High Current Triggered Vacuum Switch for Electric Power Industry

An opportunity of application of high-current triggered vacuum switches (TVS) in electric power industry is studied. Researches were carried out on the TVS samples with adjustable length of an inter-electrode gap. Results of the researches have shown, that TVS is capable to switch repeatedly currents of industrial frequency with amplitude up to tens kiloamperes. Requirements to parameters of the triggering discharge, providing a reliability of the TVS operation at small rate of current rise in the vacuum gap, are defined. Dependences of volt-ampere characteristics, a chopping current and dielectric strength of the TVS from inter-electrode gap are investigated. Carried out researches have shown, that the tested samples can be used as a basis for development of high-voltage TVS, intended for use in switching equipment and protection devices in industrial frequency networks.