Electronics Weekly
“A proprietary gas-less design cools arcs without the need for any special parts or materials in the manufacturing process, while eliminating the possibility of gas leakage,” according to the company.
Gas-less?
“G9EA, G9EC, and G9EH relays are pressurized-gas injected products,” the company told Electronics Weekly. “The gas those relays use is basically hydrogen to cool arcing.”
The new gas-less part is also a G9E ralay: G9EK-1-E is the part number, and it measures 64.2 x 86 x 47.7mm including all protrusions (see photo).
200A at 500Vdc is its rated resistive load at 70°C with 50mm2 conductors – which is the minimum recommended cross sectional area.
However, its operational life is only 10 operations (minimum) at this level.
At least 70,000 operations can be expected at 20V with a capacitive load that causes 140A in-rush – and the relay can withstand one 1kA 400V operation.
Omron provided this graph of lifetime switching 500V at different currents – which is not in the data sheet linked below
Contact are bi-directional, and have a maximum resistance of 15mΩ.
The only operating coil option is 12V nominal (48Ω at 23°C, 250mA, ~3W), which will operate at 9V and will release below 960mV. Max allowable drive is 16V.
Operation is over -40 to +85°C (without condensation), and the relay is only rated to be used in certain physical orientations – see the data sheet for details.
Contact-to-contact dielectric strength is 2kVac for 60s, the same as the coil-to-contact rating. “Two units in series can safely interrupt a total of 1,000Vdc,” said Omron.
A similar, lower current, sibling, G9EK-1-UTU, will carry the same voltage and is the same size, but is only rated to break 120A, or 500A once.
The data sheet of this lower-current (-UTU) version has some lifetime figures at more realistic power levels: 1,000 operations minimum at 120A 500Vdc and 6,000 operations at 60A 500Vdc (both with resistive loads).
Data sheets:
200A G9EK-1-E (According to Omron, an alternative data sheet is available that includes the life graph above. Electronics Weekly has requested a link)
120A G9KE-1-UTU
There is a G9EK series background information page – the bits on Lorentz forces and arc extinguishing are worth a look.
