S&c Electric Company

Other

Gec-alsthom Limited

Alstom UK Limited

Leslie T Falkingham

Keith W Benson

Jason R Bogusz

Gabrielle Madden

Kam Wa Cheng

Gregory Wilk

Rama Parashar

Subir Chakraborty

Francis Gotanco

A vacuum interrupter including a cylindrical insulator, a first end cap sealed to one end of the insulator and a second end cap sealed to an opposite end of the insulator to provide a vacuum chamber. The vacuum interrupter further includes a fixed contact stem extending through the first end cap and having a contact positioned within the chamber, and a movable contact stem extending through the second end cap and having a contact portion positioned within the chamber. A first vapor shield is formed around the fixed contact stem so as to define a gap between the fixed contact and the insulator and a second vapor shield is formed around the movable contact so as to define a gap between the movable contact and the insulator.

Vacuum interrupter with double live shield

An electrical interrupter device for switching a short-circuit electrical current in an electric circuit is disclosed. The device comprises a vacuum evacuated housing (); first and second electrodes () at least partially located within the housing. The first and second electrodes () are separated by a rail gap. A third electrode () moveable relative to the first and second electrodes () between a closed circuit position and an open circuit position is provided, whereby an electrical arc is generated between the third electrode () and at least one of the first and second electrodes () during said movement. Once generated, the arc is directed by the first and second electrodes () away from the third electrode ().

Electrical interruption device

A vacuum switching device may have at least one cup-shaped contact closed by a disc of contact material and a conical mechanical support, which acts to prevent the contact disc from becoming concave. The cup-shaped contact may include a plurality of slots in the sidewalk that extend into the base of the cup, the slots oriented to produce an axial magnetic field when current flows through the contacts. The support may be made of a metal that is a poor conductor of electricity. The narrow end of the cone may be capped by a circular ring or disc, and the wide end may be formed with a flange. The flange may be circular and may be sized and formed to locate the cone centrally in the base of the contact cup. The cone may have apertures to facilitate the evacuation of gas inside the cone.

Vacuum switching devices

An alternating current vacuum switching device for switching an electrical circuit under load and no load conditions, and optionally short-circuit conditions is disclosed. The switching device comprises: a vacuum evacuated housing; first and second electrodes within the housing; and an actuator for moving the first electrode relative to the second electrode to mechanically engage and disengage the electrodes to perform a switching function, wherein the first electrode is wholly located within the vacuum evacuated housing such that movement of the switching function occurs solely within the housing. By having movement of the switching function solely within the housing, the reliability of the vacuum switching device is improved.

A vacuum switching device comprising an evacuated envelope including an insulating cylinder, a stationary contact electrode and a movable contact electrode housed within the envelope. The electrodes are adapted to be engaged or disengaged to close or open a circuit in which the device is connected. At least one of the electrodes comprises a coil which, in use, is adapted to generate magnetic fields to control the formation of arcs when the electrodes are disengaged, each electrode having an end face adapted to contact the other electrode when in the engaged condition. At least one of the electrodes has a low resistance electrical path transverse to the axis of the electrode in a region of the end face.

Vacuum switching device

In a vacuum switching device having first and second contacts, the first contact only is composed wholly or partly of a combination of at least a high-conductivity material and an arc-resistant material, e.g. chromuim, tungsten or tungsten carbide, and/or an anti-weld material, e.g. bismuth, antimony, tellurium or lead, while the second contact lacks the arc-resistant and anti-weld material. Metal vapor produced by the first contact during arcing is deposited on the opposing surface of the second contact to form a thin layer of high-conductivity and arc-resistant and/or anti-weld material which then dominates the properties of the arc and allows a low chopping current and/or an enhanced anti-weld performance of the contacts to be achieved without the expense of having both contacts of the same composition at manufacture.

A contact head (9) for a vacuum interrupter switch is cup-shaped and has a plurality of slots (6) formed therein, each slot passing through the wall-part (5) of the contact head in a generally helical direction and extending partly through the base portion (4) in a chordal direction.

Growing community of inventors

Rugby, United Kingdom

Leslie T Falkingham