Gec Alsthom Energie Inc.

Cegelec Industrie Inc.

Gec Alsthom T & D, Inc.

Daniel Demissy

Michel Landry

Robert Jeanjean

Gaetan Daigneault

Guy Saint-Jean

Jean-Guy Chevaliere

Anh Dung Huynh

Jean-Guy Chevalier

Hadi Alidou

Hadj Alidou

The present invention relates to an actuating mechanism for actuating the moving contact of a protective interrupting chamber which is installed on a high-voltage or medium-voltage power line and which is to be opened when a current in excess of a surge current threshold flows through line, the mechanism including a drive member for driving a displacement device for displacing the contact. The drive member is a conductive helical spring made of a shape memory alloy and electrically coupled to the line, a current in excess of said surge current threshold passing through the spring heating said spring to such an extent that said alloy goes from its martensitic phase to its austenitic phase. The mechanism enables the interrupting chamber to be re-closed by means of a sequencer device associated with the displacement device, and providing an adjustable and timed opening and closing cycle.

Actuating mechanism for actuating a protective interrupting chamber

A female contact, in particular for a high tension section switch, the female contact comprising two interleaved thimbles, a metal first thimble made by extruding a block of metal and then machining it, said first thimble having metal contact fingers designed for co-operating electrically with a male contact, the other thimble including fingers of an insulating material, the insulating fingers limiting the displacement of the metal contact fingers in a radial direction and in a lateral direction to predetermined values that are less than the elastic limit of deformation of the metal contact fingers, and serving in particular to prevent contact between the metal contact fingers.

Female contact, in particular for a high tension section switch

A high voltage section switch of the type includes a female current terminal situated at one end of a first vertical insulating column, a control blade which is hinged at one end of a second vertical insulating column and which carries at its first end a male contact intended to co-operate with the female contact, movement of the blade being provided by a mechanism connected to a rocking insulating column. The hinge between the blade and the second column is provided by means of two levers of different lengths.

Vertically-opening section swtich having a rocking column

A perpendicularly-opening grounding section switch comprising a female contact and a male contact disposed at the end of the drive rod includes two parallel metal horns disposed in such a manner as to clamp against the end of the arm in the vicinity of the male contact when the section switch is in the closed position, and a flexible metal rod or whip which is constrained to slide along a fixed point of a guide piece while the arm is performing an opening operation, the respective lengths of the horns and of the whip being selected so that current is switched first to the horns and then to the whip during an opening operation.

Perpendicularly-opening grounding section switch

A whip usable in a high tension section switch, in particular a vertically-opening switch, the whip comprising a flexible metal rod whose section is a truncated circle whose area diminishes progressively from the base of the whip to its tip.

Whip for a high tension section switch

An outdoor grounding section switch has a female contact and a male contact at the end of a grounding blade that can be driven. The female contact is constituted by at least one hollow tubular thimble (11, 15), housed inside a vertical tubular insulator (3) that is closed at its top end and open at a bottom end. The male contact (25) is a vertical cylinder penetrating into the insulator (3) and the thimble during closing. The open end of the insulator (3) is equipped with a metal part (14), the inside of which is provided with a plurality of radially-directed lugs (14A), facing the periphery of the male contact vertical cylinder and stopping short of the vertical cylinder to break ice accumulating off the end of the male contact during section switch closure. A quick-break vacuum switch is connected in parallel with the ends of the thimble (11, 15) controlled by the displacement of the section switch male contact through an over center, quick-break mechanism so that the quick-break vacuum switch opens after the male and female contacts of the section switch separate from each other by an isolation distance.

Exposed high voltage outdoor disconnector for operation under icing

A section switch of the type has a blade connected at a first end to a first connector. The blade is enabled during an opening stage, firstly to rotate about its own axis and secondly to pivot about a transverse axis. The blade includes at a second end, a contact hammer for co-operating with jaws connected to a second connector. The section switch also includes a mechanism such that during an opening operation, once the blade has rotated about its own axis with disconnection of the hammer electrically from the jaws, electricity is initially diverted through and is subsequently switched by an interrupter switch. The interrupter switch opens under the control of a sudden break drive mechanism controlled by the displacement of the blade. The section switch includes two horns between which a sacrificial hammer moves with friction.

Section or disconnect switch with an interrupter switch operated by the

A section switch has a pivoting blade connected to a first connector. The blade is provided with a contact hammer for engaging contact jaws connected to a second connector. The section switch includes a first contact finger fixed to a first spring and electrically connected to the second connector. A second contact finger is fixed to a second spring. The fingers come successively into contact during an opening operation of the section switch with an arcing horn that extends the hammer. The second finger and second spring are disposed so that the opening movement of the section switch causes ever-increasing amounts of energy to be stored in the second spring to cause the finger to rapidly escape from the arcing horn after a given opening stroke. The hammer is rotated about its axis to reduce contact force between the hammer and the jaws during opening of the section switch.

Section switch that opens suddenly

A high-voltage circuit-breaker comprises a first insulative support column carrying a first current terminal and a pivoting cut-off arm provided with a first contact. An insulative column rotates to maneuver the cut-off arm. A second insulative support column carries a second current terminal and a jaw-type second contact cooperating with the first contact when the circuit-breaker is closed. The pivoting arm rotates about its axis through 90.degree. at the start of an opening maneuver or at the end of a closing maneuver to close the jaw on opening the circuit-breaker and to open the jaw on closing the circuit-breaker. The cut-off arm is extended by a cylindrical assembly containing a resistance and comprising a metal exterior tubular portion connected electrically to the resistance. The tubular portion comes into contact at the end of a circuit-breaker closing maneuver or at the beginning of a circuit-breaker opening maneuver with two pole horns mechanically attached to the second column and electrically connected to the second current terminal. The resistance is then inserted into the circuit of the circuit-breaker via the pole horns and the tubular portion. The resistance is short-circuited when the cut-off arm has rotated 90.degree. therefor about its axis at the end of the closing maneuver.

Resistance insertion type circuit-breaker

The present invention provides a mechanism for converting rotary motion into translation motion, the mechanism comprising a first member which is rotated and which is constituted by a cylinder having a helical spring threaded thereover and fixed thereto at at least one point, and a second member for being driven in translation by the first member and including slots for co-operating with the thread constituted by the spring. This transmission system is intended, in particular, for use in relatively rudimentary mechanisms of the type used in agricultural machinery.

Mechanism for converting rotary motion into translation motion

In a sulfur hexafluoride high-tension circuit-breaker, a condenser/evaporator (8), disposed beneath and in communication with the inside of a support column, is partially filled with an insulating material (11), having at least one well (10) formed therein, with a heater element (9) being disposed inside the well, the surface of the insulating material (11) being connected to the bottom of the well via ducts (13, 14).

Sulfur hexafluoride high-tension circuit-breaker having high performance

A high voltage sulfur hexafluoride circuit-breaker capable of operating at low outside temperatures and comprising at least one current-interrupting chamber comprising a sealed insulating enclosure containing a fixed contact inside a blast nozzle and a set of moving contacts associated with an operating member, the circuit-breaker including the improvement of means for maintaining a quantity of liquefied gas in the vicinity of the contact separation zone while the circuit-breaker is in the closed position.

High voltage sulfur hexafluoride circuit-breaker capable of operating at

A sulfur hexafluoride circuit-breaker for operating in a very low temperature environment, the circuit-breaker being of the type comprising a sealed enclosure filled with sulfur hexafluoride and closed by first and second end plates, a set of fixed contacts, a set of moving contacts driven by an operating rod, a blast volume which is mechanically compressed when the operating rod is displaced to open the circuit-breaker, and blast nozzle for directing the said compressed gas from said volume onto the arc, the circuit-breaker including the improvement of means for creating an arc in said blast volume during a portion of the time that the moving assembly is moving, by diverting the current to be interrupted so that it flows through two parts constituting two electrodes.

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Montreal, Canada

Daniel Demissy