High continuous current vacuum-type circuit interrupter
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsDonald W. Crouch, Donald R. Kurtz
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A vacuum interrupter having a continuous current rating of several thousand amperes comprises a pair of disc-shaped contacts primarily of beryllium that are respectively mounted on the inner ends of a pair of conductive contact rods. The mounting means for each contact comprises a backing member of truncated, generally-conical form that comprises: (i) a base of a predetermined diameter attached to the inner end of the associated contact rod and (ii) an opposite end of a relatively small diameter compared to that of said base attached to the disc-shaped contact. Each disc-shaped contact projects radially outward past the outer periphery of said opposite end of the associated backing member.
Claims10
In a vacuum-type circuit interrupter having a continuous current rating of several thousand amperes,
- a. a highly evacuated envelope,
- b. a pair of disc-shaped contacts primarily of beryllium within said envelope that are relatively movable into and out of engagement with each other,
- c. a pair of conductive contact rods having their inner ends located within said envelope,
- d. mounting means for respectively mounting said contacts on the inner ends of said contact rods,
- e. said mounting means for each contact comprising a backing member of truncated, generally-conical form, said backing member comprising (i) a base of a predetermined diameter attached to the inner end of an associated contact rod, (ii) an opposite end of relatively small diameter compared to that of said base attached to the associated disc-shaped contact in a location disposed generally centrally of said disc-shaped contact, and (iii) a body portion extending between said base and said opposite end,
- f. each of said disc-shaped contacts projecting radially outward past the outer periphery of said opposite end of the associated backing member,
- g. the region immediately surrounding the outer periphery of said body portion of the backing member being substantially free of metal structure.
In a vacuum-type circuit interrupter having a continuous current rating of several thousand amperes,
- a. a highly evacuated envelope,
- b. a pair of disc-shaped contacts primarily of beryllium within said envelope that are relatively movable into and out of engagement with each other,
- c. a pair of conductive contact rods having their inner ends located within said envelope,
- d. mounting means for respectively mounting said contacts on the inner ends of said contact rods,
- e. said mounting means for each contact comprising a backing member comprising:
- (i) a base of a predetermined diameter attached to the inner end of an associated contact rod, (ii) an opposite end of a relatively small diameter compared to that of said base attached to the associated disc-shaped contact in a location generally centrally of said disc-shaped contact, and (iii) a body portion extending from said base to said opposite end having a gradually decreasing cross-section as said opposite end is approached,
- f. each of said disc-shaped contacts projecting radially outward past the outer periphery of said opposite end of the associated backing member,
- g. the region immediately surrounding the outer periphery of said body portion between the vicinity of said base and said opposite end being substantially free of metal structure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.