Patent ID: 7235900

Claim:
A switching apparatus for varying the impedance of a phase line of a segment of an electrical power line, the phase line including n conductors electrically insulated from each other and short-circuited among each other at two ends of the segment, n being an integer greater than one, the apparatus comprising: at least one pair of electromechanical and electronic switches connected in parallel to each other, the switches of each pair being controllable independently by control signals; detecting means for detecting current operating conditions of the phase line; and control means for controlling each pair of switches according to the current operating conditions detected by the detecting means, wherein, for at least one of the n conductors, the switching apparatus comprises a passive component, the pair of switches provided on the corresponding conductor of the electrical power line being able to connect and disconnect in a selective manner the passive component in series with the corresponding conductor of the phase line of the segment of the electrical power line, wherein the impedance of the phase line of the segment of the electrical power line is varied accordingly.