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The 12 kV / 31.5 kA “Flat-Pack” Switch That Cuts Panel Depth
City-centre electrical rooms are shaped like shoe-boxes: long and narrow, with a 600 mm doorway at one end. Traditional front-access breakers demand 650 mm depth plus 500 mm rear clearance—space that simply does not exist. Degatech’s side mounted vacuum circuit breaker solves the geometry problem by rotating the bottle 90° and mounting it on a side-hinged draw-out frame. The result is a 400 mm-deep cassette that interrupts 31.5 kA without SF₆, needs no rear access and still offers 30 000 maintenance-free operations, turning corridor ends and lift-shaft alcoves into revenue-generating switch-rooms.
Space efficiency starts with topology. The vacuum bottle is embedded in an epoxy pole only 275 mm long and 90 mm in diameter; the spring-spring operator sits parallel to the bottle instead of behind it. A side mounted vacuum circuit breaker therefore needs only 400 mm from the front of the panel to the rear wall—250 mm less than a conventional withdrawable breaker—and zero rear clearance, saving another 500 mm of building length. A 24-panel London financial-district substation saved 38 m², worth GBP 2.3 million in rent over ten years.
Current transfer is handled by silver-plated tulip contacts that float on Belleville washers, maintaining 120 N contact force and temperature rise <35 K at 4 000 A. Because the fixed contacts are mounted on the side wall, the side mounted vacuum circuit breaker can be racked horizontally; a single technician slides the 120 kg module out like a server drawer, eliminating the need for overhead cranes or motorized hoists.
Safety is uncompromised. The cassette carries an internal arc rating of IAC A-FL 31.5 kA 1 s; arc gases are directed through a roof-mounted plenum, protecting personnel standing only 300 mm away. Logical interlocks prevent racking under load and stop the door opening unless the breaker is in isolated position – all functions are mechanically hard-wired through steel rods, so even a total relay failure cannot defeat the sequence.
Noise is engineered out. The side mounted vacuum circuit breaker emits <45 dB during close-open – quieter than a laptop fan – thanks to a PEEK-bronze cam that eliminates metal impact. Hospital projects have installed the breaker in basement plant-rooms directly beneath patient wards without violating night-time noise permits.
Intelligence is factory-ready. An integrated Rogowski coil and IR temperature patch stream data via IEC 61850 GOOSE or LoRaWAN. Cloud-side AI compares contact wear, coil signature and vacuum pressure against 200 000 reference operations and predicts remaining life within ±5 %, allowing utilities to defer maintenance and to save USD 1 200 per breaker per year in truck rolls.
Retrofits are crane-free. A 400 mm-wide stub frame bolts to existing bus-bar spouts; crews can slide the side mounted vacuum circuit breaker into a 1980s switchboard during a single night shift and reuse existing copper, cutting downtime from 36 h to 6. After the swap, panel depth shrinks 250 mm and auxiliary power drops 40 %, freeing corridor space for battery-storage racks.
Environmental credentials close the loop. The breaker is 98 % recyclable and SF₆-free, eliminating 1.8 t CO₂-equivalent emissions per unit. Embodied carbon is 190 kg CO₂ – verified by TÜV Rheinland – giving owners documented proof for green-building certifications.
Market traction has been rapid: 8 100 side mounted vacuum circuit breaker cassettes are installed across 37 countries, logging 1.8 million breaker-years with an availability of 99.9992 %. Mean time between failure (MTBF) now exceeds 72 000 years per pole – a figure that qualifies the portfolio for premium-insurance tariffs.
For dimensional drawings, arc-vent videos, or a complimentary floor-space ROI calculator that compares front-access, rear-access and side-access technologies, visit the product portal: side mounted vacuum circuit breaker by Degatech.
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