Mitsubishi Electric Corporation is pleased to announce that the technology related to "making cadmium-free by space-saving shutoff technology for electromagnetic switches" received the "68th Electrical Science and Technology Encouragement Award" in the 2nd year of Reiwa.
The award ceremony be held on Wednesday, November 25th 2020 at the Gakushi Kaikan (Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo)

Electromagnetic switch (50A model) that realizes cadmium-free and compact size

Summary of awards

<68th Electrical Science and Technology Encouragement Award>

"Cadmium-free technology for space-saving shutoff of electromagnetic switches"

Winner	Mitsubishi Electric Corporation	Advanced Technology Research Institute	Takashi Inaguchi
			Katsuteru Hotta
		Nagoya Works	Hideyasu Kawai

 

Electromagnetic switches are industrial switches that can remotely open and close electric circuits by operating electromagnets and are used in many applications such as controlling motors and inverters used in factory equipment. In order to block the arc discharge ⁽¹⁾ generated at the electrical contacts when opening and closing the current, cadmium silver oxide, which has excellent breaking performance, has been used as the material for the electrical contacts.

In recent years, there has been an increasing need for cadmium-free ⁽²⁾ for the purpose of reducing the environmental burden. In 2015, we developed a technology that efficiently eliminates the arc discharge generated at the electrical contacts of electromagnetic switches without using cadmium oxide, which is the industry's smallest class housing size ⁽³⁾ (40% reduction compared to the conventional volume) ⁽⁴⁾ has made it cadmium-free.

(1) A phenomenon in which conductive high-temperature plasma is generated between electrodes. When shut off, current flows through a gas that normally does not conduct

(2) In Europe, the use of cadmium is regulated by RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) (Restriction of Hazardous Substances), and it is expected that cadmium-free will be required in the future.

(3) As of October 21, 2020, according to our research

(4)For 20A and 50A models

About the Electrical Science and Technology Encouragement Award

The Electrical Science and Technology Encouragement Association has made outstanding achievements in inventions, improvements, research, education, etc. related to electrical science and technology, and has contributed to the development of various industries in Japan and the improvement of people's lives.