Vacuum switching devices

• US 10,643,808 B2
• Filed: 10/09/2018
• Issued: 05/05/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: S&C Electric Company
• Original Assignee: S&C Electric Company
• Inventors: Falkingham, Leslie Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): Bolton, William A
• Application Number:
  US16/155,114
• Publication Number:
  US 20200111630A1
• Time in Patent Office: 574 Days
• Field of Search: 218142, 218123, 218127, 218128, 218129, 218118
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 2203/05 to avoid damage by deformation of layers
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 33/6642 having cup-shaped contacts, the cylindrical wall of which being provided with inclined slits to form a coil

Abstract

A vacuum switching device may have at least one cup-shaped contact closed by a disc of contact material and a conical mechanical support, which acts to prevent the contact disc from becoming concave. The cup-shaped contact may include a plurality of slots in the sidewalk that extend into the base of the cup, the slots oriented to produce an axial magnetic field when current flows through the contacts. The support may be made of a metal that is a poor conductor of electricity. The narrow end of the cone may be capped by a circular ring or disc, and the wide end may be formed with a flange. The flange may be circular and may be sized and formed to locate the cone centrally in the base of the contact cup. The cone may have apertures to facilitate the evacuation of gas inside the cone.

Claims

1. A vacuum switching device comprising of an evacuated envelope which includes an insulating component, a fixed electrode and a moving electrode which are designed to engage and disengage mechanically to perform a switching function and which includes two cup-shaped contacts each closed by a contact disc of contact material, with a plurality of slots in a sidewalls of the cup or in a base of the cup, or in both, the slots being oriented to produce an axial magnetic field when current flows through the contacts, and a mechanical support having a hollow truncated cone shape with a first, truncated end bridged by an annular ring formed integral to a side wall portion of the mechanical support, and a wide end of the truncated cone having a flange formed integral to the side wall portion and extending radially outward from the side wall, wherein, the mechanical support is located by fitting the truncated end of the cone into a depression formed in a surface of the contact disc and the truncated cone with the annular ring and flange act in combination mechanically to prevent the contact disc from becoming concave.

2. The vacuum switching device as described in claim 1 in which the flange is in the form of an annular disc.

3. The vacuum switching device as described in claim 1 in which the flange is sized and formed so as to locate the cone centrally in the base of the contact cup.

4. The vacuum switching device as described in claim 1 in which the cone has an aperture or apertures to facilitate evacuation of gas from an inside portion of the cone.