Electrical elements through which high current intensities run when said electrical elements are used as intended, for example interrupters, medium-voltage switchgear installations or high-voltage interrupters, have to be electrically insulated from their surroundings. Current-carrying components of this kind are subject to industry standards which define a permissible limit temperature. In order to be able to transmit as high a current as possible without reaching the limit temperatures, attempts are made firstly to reduce the development of heat owing to electrical resistances which are as low as possible and secondly to discharge the produced heat to the surroundings by convection and/or radiation. By way of example, several measures for reducing the temperature were implemented in the case of medium-voltage switchgear installations according to the prior art, said measures firstly involving the line cross section itself, the screw connection, the resistances across the interrupters and disconnector switches and also the installation of cooling plates. Furthermore, the surface area of containers was increased and the flow in the container was optimized by simulation. The thermal radiation properties of the current-carrying elements were improved, for example, by coating. All of these measures have led to an improvement in the propagation of heat in the electrical components, but the insulators, which are generally formed from cast plastics with thermal and electrical properties which are adapted in a targeted manner, are nevertheless subject to high thermal loads. In this case, there is always a conflict of objectives between the electrical conductivity and the thermal conductivity when producing and constructing a suitable insulation material for insulating said elements. This is because good electrical conductors are generally also good thermal conductors and vice versa, and good thermal insulators are generally also good electrical insulators. However, in the case of the insulation materials which are to be constructed, the aim is to achieve the best possible thermal conduction in addition to good electrical insulation.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds