From 3 to 4 June 2015, the arc laboratory at the Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology (INP) e.V., which cost €2.45 million to build, was presented to invited guests from industry, politics and science.
The first tests were carried out in October 2013, marking the start of application-oriented research in the newly installed arc laboratory.
Our scientists are thus responding to the current requirements of the energy transition. Efficient technical solutions are needed to ensure the security of electricity supply in the future. Improving the reliability and service life of switchgear is a particular challenge for research and industry. This is because the decentralisation of the grid leads to individual grid components being switched on and off more frequently, which puts greater strain on the switches. Increasing the reliability and service life of these devices is crucial for the security of the power supply. An important criterion here is the combination of different power sources (photovoltaics, wind energy, conventional sources). Another goal of our research is to achieve greater resource efficiency through the use of more environmentally friendly devices. To this end, we are researching novel switch media.
