Vacuum Switching Technology for Future of Power Systems

Even though switching in vacuum is a technology with almost 100 years of history,its recent develop-ments are still changing the future of power transmission and distribution systems.First,current switch-ing in vacuum is an eco-friendly technology compared to switching in SF 6 gas,which is the strongest greenhouse gas according to the Kyoto Protocol.Vacuum,an eco-friendly natural medium,is promising for reducing the usage of SF 6 gas in current switching in transmission voltage.Second,switching in vacuum achieves faster current interruption than existing alternating current(AC)switching technolo-gies.A vacuum circuit breaker(VCB)that uses an electromagnetic repulsion actuator is able to achieve a theoretical limit of AC interruption,which can interrupt a short-circuit current in the first half-cycle of a fault current,compared to the more common three cycles for existing current switching technologies.This can thus greatly enhance the transient stability of power networks in the presence of short-circuit faults,especially for ultra-and extra-high-voltage power transmission lines.Third,based on fast vacuum switching technology,various brilliant applications emerge,which are benefiting the power systems.They include the applications in the fields of direct current(DC)circuit breakers(CBs),fault current lim-iting,power quality improvement,generator CBs,and so forth.Fast vacuum switching technology is promising for controlled switching technology in power systems because it has low variation in terms of opening and closing times.With this controlled switching,vacuum switching technology may change the“gene”of power systems,by which power switching transients will become smoother.

Experimental Study on Triggering Characteristics of a Surface Flashover Triggered Vacuum Switch

Triggering characteristics of triggered vacuum switch （TVS）, including the discharge delay time, delay jitter, range of operational voltage and peak of pulsed current, are investigated. Both structure and experimental circuit of TVS are presented. The results indicate that TVS, as a surface flashover triggering device with high dielectric permittivity material, is with excellent triggering characteristics. When the hold-off voltage reaches 120 kV, the minimum operational voltage is 1.3 kV, and the minimum discharge delay time and jitter are 100 ns and ±10 ns, respectively. The peak current is up to 240 kA when the operational voltage reaches 100 kV. TVS can well satisfy the main demands of high voltage and current applications, and can also be used under a multi-crowbar circuit.

Emission Current Characteristics of Triggered Device of Vacuum Switch

The characteristics of the triggered vacuum switch （TVS） are obviously influenced by the emission current ie and emission charge of the trigger device. In this paper, an RC charge collector is designed, and the characteristics of emission current ie and collecting charge Qc of the trigger device are studied. The experimental results indicate that the emission current ie which is produced by the initial plasma has both positive and negative components, and the polarity of the emission current ie depends mainly on the polarity of the bias voltage UBias. The emission current ie and collecting charge Qe increase with the increase of the trigger voltage Utr and the bias voltage UBias. The emission efficient r] increases linearly with the increase of the bias voltage UBias. When the gap distance is 15 mm and bias voltage UBias is 160 V and trigger voltage Utr is 2.6 kV, the emission efficiency r/reaches 6%

Investigation on 10/350 Crowbar Pulse Current Circuit

Structure of main air discharging switch and a crowbar TVS （triggered vacuum switch） are designed and their triggering characteristics are investigated. The experimental results showed that for TVS the operating voltage range is from 1.3 kV to 120 kV, its maximum delay time is 400 ns and its jitter is 4-10 ns. Based on these results the crowbar 10/350μs （i.e., with a front time of 10μs and a duration of 350 μs） pulse current circuit and its controlling circuit are designed. With a 10μF stored capacitor C and a 6 μF waveform forming induction, a pulse current is generated with a maximum of 100 kA, front time of 10 ns and duration of 350μs. This pulse waveform can be used for testing SPD （surge protective devices）.

Experimental investigations on triggering characteristic of TVS under DC and AC load

Triggered vacuum switches(TVSs)have fast growing applications in the field of power system and pulse power.The relation between triggering parameters of triggering system,such as triggering voltage and triggering power,between the triggering time delay and its scatter of TVS had been obtained through series of experiments.The result can be adopted as the steering for high-power controller design and application of TVS.A steepened high-voltage triggering pulse is introduced in the main high-voltage generating circuit.As a result,the triggering time delay and its scatter can be decreased remarkably.Synchronous switch technology is imported to control the triggering phase at the crest of applied voltage on TVS.The Triggering characteristic of TVS under alternating current(AC)and direct current(DC)load has been investigated emphatically.Given the identical triggering parameter of triggering system,DC condition is prior to AC on the triggering probability and stability markedly.Such conclusion can be drawn,for AC condition,TVS would require much for the triggering system.