US3474339A - Electric switches for high currents - Google Patents

Electric switches for high currents Download PDF

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Publication number
US3474339A
US3474339A US673592A US3474339DA US3474339A US 3474339 A US3474339 A US 3474339A US 673592 A US673592 A US 673592A US 3474339D A US3474339D A US 3474339DA US 3474339 A US3474339 A US 3474339A
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United States
Prior art keywords
conductive
switch
liquid
fluid
current
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Expired - Lifetime
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US673592A
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English (en)
Inventor
Christian Paul Gilbert Rioux
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Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
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Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
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    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01H—ELECTRIC SWITCHES; RELAYS; SELECTORS; EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE DEVICES
    • H01H33/00—High-tension or heavy-current switches with arc-extinguishing or arc-preventing means
    • H01H33/02—Details
    • H01H33/04—Means for extinguishing or preventing arc between current-carrying parts
    • H01H33/16—Impedances connected with contacts
    • H01H33/161—Variable impedances
    • H01H33/162—Liquid resistors
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01H—ELECTRIC SWITCHES; RELAYS; SELECTORS; EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE DEVICES
    • H01H29/00—Switches having at least one liquid contact
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01H—ELECTRIC SWITCHES; RELAYS; SELECTORS; EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE DEVICES
    • H01H77/00—Protective overload circuit-breaking switches operated by excess current and requiring separate action for resetting
    • H01H77/02—Protective overload circuit-breaking switches operated by excess current and requiring separate action for resetting in which the excess current itself provides the energy for opening the contacts, and having a separate reset mechanism
    • H01H77/10—Protective overload circuit-breaking switches operated by excess current and requiring separate action for resetting in which the excess current itself provides the energy for opening the contacts, and having a separate reset mechanism with electrodynamic opening
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01H—ELECTRIC SWITCHES; RELAYS; SELECTORS; EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE DEVICES
    • H01H87/00—Protective devices in which a current flowing through a liquid or solid is interrupted by the evaporation of the liquid or by the melting and evaporation of the solid when the current becomes excessive, the circuit continuity being reestablished on cooling

Definitions

  • This invention relates to electric switches intended to cut off in a very short time (less than a millisecond) electric currents of very high intensity (preferably greater than a million amperes) preferably generated in electric circuits having high self impedance.
  • An object of the invention is to provide a switch of this type which is able to fulfill the various requirements of practice better than prior switches, in particular with respect to the brevity of the cut off and robustness.
  • a switch of the type in question comprises principally: two conductive pieces electrically connected respectively to the two terminals of the switch and electrically separated one from the other by an interval of small width, this interval being adapted to contain a conductive fluid to establish electric contact between the two conductive pieces; means for maintaining this conductive fluid in the interval during flow through this conductive fluid of the intense current to be cut off, in spite of the action of Laplace forces on this conductive fluid; and means for rapidly clearing an appropriate evacuation opening in communication with said interval to permit the action of these Laplace forces to eject abruptly this fluid out of the interval, towards the exterior of the switch; and, should the need arise, means for helping the ejection action of these forces by driving this fluid towards the opening with the air of another fluid which is compressed and non-conductive.
  • the invention includes, apart from this principal feature, certain other features which are preferably used at the same time and which will be more explicitely mentioned hereafter.
  • a second feature comprises giving the interval which separates the two conductive pieces an increasing width in the direction of the evacuation of the fluid, this width being counted parallel to the direction of passage of the current in this interval for the normal closed state of the switch.
  • a third feature comprises providing baflles of electrically insulating material in the part, of at least one of the two conductive pieces, which delimits the downstream part (with respect to the direction of evacuation of the fluid) of the interval which separates these two pieces.
  • the invention is particularly suitable for abruptly cutting off high currents flowing in self inductances with a view to creating very intense current impulses usable in particular for the formation of plasmas.
  • FIGURE 1 is a schematic diagram of anelectric circuit equipped with a switch according to the invention
  • FIGURE 2 is a schematic model diagram of such a switch
  • FIGURES 3 and 4 show schematically two such switches
  • FIGURES 5 and 6 show, respectively, in axial section and in transverse section along VIVI of FIGURE 5, a switch arranged according to one embodiment of the present invention, in its closed state;
  • FIGURE 8 is an axial half-section of a modification of such a switch, also arranged according to the present invention.
  • FIGURE 9 is an axial half-section of another embodiment of a switch according to the invention.
  • the two terminals 5 and 6 of this switch 4 are con nected respectively to two conductive pieces or members 7 and 8 separated one from the other by an interval or gap 9 (FIGURE 3) of small thickness.
  • a fluid conductor 10 is introduced into this interval assuring the electrical connection between the two pieces.
  • means are provided for ejecting abruptly at the desired instant this fluid out of the interval towards the exterior of the switch so as to cut this connection at that instant.
  • the conductive finger 10 progressively interconnects parts of these pieces 7 and 8 that are more and more remote from these terminals, which increases the resistance interposed between these terminals. It should be recalled that, in practice, the current cut off is considered to be suflicient when this resistance reaches iialue about 1000 times greater than its initial value.
  • the cross section offered by the finger to the current flow remains suflicient for this finger to assure correctly the transfer of current in the closed state of the switch (that is to say without the risk of excessive calorific dissipation in this finger, which dissipation would lead to vaporization of the finger and deterioration of the adjacent solid contact surfaces), and nevertheless the mass of this finger remains small and its thickness quickly becomes large during its ejection.
  • the role of the light and insulating liquid 24 is double: its lightness facilitates its ejection under the push of the heavier conductive liquid; its insulating nature prevents the direct closing of the electric circuit across this insulating liquid.
  • the switch comprises essentially two pieces of revolution adapted to be abruptly displaced axially with respect to one another, namely:
  • the current is obliged to follow the ath indicated by the arrows 52, this path being long an of small flow cross section.
  • the corresponding resistance is sufiicient so that the switch can then be considered as being open.
  • a switch is provided which permits of cutting oif in a very small fraction of a second (that is to say less than one millisecond, and sometimes as low as milliseconds or even less) a very intense electric current (for example of intensity greater than 1 million amperes) such as for example those generated by the dynamos described in US. Patent No. 3,270,228, filed by the present applicant on Mar. 15, 1963, granted Aug. 30, 1966, and entitled Machines and Methods for Producing Very High Intensity Electric Currents.
  • Such a switch can be used for many purposes, for example to make a large fraction of the energy stored in the self inductance 2 of FIGURE 1 pass abruptly into a self inductance 53 (FIGURE I) mounted in parallel with the switch. This is especially advantageous when creating the intense electric current envisaged in the previous paragraph, the magnetic field then generated in the self inductance 53 being able to be much greater than that generated in the self inductance 2.
  • An electric switch for interrupting high currents in a very short time comprising: a first conductive member electrically connected to a first terminal of the switch; a second conductive member electrically connected to a second terminal of the switch, said second conductive member being electrially separated from said first conductive member by at least one gap; a conductive fluid located within said gap for establishing electric contact between said first and second conductive members; means for maintaining said conductive fluid in said gap during the flow through said conductive fluid of the high current to be interrupted despite the action of the Laplace forces on said conductive fluid; at least one evacuation opening in communication with said gap to permit, displacement of said conductive fluid in said gap; and means for rapidly opening said at least one evacuation opening to permit the action of said Laplace forces to eject said conductive fluid abruptly along said gap towards the exterior of the switch to increase the electrical resistance between said first and second terminals.
  • a switch according to claim 1 in which said fluid is aliquid, said switch having a general form of revolu tion and including an annular chamber in communication with said gap, said evacuation opening being provided in an external wall of said annular chamber where-by the current interruption is obtained by centrifugal eiection of said conductive liquid out of said annular chamber.
  • a switch according to claim 1 in which said condugtive fluidis a liquid at least when said switch is in its normal closed state, and in which said gap is generally trunc'pnical in shape, one of said two conductive members using adapted to be abruptly separated from the other conductive member in the direction of the axis of said trunconical gap to open said evacuation opening.
  • a switch according to claim 7 in which said gap is delimited by said two Conductive members and comprises an upstream portion and a downstream portion with respect to the direction of ejection of said fluid, said two conductive members completely enclosing said upstream portion when said switch is in its normal closed state to maintain said conductive fluid in said upstream portion, and said two conductive members, on separation, putting said upstream portion in communication with said downstream portion to allow ejection of said fluid through said downstream portion.
  • a switch according to claim 8 in which said downstream portion of said gap has an increasing width in the downstream direction, said width being counted parallel to the direction of the current flow through said gap in the normal closed state of the switch.
  • a switch according to claim 8 in which said first conductive member is electrically connected to said second conductive member downstream of said gap both in the normal closed state of the switch and in the open state of the switch whereby the current is not completely interrupted, there being baflles of insulating material provided in a part of at least one of said two conductive members, said part delimiting at least partially said down stream portion of said gap, said insulating baflies provid ing an increased resistance in the switch in its open state.
  • a switch according to claim 1 in which means are provided for driving said conductive fluid towards said evacuation opening by another fluid which is compressed and non-conductive, to aid the ejection action of the Laplace forces.

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Electromagnetism (AREA)
  • Adjustable Resistors (AREA)
  • Circuit Breakers (AREA)
  • Contacts (AREA)
US673592A 1966-10-11 1967-10-09 Electric switches for high currents Expired - Lifetime US3474339A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
FR79533A FR1503721A (fr) 1966-10-11 1966-10-11 Perfectionnements aux interrupteurs électriques pour courants intenses

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
US3474339A true US3474339A (en) 1969-10-21

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ID=8618856

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US673592A Expired - Lifetime US3474339A (en) 1966-10-11 1967-10-09 Electric switches for high currents

Country Status (5)

Country Link
US (1) US3474339A (fr)
CH (1) CH469340A (fr)
DE (1) DE1615915B1 (fr)
FR (1) FR1503721A (fr)
GB (1) GB1206786A (fr)

Cited By (9)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4621561A (en) * 1983-06-22 1986-11-11 Board Of Regents, Univ. Of Texas System Switch for inductive energy store transfer circuit
US4916998A (en) * 1988-06-22 1990-04-17 Westinghouse Electric Corp. Electric switch and integrated switch-preaccelerator system for an electromagnetic projectile launcher
EP1026720A1 (fr) * 1999-02-01 2000-08-09 Moeller GmbH Dispositif limiteur de courant avec métal liquide à auto-régénération
DE19903776A1 (de) * 1999-02-01 2000-08-10 Moeller Gmbh Selbsterholende Strombegrenzungseinrichtung
DE19927065A1 (de) * 1999-06-15 2000-12-21 Moeller Gmbh Selbsterholende Strombegrenzungseinrichtung mit Flüssigmetall
RU2166811C1 (ru) * 1999-12-14 2001-05-10 Тверской государственный технический университет Токосъемное устройство
WO2003015115A1 (fr) * 2001-08-10 2003-02-20 Moeller Gmbh Dispositif limiteur de courant a metal liquide
CN100442423C (zh) * 2003-07-10 2008-12-10 Abb研究有限公司 用于利用液态金属限流器限制电流的方法和装置
CN100446152C (zh) * 2003-07-10 2008-12-24 Abb研究有限公司 用自动限流器限流的方法和装置

Families Citing this family (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE102006034168B4 (de) * 2006-05-23 2013-12-24 Dehn + Söhne Gmbh + Co. Kg Gekapselter Überpannungsabeiter für den Einsatz als Netzfunkenstrecke im Niederspannungsbereich mit getrennten, elektrisch in Reihe geschalteten Funktionseinheiten
WO2008064494A1 (fr) * 2006-11-29 2008-06-05 Abb Research Ltd Commutateur de courant à métal liquide
WO2010037424A1 (fr) * 2008-10-03 2010-04-08 Abb Technology Ag Dispositif de limitation de courant électrique
CN102324720A (zh) * 2011-09-28 2012-01-18 上海大学 一种故障电流限制器
DE102013224720B4 (de) * 2013-12-03 2016-07-07 J. Pröpster GmbH Überspannungsableiteinrichtung mit einem Überspannungsableiter und einer Löscheinheit

Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US1660407A (en) * 1926-05-28 1928-02-28 Gen Electric Liquid-conductor pump
US2936711A (en) * 1955-08-12 1960-05-17 Atomic Energy Authority Uk Electromagnetic pumps

Patent Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US1660407A (en) * 1926-05-28 1928-02-28 Gen Electric Liquid-conductor pump
US2936711A (en) * 1955-08-12 1960-05-17 Atomic Energy Authority Uk Electromagnetic pumps

Cited By (11)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4621561A (en) * 1983-06-22 1986-11-11 Board Of Regents, Univ. Of Texas System Switch for inductive energy store transfer circuit
US4916998A (en) * 1988-06-22 1990-04-17 Westinghouse Electric Corp. Electric switch and integrated switch-preaccelerator system for an electromagnetic projectile launcher
EP1026720A1 (fr) * 1999-02-01 2000-08-09 Moeller GmbH Dispositif limiteur de courant avec métal liquide à auto-régénération
DE19903776A1 (de) * 1999-02-01 2000-08-10 Moeller Gmbh Selbsterholende Strombegrenzungseinrichtung
DE19903940C1 (de) * 1999-02-01 2000-11-02 Moeller Gmbh Selbsterholende Strombegrenzungseinrichtung mit Flüssigmetall
DE19903776B4 (de) * 1999-02-01 2004-02-12 Moeller Gmbh Selbsterholende Strombegrenzungseinrichtung
DE19927065A1 (de) * 1999-06-15 2000-12-21 Moeller Gmbh Selbsterholende Strombegrenzungseinrichtung mit Flüssigmetall
RU2166811C1 (ru) * 1999-12-14 2001-05-10 Тверской государственный технический университет Токосъемное устройство
WO2003015115A1 (fr) * 2001-08-10 2003-02-20 Moeller Gmbh Dispositif limiteur de courant a metal liquide
CN100442423C (zh) * 2003-07-10 2008-12-10 Abb研究有限公司 用于利用液态金属限流器限制电流的方法和装置
CN100446152C (zh) * 2003-07-10 2008-12-24 Abb研究有限公司 用自动限流器限流的方法和装置

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
DE1615915B1 (de) 1970-09-24
CH469340A (fr) 1969-02-28
FR1503721A (fr) 1967-12-01
GB1206786A (en) 1970-09-30

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