Electric current switching apparatus with tornadic arc extinguishing mechanism

An electric current switching apparatus comprising:

• a stationary contact;
• a movable contact which selectively engages the stationary contact to complete an electrical path;
• an actuator for moving the movable contact into and out of engagement with the stationary contact;
• an arc extinguishing chamber adjacent to the movable and stationary contacts and including two rows of splitter plates with a gap therebetween, the splitter plates in each row being spaced apart from each other, each splitter plate having a first member of non-magnetic material with an aperture within which a permanent magnet is received and having a casing formed of a non-ferrous, electrically conductive material extending at least partially around the first member, the permanent magnet producing a magnetic field around the splitter plate which causes an electric arc to move about the casing;
• and
• a magnet assembly adjacent to the stationary contact and the movable contact to establish a magnetic field that causes an electric arc to move into the arc extinguishing chamber.

An electric current switching apparatus comprising:

• a stationary contact;
• a movable contact which selectively engages the stationary contact to complete an electrical path;
• an actuator for moving the movable contact into and out of engagement with the stationary contact;
• an arc extinguishing chamber adjacent to the movable and stationary contacts and including two rows of splitter plates with a gap therebetween, the splitter plates in each row being spaced apart from each other, each row formed by a group of a first type of splitter plate interleaved with a group of a second type of splitter plate, wherein the first type of splitter plate has a first member of non-magnetic material with an aperture within which a permanent magnet is received and has a casing formed of a non-ferrous, electrically conductive material extending at least partially around the first member, the permanent magnet producing a magnetic field around the first member which causes an electric arc to move about the casing;
• and
• a magnet assembly adjacent to the stationary contact and the movable contact to establish a magnetic field that causes an electric arc to move into the arc extinguishing chamber.

An electric current switching apparatus comprising:

• first and second power terminals;
• a stationary contact electrically connected to the first power terminal;
• a movable contact which selectively engages the stationary contact to complete an electrical connection between the first and second power terminals;
• an actuator for moving the movable contact into and out of engagement with the stationary contact;
• and
• an arc extinguishing chamber comprising a plurality of splitter plates which are adjacent to the movable contact and the stationary contact, and each of the plurality of splitter plate includes an element that causes an electric arc to spin across a surface of one of the plurality of splitter plates.