Title:  Design of Electric Contacts for Fast Mechanical Disconnect Switches

Committee: 

Dr. Graber, Advisor       

Dr. Saeedifard, Chair

Dr. Varenberg

Abstract:

The objective of the proposed research is to design electric contacts to improve the performance of fast mechanical disconnect switches (FMS). The design involves the selection of the geometry (shape) of the contacts and selection of the contact material. The contract geometry design involves finding the ideal geometry that results in uniform electric field between the contacts when they are open and low resistance across the contacts when they are closed. Such geometries are demonstrated through finite element analysis and experimental results. The contact material research involves understanding the stresses experienced by the contacts during the operation of FMS and developing a systematic method to identify the most suitable materials. The Ashby method has been used to identify best performing materials. Experimental results on performance of different materials and exploring the advantages of contact pairs with dissimilar materials has been proposed as future work. The insights into contact design has and will be applied to build a new type of FMS and improvements in performance quantified.