“高压真空断路器”因其灭弧介质和灭弧后触头间隙的绝缘介质都是高真空而得名；其具有体积小、重量轻、适用于频繁操作、灭弧不用检修的优点，在配电网中应用较为普及。发展简史1893年，美国的里顿豪斯提出了结构简单的真空灭弧室，并获得了设计专利。1920年瑞典佛加公司第一次制成了真空开关。1926年美国索伦森等公布的研究成果也显示了在真空中分断电流的可能性，但因分断能力小，又受到真空技术和真空材料发展水平的限制，尚不能投入实际使用。随着真空技术的发展，50年代美国才制成第一批适用于切断电容器组等特殊要求的真空开关,分断电流尚停在4千安的水平。由于真空材料冶炼技术上的进步和真空开关触头结构研究上所取得的突破，1961年，美国通用电气公司开始生产15千伏、分断电流为12.5千安的真空断路器。1966年试制成15千伏、26千安和31.5千安的真空断路器，从而使真空断路器进入了高电压、大容量的电力系统。80年代中期，真空断路器的分断能力已达100千安。中国从1958年开始研制真空开关，1960年西安交通大学和西安开关整流器厂共同研制成第一批6.7千伏、分断能力为600安的真空开关;随后又制成10千伏、分断能力为1.5千安的三相真空开关。1969年华光电子管厂和西安高压电器研究所制成了10千伏、2千安单相快速真空开关。70年代以后，中国已能独立研制和生产各种规格的真空开关。

The "high voltage vacuum breaker" gets its name from the high vacuum of the insulating medium in the gap between the arcing medium and the arc. It has the advantages of small size, light weight, suitable for frequent operation and unrepair of arc, and it is widely used in the distribution network. In 1893, litton house of the United States proposed a simple vacuum arc chamber and patented design. For the first time in 1920, the Swedish company made a vacuum switch. In 1926 published research results such as the United States sorensen also shows the possibility of breaking current in a vacuum, but because of breaking capacity is small, and is limited by vacuum technology and the level of vacuum material, can not be put into practical use. Along with the development of vacuum technology, the United States finally made the first batch of 50 s suitable for cutting and other special requirements of vacuum switch capacitor group, breaking current is stopped in 4000. Because of vacuum material smelting technology progress and vacuum switch contactor structure of research breakthrough, in 1961, the United States ge company began production of 15 kv, the breaking current is 12500 a vacuum circuit breaker. In 1966, the vacuum breaker was tested 15 kilovolts, 26 kilo-ampere, and 31.5 kilo-ampere, allowing the vacuum breaker to enter high-voltage, high-capacity power systems. In the mid-eighties, vacuum breakers were able to break up to 100, 000. China since 1958 developed vacuum switch, xi 'an jiaotong university in 1960 and xian switch rectifier factory developed into the first batch of 6.7 kv, breaking capacity of 600 vacuum switch; Then it is made up of a three-phase vacuum switch with a capacity of 10 kilovolts and a split capacity of 1.5 kilo-ampere. In 1969 the hua guang electronics tube factory and the xi 'an high voltage electrical appliance institute made a 10kv, 2-thousand-an-phase rapid vacuum switch. Since the 1970s, China has been able to independently develop and produce various specifications of vacuum switches.