Patent attributes
An improved circuit breaker includes an arc extinction system having one or more insulators that generates a desirable gas in the presence of an arc. The exemplary circuit breaker includes gas-generating insulators disposed at three sides of a stationary contact and an arc chute at a fourth side of the stationary contact. The gas promotes the desirable extinction of the arc in a number of exemplary fashions. The presence of the gas on three sides of the stationary contact can resist movement of the arc toward the gas, thereby substantially limiting movement of the arc in a direction other than toward the arc chute. The gas can remove heat from the arc, thereby promoting deionization of the plasma by forming neutral molecular species at a lower temperature state. The presence of the gas can reduce the concentration of ions and electrons within the interior of the circuit breaker and can increase the pressure within the circuit breaker, and these also facilitate extinction of the arc.
