Restrike and reignition voltages of a short contact gap during capacitance switching using vacuum circuit breakers

Vacuum circuit breakers are usually characterised by a high dielectric strength of the contact gap as well as by a fast rate of recovery strength, and because of this fact they are used if shunt capacitors are to be switched. The above mentioned features are particularly valuable if the process of capacitor switching should occur without restrikes or reignitions. It has been shown, however, that the dielectric strength of the vacuum contact gap, although potentially high, can be very unstable. The main goal of this contribution is to analyse the influence of switching operations on the disconnection processes of a capacitor bank, using vacuum circuit breakers