Review of Contact-Point State Monitoring Technologies for Spring-Energy-Storage Circuit Breakers

Spring-energy-storage circuit breakers are critical switching devices in power systems, and their operating reliability directly affects the safety and stability of the grid. In practical operations of transmission equipment, contacts may experience degradation such as poor contact, overheating, etc., due to multiple factors, including contact arcing erosion, mechanical wear, oxidation aging, and reduced contact pressure. Developing contact-point health monitoring and assessment enables prognostic maintenance, improves power supply reliability, and reduces operation and maintenance costs. This paper surveys the related research on health monitoring technologies for contact-point state in spring-energy-storage circuit breakers, systematically sorting out the operating principles and application characteristics, vibration and acoustic emissions monitoring, as well as electrical and mechanical parameter monitoring. It further analyzes the key bottlenecks faced by current monitoring technologies in online measurement accuracy, anti-interference capability, and engineering applicability, and finally discusses the future development trends of intelligent monitoring integrated with artificial intelligence, multi-source data fusion, and digital twin technologies. The research results provide theoretical reference and practical guidance for the upgrading of contact-point state monitoring technologies and the construction of intelligent operation and maintenance systems for spring-energy-storage circuit breakers.