Developmenbt of Power Vacuum Interrupters

The practicality of using vacuum interrupters for switchgear applications has been demonstrated by the successful development of a number of prototype devices. Interrupting tests have been made at currents up to 43,000 amp (amperes) at 15.5 kv and recovery rates up to 6,000 volts/μsec (per microsecoind). This has been achieved by resolvinlg many difficult technical problems, so that the vacuum interrupter now closelyr approaches the functional specification of an ideal interrupting device.