Contact arrangement for vacuum switches

Abstract

An electrical contact arrangement for use in a vacuum switch having two coaxially disposed contact as a contact disk which forms one of the contacts, a contact carrier having side walls forming a cylindrical chamber and having slots spiralling therein about a central axis forming a coil for generating a magnetic field, the walls also serving to support the contact disk so as to span the cylindrical chamber, and a profiled element of ferro-magnetic material contained in the chamber and having a face adjacent the contact disk with a cavity therein for evenly radially distributing the magnetic field substantially over the entire contact disk. The profiled element may have a spherical, conical, stepped or rectangular cavity therein, when seen in cross-section, and an additional supporting element of non-magnetic material may be provided within the cavity.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.