Study on spark conditioning of vacuum switch with a parallel capacitor

It is well known that spark conditioning is the simplest and most effective method to raise the breakdown voltage. This paper describes the effect of spark conditioning with a parallel capacitor on trapping various impurities and absorbed layer of gases during pumping out a vacuum switch. Results show that with a suitable capacitor parallel to the vacuum switch, the breakdown energy may be high enough to make the electrode surfaces locally melted and rapidly cooled, which will form a fine grained layer. Also, increasing the number of breakdowns in a unit time and breakdown energy will be an effective method for manufacturing vacuum switches