Method for breaking direct current and d.c. breaker for effecting same

Abstract

A method for breaking direct current, whereby an initial gas pressure, corresponding to the working conditions of a stationary current channel, is set in a gas discharge device, whereafter direct current is passed through the gas discharge device, and the density of the gas filling said gas discharge device is simultaneously reduced over the entire volume of the gas discharge device to a critical value which causes a breaking of the direct current. The d.c. breaker for effecting this method is built around a gas discharge device comprising an anode, a cathode, and intermediate electrodes interposed between said anode and cathode. The cathode is formed by an end emitter, a cone-shaped reflector with the cone's apex facing the end emitter, and two coaxial cylinders encompassing the end emitter and reflector. The angle of inclination of the generatrix of the reflector's cone is selected so that the normal drawn at any point of the cone's lateral surface should cross the surface of the outer cylinder without crossing the surfaces of the inner cylinder and emitter.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.