
A high-voltage vacuum circuit breaker is a medium-voltage indoor switching device that uses high vacuum as an arc-extinguishing and insulating medium (the vacuum degree is usually no worse than 10^-4 Pa). Its main element is a sealed vacuum...
A high-voltage vacuum circuit breaker is a medium-voltage indoor switching device that uses high vacuum as an arc-extinguishing and insulating medium (the vacuum degree is usually no worse than 10^-4 Pa). Its main element is a sealed vacuum arc extinguishing chamber. When the movable and stationary contacts are opened in a vacuum environment, the electric arc quickly evaporates the contact material, forming metal vapor, and when the current passes through zero, it instantly goes out due to the excellent electrical strength of the recovering gap in a vacuum, thereby reliably disconnecting the circuit.
Due to their high arc suppression ability, long service life, compact design, low maintenance and environmental friendliness (no SF6 gas), vacuum circuit breakers have now become the dominant switching device technology in indoor power distribution systems of 10–40.5 kV. They are widely used for power protection and control in power plants, electrical networks, industrial, commercial and infrastructure applications, performing the key tasks of normal circuit switching and rapid interruption of fault currents.