Switch incorporating equipotentially connected contacts and method for operating a switch

Abstract

A switch capable of withstanding short-circuit currents without being destroyed or deteriorated by the passage of such high currents includes at least one fixed contact and at least one movable contact, wherein the movable contact is displaceable between a closed position of the switch in which the fixed and the movable contacts are electrically connected, and an open position of the switch in which the fixed and movable contacts are separated. The switch includes at least one equipotential connecting member electrically connecting the fixed contact and the movable contact in the closed position of the switch, such that the fixed and the movable contacts are at the same electric potential, and wherein at least a part of the equipotential connecting member is pressed against the fixed contact and/or the movable contact in the closed position of the switch.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.