364results about "Spark gaps with auxillary triggering" patented technology

An arc crowbar with electrodes separated by a gap in a protective case. Each electrode is connected to an electrically different conductor of a circuit. A sensor detects an arc flash condition on the circuit and signals a trigger circuit to send an electrical pulse to an arc-triggering device in the arc crowbar gap. The triggering device ionizes a portion of the gas between the electrodes, initiating a protective arc between the electrodes that absorbs energy from the power circuit and trips a breaker, eliminating the arc flash condition. The triggering device may be a plasma gun, especially one that injects plasma of an ablated material into the gap. The sensor may signal a circuit breaker to open in the power circuit. Arc flash sensor types may include a differential current sensor and / or an optical sensor.

The invention discloses a multichannel gas spark switch applying a plasma synthesis jet trigger technology. The multichannel gas spark switch is characterized in that the spark gap of an air switch is divided by a middle trigger electrode into two equal parts; the trigger electrode is composed of three portions, i.e., an upper electrode disc, a lower electrode disc and an insulation ring; more than one excitation cavities and jet orifices are embedded into the insulation ring for generating at one side of the trigger electrode multichannel plasma injection; and the surface of an electrode portion at the other side is provided with an annular metal protrusion for forming multichannel discharge in the relative spark gap. A switch housing is made of organic glass or other insulation materials, so that when a trigger pulse reaches the trigger electrode, a higher field distortion coefficient is formed at the side of the annular electrode portion, and at the same time the multichannel plasma injection is formed at the other side, thus the spark inductance of the air switch is reduced, the electrode ablation is minimized, and the service life of the switch is prolonged.

A spark gap device that is formed in an integrated circuit (IC). The IC has a dielectric substrate upon which a high-voltage switch is disposed. The switch includes an anode element and a cathode element separated from each other by a spark gap. A trigger electrode is disposed on the substrate material in the spark gap. A capacitor is electrically coupled to the trigger electrode. The cathode and anode elements and the trigger electrode preferably are at least partially covered with a dielectric material. When the capacitor is charged, the charge on the capacitor exerts a strong electric field on the cathode and anode elements that causes ions to migrate in the cathode and anode elements toward the spark gap. When the trigger electrode is excited by an electrical current, the ions arc across the gap and a conductive path is created between the cathode element and the anode element.

An apparatus includes a switch comprising microelectromechanical elements, the microelectromechanical elements including a sealed chamber containing a dielectric element, and conductors in the sealed chamber. The conductors are arranged such that application of greater than a predetermined voltage to at least one of the conductors causes ionization breakdown of the dielectric element to provide an electrically conductive path between the conductors. In another implementation, a switch includes a nanotube electron emitter or a radioactive isotope electron emitter.

The disclosed discharge switch includes upper and lower electrodes setup inside insulated case. Pressure inside the air locked shell body formed by the insulated case and flanges at two ends of the case is 10 -3 - 10 -4 Pa. At least one of the upper and lower electrodes is a movable electrode. Trigger electrode is inlaid inside the fixed electrode or setup between the upper and lower electrodes. Since being air locked in vacuum environment, the upper and lower electrodes possess tremendous ability of ducting transient current in high energy. Moreover, operation reliability of pulse switch is raised because vacuum environment is not interfered from outside. Features are: raised reliability, very low ablation rate of electrode, and wide range of stable operation voltage.

A method of eliminating arc flash in a motor control center is disclosed. The method includes sensing an arc flash corresponding to the motor control center. In response to sensing the arc flash, and subsequent to a delay, determining whether the arc flash continues, and in response to determining that the arc flash continues, triggering an arc crowbar.

The invention discloses a multi-channel gas spark switch. Two main electrodes (5) are arranged inside a shell body, a trigger electrode (6) is arranged between the two main electrodes (5), screw holes are evenly distributed in the side face of the trigger electrode (6), a blind hole with a smaller hole diameter is formed in the front end of the trigger electrode (6), a needle electrode is arranged in the blind hole, and spraying holes which are communicated with the bottom of the blind hole are formed in an end face of the trigger electrode (6). The inner portion of the blind hole is used as a plasma spraying cavity, the needle electrode and the trigger electrode (6) in the plasma spraying cavity discharge to generate plasma in the plasma spraying cavity, and the plasma can enter one spark gap through the spraying holes. According to the multi-channel gas spark switch, the plasma spraying technology is used as a gas switch trigger method, discharge delayed time is reduced, multi-channel discharge is caused to occur on the peripheries of the plurality of spraying holes, spark inductance caused by discharge is reduced, the service life of the switch is prolonged, the switch can work under a low working voltage condition, and the high trigger characteristics are ensured.

The invention relates to a surge protector device of the spark gap lightning arrestor kind, the device comprising:a first spark gap (E1);a first pre-trigger system (2) electrically connected to the first spark gap (E1) in such a manner as to enable an arc to be struck therein; anda control device (4) electrically connected to the first pre-trigger system (2) in such a manner as to activate it;the protector device being characterized in that it includes at least one second spark gap (E2) connected in parallel with the first spark gap (E1), and electrically connected to a second pre-trigger system (3) connected in parallel with the first pre-trigger system (2), in such a manner that the control device (4) activates the first and second pre-trigger systems (2, 3) simultaneously so as to trigger the first and second spark gaps (E1, E2) simultaneously.Devices for providing protection against surges.

An electrostatic protection component includes: a body in which a plurality of ceramic substrates is laminated; and a pair of discharge electrodes which are formed within the body and which are spaced to face each other. The discharge electrodes include main body portions extending along a longitudinal direction, and the main body portions include tips in the longitudinal direction and side edges extending along the longitudinal direction. The pair of discharge electrodes are arranged such that both the main body portions are adjacent to each other in a short direction. The discharge electrodes face each other in the short direction between the side edges, and discharge occurs only between the side edges, between the discharge electrodes.

A series spark gap is triggered such that in parallel with partial spark gaps (1, 2) of the series spark gap there are coupled first voltage distribution means. Further, at least in one partial spark gap (1, 2) there is arranged an additional electrode (10) whose voltage is set to a given level by means of second voltage distribution means. The voltage level of the additional electrode (10) is changed by disturbing the voltage distribution of the second voltage distribution means. Thus the spark gap between the main electrode (6a, 6b) of the partial spark gap (1) and the additional electrode (10) will be ignited. Capacity of the second voltage distribution means is lower than that of the first voltage distribution means and consequently the voltage acting over the first voltage distribution means does not change significantly. Thus the voltage determined by the first voltage distribution means acts over the spark gap that is between the additional electrode (10) and the second main electrode (6a, 6b) of the partial spark gap (1) and that will also ignite, which further results in the supply voltage (U) acting only over the second partial spark gap (2), whereby a spark-over will also occur therein.

A device for protecting an electrical installation (2) against overvoltages, the device having a main spark-gap (E1) and a pre-triggering circuit (10) connected to the main spark-gap (E1) to control the firing of the main spark-gap in the event of any overvoltage. The pre-triggering circuit (10) has at least one voltage-interrupting element (G) which, in the off state, prevents current from passing through the pre-triggering circuit (10), so that, in the absence of an overvoltage, the leakage current consumed by the pre-triggering circuit (10) is essentially zero.

A triggered arc flash arrester includes an envelope structured to operate at: a pressure less than about 1.33 Pa; or a pressure greater than 0.10857 MPa; a plurality of conductors partially disposed within the envelope; a number of gaps disposed between the plurality of conductors within the envelope; and a shorting structure selected from the group consisting of a triggered gap and a fuse. The shorting structure is operatively associated with the number of gaps. The shorting structure is structured to electrically short the plurality of conductors either together or to ground, in order to create an arc within the envelope which is electrically in parallel to an arc fault causing the arc fault internal to switchgear to be extinguished.

A plasma gun with two gap electrodes on opposite ends of a chamber of ablative material such as an ablative polymer. The gun ejects an ablative plasma at supersonic speed. A divergent nozzle spreads the plasma jet to fill a gap between electrodes of a main arc device, such as an arc crowbar or a high voltage power switch. The plasma triggers the main arc device by lowering the impedance of the main arc gap via the ablative plasma to provide a conductive path between the main electrodes. This provides faster triggering and requires less trigger energy than previous arc triggers. It also provides a more conductive initial main arc than previously possible. The initial properties of the main arc are controllable by the plasma properties, which are in turn controllable by design parameters of the ablative plasma gun.

The invention discloses a quick-acting bypass switch which is a gas spark switch and comprises a high-voltage electrode and a ground electrode. The quick-acting bypass switch is characterized in that: the bypass switch leads to forming of spraying plasma in a switch gap and continuous frontward development of the spraying plasma through forming the spraying plasma on the surface of the ground electrode and injecting into the switch gap; when a residual gap between the head of the plasma and a high-voltage electrode shortens continuously and leads to severe distortion of an electric field, gap discharge is caused, and furthermore conduction of a whole switch is caused, thereby realizing quick conduction of the switch. Because plasma in the switch gap provides a large amount of initial electrons for gap discharge, insulating strength of the gap is reduced, and therefore quick discharging of the switch can be triggered under an ultralow work coefficient which equals with 5%-10% self-breakdown voltage.

The invention relates to a multichannel gas spark switch based on an ultraviolet preionization technology. The multichannel gas spark switch comprises a main electrode I (1) and an electrode tip (12) thereof as well as a main electrode II (2) and a corresponding electrode tip (13) which are correspondingly arranged, and circular cylinder switch shells (3), wherein the main electrode I (1) is shaped as a circular flange plate, and the circular cylinder switch shells (3) are connected by fixing bolts (9). The multichannel gas spark switch disclosed by the invention has the advantages that due to adoption of structural design of the trigger electrodes, UV (ultraviolet) ionization can be generated under the triggering condition, so that richer initiating electrons are distributed in a main gap, the breakdown delay of the spark gap is shortened, and ring electrodes are induced to generate parallel-connection discharge of multiple channels to achieve the effects of reducing the on-off inductance, reducing the electrode ablation and prolonging the service life of the switch; and the switch is of an compact coaxial structure on the whole, and an extremely tiny gap is reserved between the main electrodes, so that the air pressure inside the switch is increased, the breakdown delay of the gap is effectively reduced, and meanwhile, the spark inductance is reduced, therefore the structure of a trigger pulse generator is simplified.

A short-circuit device and a protection method for a submodule for a power converter are disclosed. The submodule includes a bridge circuit having at least one power semiconductor branch extending between a first and a second DC voltage node and at least one controllable power semiconductor switch disposed therein to which a freewheeling diode is connected in anti-parallel, and a capacitor connected in parallel to the bridge circuit. The short-circuit device has at least one selected of the freewheeling diodes anti-parallel to the power semiconductor switches of the bridge circuit, wherein the at least one selected freewheeling diode is manufactured in press pack design and rated such that, when a fault occurs in the submodule, the at least one selected freewheeling diode breaks down due to the fault conditions and provides a durable, stable, low-impedance short circuit path between a first and a second AC voltage connection of the submodule.

The invention discloses a laser triggered vacuum, which comprises an airtight shell, a first electrode, a second electrode and a laser irradiation window, wherein the first electrode and the second electrode are arranged on the airtight shell and are respectively fixed on both ends of the airtight shell, the second electrode is internally and axially provided with a through hole, one end face of the first electrode is provided with a target electrode opposite to the through hole, the laser irradiation window is positioned on the outer end of the second electrode, and the laser irradiation window, the through hole and the target electrode are positioned on same axis. The laser triggered vacuum switch has simple structure, stable triggering property, long service life and convenient processing.

Systems and methods for ignition and reignition of unstable electrical discharges wherein a secondary electrode positioned is between a set of primary electrodes and a high voltage is applied between the secondary electrode and successive ones of the primary electrodes to produce pilot discharges that ionize a gas there between and thereby reduce the voltage necessary to ignite a primary discharge between the primary electrodes. Power is provided to the secondary electrode by a circuit which is independent of the circuit that supplies power to the primary electrodes and generates voltage pulses which are substantially higher than the voltage between the primary electrodes.

The invention relates to a short-circuiting device for use in low-voltage and medium-voltage systems for the protection of parts and personnel, comprising a switching element, which can be actuated by the tripping signal of a fault detection device, two mutually opposite contact electrodes having power supply means, wherein contact can be made with said contact electrodes at a circuit having connections at different potentials, furthermore the contact electrodes, under mechanical prestress, carry out a relative movement in relation to one another in the event of a short-circuit assisted by spring force, and a further part short-circuits the contact electrodes in a relative movement with respect to said contact electrodes, a sacrificial element as the spacer between the contact electrodes and having an electrical connection between the sacrificial element and the switching element,; on the one hand, and one of the contact electrodes, on the other hand, in order to bring about thermal destruction of the sacrificial element in a targeted manner owing to current flow. In a first embodiment of the invention, the sacrificial element is a thin-walled hollow cylinder consisting of a high-melting metallic material. In a second embodiment of the invention, the sacrificial element is a wire or rod consisting of a conductive material having a low melting integral, wherein the sacrificial element is under mechanical prestress under tension in contrast to the first embodiment.

The invention discloses a schottky junction plane explosion switch used for exploding foil initiator and a preparation method of the schottky junction plane explosion switch. The switch comprises a silica-based substrate, a SiO2 insulation layer on the silica-based substrate, a metallic copper layer and a schottky junction bridge zone layer. Compared with the prior art, the schottky junction plane explosion switch has the advantages that the switch is small in size and low in manufacturing cost, and by the utilization of a MEMS (micro electro mechanical system) technology, the switch is easy to integrate with a exploding foil initiation system to achieve microminiaturization of the exploding foil initiation system; the switch containing schottky junctions is low in trigger voltage and capable of resisting stray current and has certain safety, and the effect of controllable excitation energy is achieved through control over the number of the schottky junctions; the switch is a one-time effect device and meets the characteristics of one-time effect of the exploding foil initiation system, and in comparison with a traditional vacuum trigger switch, the usage rate of the switch is improved.

The invention discloses a three-electrode multi-channel gas spark switch. An upper shell body (5) and a lower shell body (6) are buckled to form a shell body. Two main electrode connecting rods (2) pass through holes formed in the upper shell body (5) and the lower shell body (6) respectively, one end of each main electrode connecting rod (2) is arranged inside the shell body and is connected with a main electrode (1), and the other end of each main electrode connecting rod (2) is matched with a main electrode hold-down nut to be fixed on the shell body. A trigger electrode (4) is arranged inside the shell body, the trigger electrode (4) is of a circular ring structure, the axial cross section of the trigger electrode (4) is of the shape of the combination of two like-trapezoids, and circular chamfer processing is conducted on the transition surface of the trigger electrode (4). The three-electrode multi-channel gas spark switch is small in size and is of a cylindrical structure, the cross sections of the main electrodes and the cross section of the trigger electrode are all of trapezoid structures, the inductance of the switch self in quite small in the discharging process, the surfaces of the main electrodes are of a circular ring structure, and multi-channel discharging can be formed more easily. Therefore, spark inductance is further reduced, and the service life of the electrodes is prolonged.

The invention discloses a three-electrode trigger switch. The three-electrode trigger switch is of a coaxial structure, and comprises a positive electrode, negative electrodes, trigger electrodes, negative sealing elements, insulation covers and insulation separators. The insulation cover is used for insulating and fixing electrodes, and various parts are compressedly sealed by an insulation fastening rod and an insulation fastening pressure plate. A gas inlet channel used for discharging gas is arranged inside the positive electrode, high pressure gas flows past trigger gaps to bring charged particles produced by the trigger gaps into a main switch gap, so that the main gap under high pressure is communicated. The high pressure gas brings the charged particles produced by discharging of the trigger gaps out of the switch through gas outlet through holes at the bottom of the negative electrodes and gas outlet channels of the negative sealing elements, insulation strength recovering of the switch is accelerated, a corresponding trigger system is matched, and the switch can be used with repetition frequency. The three-electrode trigger switch is simple in structure and high in working stability and can be applicable to various impulse power supplies.

A device for protection against voltage surges, comprising: a first spark gap (E1); a first pre-triggering system (2), electrically connected to the first spark gap (E1), so as to enable its being primed; a control device (4) electrically connected to the first pre-triggering system (2) so as to activate same. The invention is characterized in that it comprises at least a second spark gap (E2) mounted parallel to the first spark gap (E1), and electrically connected to a second pre-triggering system (3), such that the control device simultaneously activates the first and the second pre-triggering systems (2, 3), so as to trigger simultaneously the first and second spark gaps (E1, E2). The invention also concerns devices against voltage surges.

The invention discloses a surface-breakdown-type vacuum switch trigger electrode comprising a low-voltage electrode, a molybdenum ferrule, a ceramic tube, a metal trigger electrode, a molybdenum ring, a semiconductor coating layer and a trigger electrode groove. The ceramic tube is arranged in a through hole between the low-voltage electrode and the center of the molybdenum ferrule and tightly contacts with the molybdenum ferrule to guarantee electrical insulation between the low-voltage electrode and the metal trigger electrode; the metal trigger electrode is arranged in a through hole at the centers of the ceramic tube and the molybdenum ring to guarantee equal potential of the molybdenum ring and the metal trigger electrode; the molybdenum ring is arranged on the upper portion of the ceramic tube; the semiconductor coating layer is arranged on the tube wall of the ceramic tube between the molybdenum ferrule and the molybdenum ring; the direction of the semiconductor coating layer is in accordance with the direction of a gap electric field applied by a high-voltage electrode; the trigger electrode groove is formed in the low-voltage electrode on the periphery of the molybdenum ferrule, the molybdenum ring and the semiconductor coating layer. The surface-breakdown-typed vacuum switch trigger electrode can solve problems of short service life, poor high temperature resistance and easiness in damage by ablation of the existing trigger electrodes.

Equipment protection systems, arc containment devices, and methods of assembling arc containment devices are disclosed. In one example, an electrical isolation structure includes a conductor base, a cover coupled to the conductor base and defining an isolation chamber, a containment shield disposed on the conductor base within the isolation chamber, and a biasing assembly positioned between the cover and the containment shield. The containment shield defines a containment chamber configured to enclose the plurality of electrode assemblies. The containment shield is configured to at least partially contain the arc products within the containment chamber. The biasing assembly is configured to permit the containment shield to move away from the conductor base to thereby define a gap between the conductor base and the containment shield to enable at least some of the arc gases to vent from the containment chamber.

A gas-filled surge arrester includes at least two electrodes, a gas filling and an activating compound applied to at least one of said electrodes. The activating compound can include: (i) nickel powder in an amount of about 10% to about 35% by weight; (ii) potassium or sodium silicate in an amount of about 20% to about 40% by weight; (iii) titanium powder in an amount of about 5% to about 25% by weight; (iv) calcium titanium oxide in an amount of about 5% to about 15% by weight; and (v) sodium bromide in an amount of about 10% to about 20% by weight. Ignition striping process and resulting stripes from ink-jetting of striping material are disclosed.

A triggered arc flash arrester includes an envelope structured to operate at: a pressure less than about 1.33 Pa; or a pressure greater than 0.10857 MPa; a plurality of conductors partially disposed within the envelope; a number of gaps disposed between the plurality of conductors within the envelope; and a shorting structure selected from the group consisting of a triggered gap and a fuse. The shorting structure is operatively associated with the number of gaps. The shorting structure is structured to electrically short the plurality of conductors either together or to ground, in order to create an arc within the envelope which is electrically in parallel to an arc fault causing the arc fault internal to switchgear to be extinguished.

An ESD protection device includes a ceramic multilayer substrate, at least one pair of discharge electrodes provided in the ceramic multilayer substrate and facing each other with a space formed therebetween, external electrodes provided on a surface of the ceramic multilayer substrate and connected to the discharge electrodes. The ESD protection device includes a supporting electrode obtained by dispersing a metal material and a semiconductor material and being arranged in a region that connects the pair of discharge electrodes to each other.

The invention discloses a spherical electrode spark gap switch with an adjustable gap. A switch housing is cylindrical; a switch housing side baffle is combined with the switch housing through a bonding method; an anode support is fixed together with the switch housing side baffle through a screw and combined with a stud of an anode through a thread on a central through hole of the anode support; a conductor is fixed on an anode terminal through two nuts; one end of the anode in a switch cylinder body is a discharging spherical part; the other end of the anode is the stud; and the stud also has an effect of wiring the anode while having an effect of supporting the anode. A cathode and a cathode support are integrated; a trigger electrode is placed or not placed at the central part of the cathode; if the trigger electrode is placed at the central part of the cathode, the trigger electrode is placed in the cathode after being protected by a trigger electrode sheath; and a lead of the trigger electrode is led in through a trigger electrode terminal and a knurled thumb flat-head screw. According to the invention, the length of a discharging gas gap is adjustable, the length of the discharging gas gap can be flexibly changed according to requirements on switch discharging voltage, and the working range of the switch is wider.