Surge arrester

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10411439-B2
Application number	US-201515314194-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 26, 2015
Priority date	May 26, 2014
Publication date	Sep 10, 2019
Grant date	Sep 10, 2019

Abstract

A surge arrester for the power supply of low-voltage systems, having a housing, two electrodes which are situated axially opposite one another, an arc combustion chamber formed in the interior of the housing, and a trigger aid. A spark gap is formed between the two electrodes so that an arc is produced when the spark gap between the two electrodes is triggered, the axial distance between end faces of the two electrodes being so large that the arc voltage is greater than the expected line voltage. Conversion of energy within the surge arrester is reduced by the arc combustion chamber having an inner region and at least one expansion region into which the arc can propagate after triggering. The inner region is arranged between the two electrodes and is delimited axially by the end faces of the electrodes and is delimited longitudinally by the at least one expansion region.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A surge arrester for power supplies of low-voltage systems, comprising:
a housing,
two electrodes which are situated axially opposite one another,
an arc combustion chamber formed within the housing, and
a trigger aid,
wherein a spark gap is formed between the electrodes so that an arc is produced when the spark gap between the two electrodes is triggered,
wherein an axial distance a between end faces of the electrodes is so large that the arc voltage U L is greater than an expected line voltage U N ,
wherein the arc combustion chamber has an inner region and at least one expansion region into which the arc can propagate after triggering,
wherein the inner region is arranged between the two electrodes and is axially delimited by the end faces of the electrodes,
wherein the at least one expansion region adjoins a longitudinal side of the inner region, and at least two side walls of the expansion region are at least partially composed of insulating material, and
wherein a longitudinal side of the inner region that is situated opposite the expansion region is closed.

2. The surge arrester according to claim 1 , wherein the expansion region has a height which is greater than the height of the inner region.

3. The surge arrester according to claim 1 , wherein the expansion region has a length which is greater than the length of the inner region, whereby a longitudinal side of at least one of the electrodes adjoins the expansion region.

4. The surge arrester according to claim 1 , wherein the expansion region, in cross section, expands from the inner region outwards.

5. The surge arrester according to claim 1 , wherein the side walls of the expansion region are configured in a manner such that the expansion region has an area in which a distance between the side walls is reduced relative to other areas of the expansion region.

6. The surge arrester according to claim 5 , wherein the area in which the distance between the side walls is reduced extends essentially perpendicularly relative to a connecting line between the two electrodes and over an entire height of the expansion region, whereby a line-shaped or ribbon-shaped region is formed centrally between the end faces of the two electrodes.

7. The surge arrester according to claim 1 , wherein at least one opening is formed in at least one of the side walls of the expansion region, through which opening hot, ionized gas can flow out of the arc combustion chamber.

8. The surge arrester according to claim 1 , wherein insulating material is a hard gassing insulation material.

9. The surge arrester according to claim 1 , wherein the trigger aid has a resistive area and a short insulation area, the resistive area being connected on one side to one of the electrodes and on another side to the insulation area.

10. The surge arrester according to claim 1 , wherein the side walls of the expansion region and the inner region of the arc combustion chamber, except in a region of the trigger aid, are composed of the insulating material.

Assignees

• Phoenix Contact Gmbh & Co

Inventors

• Durth Rainer
• Schmutz Jan-Erik

Classifications

• H01T4/10

  having a single gap or a plurality of gaps in parallel · CPC title

• H01T2/02

  comprising a trigger electrode or an auxiliary spark gap · CPC title

• H01T1/15

  for protection against excessive pressure · CPC title

• H01T1/10

  with extinguishing fluid evolved from solid material by heat of arc · CPC title

• H01T1/02 Primary

  Means for extinguishing arc · CPC title