Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns an electric switch device comprising separable contacts respectively disposed on a fixed contact conductive part and a mobile contact conductive part which are connected to input and output terminals of the device, an arc extinguishing chamber and a shunt conductor adapted to receive, after it has jumped a dielectric gap, one end of the arc generated on separation of the contacts and displaced towards the arc extinguishing chamber by the usual blast arrangements or phenomena.
Description of the Prior Art
Devices of this kind are described in patent FR-A-2 584 529, in which the shunt conductor shunts and consequently protects electromechanical and electronic switching units in series with the contacts concurrently with the arcing phenomenon.
Document EP-A-0 350 825 describes the combination of the shunt conductor, which in this instance includes the arc extinguishing device, with a current limiter device opening electrodynamically in the event of an overcurrent. Operation of the electrodynamically opening device is conditioned by the growth of the arc in the arc splitter plates which constitute the arc extinguishing device and therefore by the configuration and the performance of this device.
An object of the invention is, in an electromechanical switch device of the type described, to combine a reduction in the loading of the contacts by the arc and a limitation of the transient shunt current, independently of the arc extinguishing device.