload protection.
Overload Heaters
The three “opposed-question-mark” shaped devices in series with each phase
going to the motor are called overload release. Each “OLR” element is a low-
resistance strip of metal intended to heat up as the motor draws current.

If the temperature of any of these heater elements reaches a critical point

(equivalent to a moderate overloading of the motor), a normally-closed switch
contact (not shown in the diagram) will spring open. This normally-closed
contact is usually connected in series with the relay coil, so that when it opens
the relay will automatically de-energize, thereby shutting off power to the
motor.

We will see more of this overload protection wiring in the next video.
Overload heaters are intended to provide overcurrent protection for large
electric motors, unlike circuit breakers and fuses which serve the primary
purpose of providing overcurrent protection for power conductors.

 
Overload trip is different from fuses; that is, it is not their function to burn
open and directly break the circuit as a fuse is designed to do. Rather,
overload heaters are designed to thermally mimic the heating characteristic of
the particular electric motor to be protected.
All motors have thermal characteristics, including the amount of heat energy
generated by resistive dissipation (I 2R), the thermal transfer characteristics of
heat “conducted” to the cooling medium through the metal frame of the
motor, the physical mass and specific heat of the materials constituting the
motor, etc.

These characteristics are mimicked by the overload heater on a miniature

scale: when the motor heats up toward its critical temperature, so will the
heater toward its critical temperature, ideally at the same rate and approach
curve.
If the overload contact trips due to excessive heater temperature, it will be an
indication that the real motor has reached its critical temperature (or, would
have done so in a short while).

After tripping, the heaters are supposed to cool down at the same rate and
approach curve as the real motor, so that they indicate an accurate proportion
of the motor’s thermal condition, and will not allow power to be re-applied
until the motor is truly ready for start-up again.

Three-Phase Electric Motor Contactor

Shown here is a contactor for a three-phase electric motor, installed on a
panel.

 
 
 
Sample Contactors
Three-phase, 415 volt AC power comes into the three normally-open contacts
at the top of the contactor via screw terminals labeled “L1,” “L2,” and “L3” (The
“L2” terminal is hidden behind a square-shaped “snubber” circuit connected
across the contactor’s coil terminals). Power to the motor exits the overload
heater assembly at the bottom of this device via screw terminals labeled “T1,”
“T2,” and “T3.”
The overload heater units themselves are black, square-shaped blocks with the
label “W34,” indicating a particular thermal response for a certain horsepower
and temperature rating of our electric motor.

If an electric motor of differing power and/or temperature ratings were to be

substituted for the one presently in service, the overload heater units would
have to be replaced with units having a thermal response suitable for the new
motor. The motor manufacturer can provide information on the appropriate
heater units to use.
A white push button located between the “T1” and “T2” line heaters serves as
a way to manually reset the normally-closed switch contact back to its normal
state after having been tripped by excessive heater temperature.

Wire connections to the “overload” switch contact may be seen at the lower-
right of the photograph, near a label reading “NC” (normally-closed). On this
particular overload unit, a small “window” with the label “Tripped” indicates a
tripped condition by means of a colored flag. In this photograph, there is no
“tripped” condition, and the indicator appears clear.
 
 
 

A correct replacement for this can be chosen as follows

 Firstly, one should check the coil voltage, which is a voltage used to energize
the contactor.
 Checking for auxiliary contacts available, that is how many open and closed
nodes are used in the contactor.
 Checking the rating which is mentioned in a table format on it.

Advantages
The following are the advantages of the contactor
 Fast switching operation
 Suitable for both AC and DC devices
 Simple in construction.
Disadvantages
The following are the disadvantages of the contactor

 In the absence of magnetic-filed, the coil may burn

 Aging of components causes corrosion of materials when exposed to moisture.
The insulating casing of thermoset polyester material provide a mounting
base to fixed component, mechanical slides and guides to moving component.
and the wall of the arc chamber.