Contact for vacuum interrupter, and vacuum interrupter using same

#The present invention relates to a contact for a vacuum interrupter, and a vacuum interrupter using the contact.

#For obtaining enhanced interrupting performance of the vacuum interrupter, electrodes need to receive arc produced therebetween at interruption (shutoff) by their entire surfaces without concentrating arc onto specific spots. The structure for forming a longitudinal magnetic field between electrodes, i.e. the longitudinal magnetic-field applying method, is adopted to receive arc by the entire surfaces of the electrodes. Generation of the longitudinal magnetic field between the electrodes encloses arc, leading to less loss of charged particles from an arc column, excellent arc stability, restrained temperature rise of the electrodes, and enhanced interrupting performance.

#U.S. Pat. No. 4,620,074 (equivalent of Japanese Patent Examined Publication No. Heisei 3(1991)-59531 [=JP3059531B]) describes “a contact arrangement for vacuum switches” adopting the longitudinal magnetic field application method. A contact carrier in a form of a hollow cylinder has an end face which is formed with a contact plate. The contact carrier has a periphery formed with a slit (referred to as “slots” in ABSTRACT). Length (referred to as “predetermined height HT” in ABSTRACT), the number of slits, and an azimuth angle of the slit of the contact carrier are defined with respect to an outer diameter of the contact carrier.

#FIG. 1 is a side view of a contact for a vacuum interrupter, according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

#FIG. 2 is a plan view of the contact for the vacuum interrupter shown in FIG. 1;

#FIG. 3 shows a schematic of a vacuum interrupter 10 using the contact for the vacuum interrupter shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2;

#In the following, various embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

#For ease of understanding, the following description will contain various directional terms, such as, left, right, upper, lower and the like. However, such terms are to be understood with respect to only a drawing or drawings on which the corresponding part of element is illustrated.

#As is seen in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, there is provided a contact for a vacuum interrupter, according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 shows a side view while FIG. 2 shows a plan view of the contact for the vacuum interrupter.