Hyosung Heavy Industries will unveil a next-generation sulfur hexafluoride (SF₆)-free 145kV (kilovolt) circuit breaker.
Hyosung Heavy Industries said on the 1st it developed, for the first time in Korea, a 145kV circuit breaker that uses dry air instead of SF₆ gas and will begin mass production.
SF₆ is known as a gas that withstands high-voltage conditions inside circuit breakers and effectively interrupts current. However, because it has a high global warming potential (GWP), efforts to replace the gas are expanding.
Hyosung Heavy Industries applied dry air composed of nitrogen (N₂) and oxygen (O₂) instead of SF₆ to the newly developed 145kV circuit breaker, boosting greenhouse gas reduction effects. It also added vacuum circuit breaker technology to secure insulation performance and current interruption performance and to enable stable operation of the breaker.
Hyosung Heavy Industries is the first in Korea to apply these two technologies to a 145kV circuit breaker, and the second in the world under STL standards, the consortium of internationally accredited test laboratories.
The European Union (EU) revised its F-gas (fluorinated greenhouse gas) regulations in 2024 and is gradually strengthening controls on fluorinated greenhouse gases, including SF₆. As a result, adoption of alternative technologies is accelerating, particularly in Europe, and the related market is growing. According to market research firm Business Research Insights, the global SF₆ Free circuit breaker market is projected to expand from about $5.4 billion in 2024 to more than $7.4 billion in 2033.
Hyosung Heavy Industries plans to expand its SF₆ Free circuit breaker lineup into high-voltage ranges and step up its push into the next-generation power equipment market in line with tighter global environmental regulations and demand for power infrastructure transition.