N E W S F R O M J A P A N

From these viewpoints, Japan AE Another idea is to optimize the elec-

Power Systems Corporation, which was tric field distribution by considering the
formed in July 2001, unifying the power conditioning effect, which is a well-known
transmission and distribution systems fact that repetition of discharges removes
business of Hitachi, Ltd., Fuji Electric flaws in the vacuum insulation, such as
Co., Ltd., and Meidensha Corporation has micro protrusions or contaminants on the
developed some leading-edge, high-volt- electrode surface and considerably in-
age VCBs. Their first venture in the 21st creases the breakdown voltage. Although
century is the development of a 145 kV/ this effect is complicated and sensitive,
40 kA VCB, shown in Figure 1, with a its full utilization is necessary for a high-
single-break system and its vacuum inter- voltage vacuum interrupter. Therefore,
by rupter shown in Figure 2. Prof. Hitoshi Okubo and his research as-
Y. Ohki To achieve a very high withstand volt- sociates in Nagoya University conducted
age, various measures were tried. A a joint study with Japan AE Power Sys-
simple idea is making it large in scale. tems to gain a thorough understanding of
According to the clump theory of vacuum the conditioning phenomena for nonuni-
Japan AE Power Systems breakdown, the breakdown voltage is pro- form long gaps. They found that the break-
Develops High-Voltage, portional to the square root of the gap down electric field strength became al-
Vacuum Circuit Breakers length. This means a similarly extended most constant for a well-conditioned gap
vacuum interrupter leads to an inefficient with a distance longer than 10 mm as
In Japan, high-voltage, vacuum circuit product in terms of cost and voltage with- shown in Figure 3. This result indicates
breakers (VCBs) underwent intensive de- stand performance. that the breakdown strength of a fully con-
velopment during the 1970s. The maxi-
mum rated voltage of a commercial VCB
before the 1990s was 84 kV for the dead-
tank type with a single-break interrupter,
and 168 kV for the live-tank type with
double-break unit. However, SF6-gas cir-
cuit breakers (GCBs) also have been de-
veloped actively since the 1960s. For
voltages over 72 kV, GCBs have great
advantages over VCBs in terms of
downsizing and cost reduction due to the
high-current interruption and voltage-
withstanding performance of SF 6 gas.
However, as SF6 gas has the potential to
be a major contributor to global warm-
ing, its consumption and release into the
atmosphere must be reduced. Thus, a
wider use of VCBs is an ideal solution
from an environmental perspective, be-
cause VCBs do not use SF6 gas for cur-
rent interruption, and they have many
other outstanding features such as com-
pactness, lightness in weight, ease of
maintenance and inspection, no environ-
mental damage, long operation life, su-
perior total life cycle cost, and so on. If
the rated voltage of VCBs could be in-
Figure 1. A prototype 145kV/40kA vacuum circuit breaker with a single-break
creased, their use could provide a new
interrupter per pole.
avenue for circuit breakers.

48 IEEE Electrical Insulation Magazine


Figure 2. A vacuum interrupter used for the 145 kV/40 kA single-break, vacuum
circuit breaker.
ditioned vacuum interrupter could be con-
trolled by the electric field distribution,
even in the long-gap system. Practically,
the conditioning process for products is a
combination of several high-voltage and
large-current discharge processes. The
know-how needed for this was built up
through the long history of manufactur-
ing.
The electrode material is also impor-
tant. In the 1980s, Cu-Cr-based materi-
als with superior current interruption per-
formance and withstand voltages came
into use. In order to achieve a higher with-
stand voltage, the company increased its
Cr content. Adequate design of an axial
magnetic field electrode that can
well control vacuum arcs upon current
interruptions also contributes
to minimization of the overall size of a
vacuum interrupter. Its structure has been
improved with an even smaller size thanks
to computer-aided analyses and measure-
ment techniques since it first appeared in
the 1980s.
It is also important to note that this 145
kV VCB is a circuit breaker using dry air
for internal insulation and is completely
free fromSF6. Most conventional gas-in-
sulated VCBs use SF6 for internal insula-
tion, and this necessitates a gas recovery
operation at each stage, from inspection
to overhauling and scrapping. However,
the air-insulated VCBs can release the in-
sulation gas into the atmosphere without
any problems.
The company regards its developed
VCBs a key technology to an environmen-
tally friendly society. It developed the
world’s first 72/84 kV completely SF6-free
dead-tank type VCBs in 2004, and over
30 units have been installed in electric
power systems in Japan. Its vacuum in-
terrupter is compact and is able to with-
stand high-pressure dry air with its spe-
cial bellows and ceramic envelope.
The company has announced that a
more compact 72.5 kV dry air-insulated
dead-tank VCB shown in Figure 4 will be
commercialized soon. It uses a new seal-
ing system that can reduce the pressure
on the bellows, which allows using a con-
ventional vacuum interrupter with normal
bellows.
This article was completed with coop-
eration of Dr. Hitoshi Saito of Japan AE
Power Systems.

Figure 3. Relationship between the breakdown field

strength and gap distance in high vacuum with a rod- Figure 4 A new 72.5 kV/31.5 kA dry, air-insulated, dead-tank
plane electrode system. The letter R represents the type vacuum circuit breaker.
radius of the rod electrode.

January/February 2007 — Vol. 23, No. 1 49