Mitsubishi Electric Develops New Gas-insulated Switchgear Technologies

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation has developed two technologies for gas-insulated switchgears: an arc-cooling technology that achieves a 25 percent improvement in the interruption of electrical current in sulfur-fluoride (SF₆) gas-insulated switchgears used in high-voltage power systems, and a high-density dielectric coating technology that improves insulation performance by 30 percent in high-voltage conductors.

The two technologies will contribute to the further miniaturization of switchgears and help to reduce the use of SF₆ gas, which has global-warming potential that is 22,800 times greater than that of CO_2.

The Key Features include:

1)   Arc-cooling technology for interrupter improves current-interruption performance by 25 percent

•  High-pressure gas generated with a unique coolant effectively cools and then extinguishes the conductive arc (conductive plasma) during current interruption.
•  Current flow through the arc is reduced by the arc’s change into insulated gas, thereby improving current interruption by 25 percent compared to a conventional non-coolant method.

2)   High-density dielectric coating technology improves dielectric performance by 30 percent

•  The high-density dielectric coating technology densifies the dielectric coating layer on high-voltage conductors and thereby improves dielectric performance by 30 percent compared to operation without this dielectric coating layer.

3)   Downsizing enables reduced use of SF6 gas

• Improved current interruption achieved with the new arc-cooling technology enables the number of interrupters to be reduced from two to one.
• The new high-density dielectric coating technology suppresses discharges from the conductor surfaces, making it possible to reduce the size of the SF6 gas tank.

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