Abstract:
A high voltage open-air switch has a movable disconnect switch blade (120) which contains a circuit interrupter (105) therein having interrupter contacts in series with the open air disconnect switch contacts (145) . The circuit interrupter (105) has a lower BIL rating than the switch. An operating mechanism (117,130) causes the simultaneous independent operation of the interrupter (105) and disconnect switch such that there is a high speed opening of the interrupter contacts, followed by the low speed opening of the disconnect switch contacts (by swinging the blade (120) around the axis of the column 117), and a slow speed closing of the disconnect switch contacts following by the high speed closing of the interrupter contacts. The switch can be adapted to numerous switch configurations and permits substantial savings in space by the reduced mounting requirements for the interrupter assembly.