Experimental results from a Thomson-coil actuator for a vacuum interrupter in an HVDC breaker

• Recent developments in high-voltage direct current transmission technology and the plans for multi-terminals motivate research efforts on the fast DC breaker. A novel concept to interrupt current up to several kiloamperes within a few milliseconds is presently under development, using a vacuum interrupter together with power electronics to create an artificial zero-crossing in the current through the switch. To achieve this objective, one critical component in the concept is an ultra-fast linear mechanical actuator. A prototype has been developed based on a Thomson coil. The experimental results are presented and show how a contact gap in a vacuum interrupter was effectively created in a controlled manner. Current of several kiloamperes was successfully interrupted within 3ms, thanks to the high-speed operation of the linear actuator.

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Elektroteknik och elektronik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering (hsv//eng)

Keyword

vacuum interrupters

HVDC power transmission

experimental results

Thomson-coil actuator

vacuum interrupter

HVDC breaker

high-voltage direct current transmission technology

fast DC breaker

linear actuator

ultrafast linear mechanical actuator

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)