Research on ultra-fast vacuum mechanical switch driven by repulsive force actuator

In order to meet the fast operation demands of DC circuit breakers, a high-speed vacuum mechanical switch (VMS) driven by a repulsive force actuator is focused. To improve the drive speed and energy conversion efficiency (ECE) of the actuators, the dynamic characteristics of the double sided coil repulsive force actuators are investigated, and two generalized optimization design methods focusing on the aspect ratio of the driving coils (defined as ARF) and the electrical parameters (defined as EF) are developed. FEM simulation models' simulation and tests of VMS prototypes are conducted to verify the optimization methods. Results prove that the ARF method could improve the ECE of a VMS from 1.05% to 7.55%, and EF method could improve ECE of the same VMS from 1.05% to 6.61%, the combination of ARF and EF could improve the value of VMS's ECE to 10.50%, thus proving the validity and accuracy of the optimization methods.