Low-Cost Ultra-Fast DC Circuit-Breaker Power electronics integrated with mechanical switchgear

• The paper describes a concept for fast-acting circuit-breaker using vacuum interrupter (VI) assisted by a power-electronic converter with low output voltage. The converter excites a passive resonant circuit to create current zero-crossing in the arc in the VI to make it extinguish the current. A fast-acting actuator using a Thomson coil separates the contacts in a few milliseconds. The principle is outlined, and a laboratory prototype is described. In experiments 10 kA was successfully interrupted against 9 kV in 3 ms.

Subject headings

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

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

Keyword

vacuum interrupter

circuit-breaker

HVDC

Thomson coil

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kon (subject category)