Abstract:Double-break electrical apparatuses are widely used in the fields such as power system, industrial control, and new energy, etc. The motion process and the synchronization of contacts are key factors that affect the electrical life, breaking capability, and operational reliability. Such electrical contacts are prone to positional deviation during motion, making their motion trajectories difficult to measure accurately. To address those issues, A virtual binocular-vision–based approach is proposed to detect the motion of double-break electrical contacts and to enable visual analysis of their motion process. A three-dimensional testing system was developed using a single high-speed camera and two plane mirrors. Markers were placed on each contact to capture motion images during the closing and opening processes. An image processing algorithm was designed to automatically identify and extract the markers. Three-dimensional reconstruction was then used to reconstruct the spatial motion trajectories, generating characteristic curves representing the motion of the dual-contact apparatus. Experimental validation of the test system revealed that the proposed method can achieve a maximum error of 4.28%, with an average error of 1.26%. Testing of the closing and opening processes of a dual-breakpoint high-voltage DC relay revealed that during the closing process, the two contacts experience a certain displacement and time difference along the main motion direction; after opening, the two contacts do not return to their closed positions. Furthermore, displacement deviations between the two contacts are also observed in other directions, indicating dynamic differences and significant asynchrony during the dual-contact motion. Through visual analysis, the internal motion offset state of the double-breakpoint electrical contacts can be clearly presented. This shows that the double-breakpoint detection method based on virtual binocular vision can achieve accurate measurement and visual analysis of the three-dimensional motion trajectory of the two contacts under non-contact conditions.