Voltage conditioning process of vacuum interrupters at ultra-high voltages: industrial advantages and technical challenges

The paper is dedicated to study of external breakdowns during voltage conditioning process of medium voltage vacuum interrupters (VI). Impact of internal design on external dielectric withstand was investigated. It was shown that due to effective shielding of triple junctions and optimization of shape of ceramics shields level of external withstand can be significantly increased. This permits to apply high voltages for conditioning of compact VI’ s leading to more rapid and efficient process.