A brief history showing trends in vacuum interrupter technology

Vacuum interrupters have been in continuous development since the 1950s, and manufacture since the early 1960s. This paper attempts to identify the trends in the technology over this period by means of a brief overview of work carried out in this field by Alstom and its predecessor companies. The paper concentrates mainly on work carried out in the United Kingdom with which the author is fully familiar, having been personally involved in the design and development of vacuum interrupters in the UK over a twenty year period. The author discusses contact material, arc control systems (radial magnetic field, axial magnetic field), construction and manufacture of the interrupters.