Meidensha Corporation (Meiden)’s cumulative production of Vacuum Interrupters – the core component of switchgear that safely switches on and off high-voltage electric current by opening and closing electrodes in vacuum vessels – reached 3 million units in May 2020.

After beginning research into vacuum technology in 1965, Meiden started selling products based on that technology in 1970. The company currently sells over 150,000 Vacuum Interrupters annually. They are used in products ranging from 7.2kV-class vacuum electromagnetic contactors to 204kV vacuum circuit breakers – the highest level in the world in terms of voltage*1 – for gas-insulated switchgear. Vacuum Interrupters are used in Meiden’s vacuum circuit breakers*2 and are sold to switchgear makers in Japan and elsewhere.

With regulations regarding the emission of SF6 (sulfur hexafluoride) gas, a greenhouse gas, being strengthened globally, demand for eco-friendly vacuum circuit breakers is on the rise.

Against this background, the Meiden Group started selling world-first*3145kV tank-type vacuum circuit breakers -- in April 2020. The Group also established a U.S. subsidiary, Meiden America Switchgear, Inc. *4, to produce and sell vacuum circuit breakers and sell Vacuum Interrupters for the expanding North American market.

To meet this growing market, Meiden is boosting its production capability of vacuum interrupters by introducing automated assembly equipment, automated inspection equipment and other new devices.



Meiden aims to further expand its power transmission and distribution business by capitalizing on the expertise in vacuum technologies that it has developed for over half a century, while winning a bigger share of the growing market for eco-friendly products.


*1 According to a survey by Meiden
*2 A vacuum circuit breaker comprises Vacuum Interrupters, insulators, a control board and housing and is designed to interrupt ordinary load current in addition to fault currents, such as excess and short-circuit currents.
*3 According to a survey by Meiden
*4 Meiden America Switchgear, Inc. is located in a suburb of Greenville, South Carolina, the United States, and is wholly owned by Meiden America, Inc. Its president is Minoru Kaneda. 

Press contacts:

Public Relations Division
e-mail: kouhou@mb.meidensha.co.jp