Ultra-high vacuum and switchgear technology-a late but promising marriage

A historical retrospective leads us back to the time in which a vacuum was still considered as a physical phenomenon. The precursors of switches were contact devices, which were only gradually developed to form circuit breakers. Vacuum and switchgear technology went their separate ways for a long time. Various technologies, all of which failed to a greater or lesser extent, characterised the time up to around 1960. Only then did any interdisciplinary development take place. This is the time of the "marriage". The result is today's maintenance-free high performance circuit breakers, which are designed for long life. Circuit breaker designs have always had an influence on switchboards: this applies in particular to the modern vacuum circuit breakers. New technologies from other fields are now being added, and their integration in switchgear and switchboard construction is leading to high-tech products for the next century.