A Brief History of the Development of Vacuum Circuit Breakers

In 1893, Rittenhouse of the United States proposed a simple vacuum arc extinguishing chamber and obtained a design patent. In 1920, the Swedish company Foga made the first vacuum switch. The research results published in 1926 also showed the possibility of breaking current in vacuum, but due to the small breaking capacity and the limitations of vacuum technology and vacuum material development level, it cannot be put into practical use. With the development of vacuum technology, the first batch of vacuum switches suitable for cutting off capacitor banks and other special requirements were made in the United States in the 1950s, with the breaking current still at the level of 4 kiloamperes. Due to advances in vacuum material smelting technology and breakthroughs in research on the contact structure of vacuum switches, vacuum circuit breakers with a breaking current of 12.5 kA and 15 kV were produced in 1961. In 1966, vacuum circuit breakers of 15 kV, 26 kA, and 31.5 kA were trial-produced, allowing them to enter high voltage and large capacity power systems. In the mid-1980s, the breaking capacity of vacuum circuit breakers had reached 100 kiloamperes. China began developing vacuum switches in 1958, and in 1960, Xi'an Jiaotong University and Xi'an Switch Rectifier Factory jointly developed the first batch of 6.7kV vacuum switches with a breaking capacity of 600A; Subsequently, a 10 kV three-phase vacuum switch with a breaking capacity of 1.5 kA was made. In 1969, Huaguang Electronic Tube Factory and Xi'an High Voltage Electrical Equipment Research Institute produced a 10kV and 2KA single-phase fast vacuum switch. After the 1970s, China was able to independently develop and produce various specifications of vacuum switches.