Vacuum Switchgear

by Allan Greenwood

Overview

This book provides a broad perspective of vacuum switchgear drawn from the author's many years of experience in this field. Allan Greenwood describes the development of the technology from the earliest beginnings to the most recent designs now on offer by leading companies around the world.

The book starts with a solid foundation in the physics of the vacuum arc, in vacuum breakdown and in the fundamentals of current interruptions in vacuum. For the user there is an exhaustive chapter on applications, which spans all devices from contactors through switches and reclosers to power circuit breakers. Maintenance is also addressed. There are four chapters on different aspects of design and another on testing, which should appeal to the designer. The chapter on manufacturing concentrates on the interrupter as its manufacture is so entirely different from that required for oil and gas-blast circuit breakers. The treatment is comprehensive so the book will be useful to users, designers and manufacturers alike, and to students who wish to become acquainted with the subject.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780852968550
Publisher:	The Institution of Engineering and Technology
Publication date:	06/30/1994
Series:	Energy Engineering
Pages:	292
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Dr Greenwood is presently Philip Sporn Professor of Engineering at Rensselaer, the oldest engineering school in North America. His professional career, which started with a B.T.-H. apprenticeship in 1940, has been spent about equally in industry and university environments. His particular interests are in power switching equipment and the interactions of such equipment with power systems. He was one of the small team that developed the first high power vacuum interrupters for the General Electric Co. (USA) in the 1950s and has been involved with this technology ever since. He holds many patents and has published widely on this subject. He is the author of Electrical transients in power systems (John Wiley & Sons, 2nd edn, 1991).

Dr Greenwood is a life Fellow of the IEEE, an Attwood Associate of CIGRE and a former Visiting Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge.

Table of Contents

• Chapter 1: Historical review - how we arrived atwhere we are today
• Chapter 2: The vacuum arc
• Chapter 3: Vacuum breakdown
• Chapter 4: Current interruption in vacuum
• Chapter 5: Design of vacuum switchgear 1: the vacuum interrupter
• Chapter 6: Design of vacuum switchgear 2: the operating mechanism and other mechanical features
• Chapter 7: Design of vacuum switchgear 3: design for versatility
• Chapter 8: Design of vacuum switchgear 4: packaging
• Chapter 9: Manufacture of vacuum switchgear
• Chapter 10: Application of vacuum switchgear
• Chapter 11: Testing vacuum switchgear
• Chapter 12: Maintenance of vacuum switchgear

Editorial Reviews

Drawing from his 40 years of experience in the field, Greenwood (engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic) describes the development of vacuum switchgear technology from its earliest origins to the most recent designs now offered by companies around the world. The volume begins with a foundation in the physics of the vacuum arc, in vacuum breakdown, and in the fundamentals of current interruption in vacuum. A chapter on applications spans all devices from contactors through switches and reclosers to power circuit breakers. Maintenance is also addressed. There are four chapters on different aspects of design and another on testing. The chapter on manufacturing concentrates on the interrupter as its manufacture is so entirely different from that required for oil and gas-blast circuit breakers. Thoroughly illustrated. Distributed by INSPEC. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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