Patent ID: 8148660

Claim:
A gas-insulated high-voltage circuit breaker comprising: two arcing contacts, which are configured to move relative to one another along an axis; an insulating nozzle; a switching arc configured to be formed when the breaker opens and generates an arcing gas; a heating volume for accommodating a quenching gas, whose pressure is based on the energy of the switching arc formed when the breaker opens and generates the arcing gas; an arc zone, which is delimited from the two arcing contacts axially and radially with respect to the insulating nozzle; an expansion space, into which the quenching gas expands during disconnection of the breaker after blowing of the switching arc; a relief duct which opens out into the expansion space; a heating channel, which connects the arc zone to the heating volume and opens out, with axial alignment, into the heating volume, and which connects the expansion space, to the relief duct; and an overpressure valve configured to limit the pressure of the quenching gas by opening the relief duct, wherein the relief duct has an outflow section which extends in the radial direction.