HVDC circuit breakers are of increasing importance, as multi-terminal high voltage DC (HVDC) transmission becomes a commercial reality. Multiple HVDC breaker technologies have been developed, and are starting to appear as proof-of-concept installations on real networks. Information about them is however distributed widely in the literature. This article describes the underlying challenges, the leading candidate solutions, and discusses the requirements and construction of the component sub-assemblies. Its goal is to provide a comprehensive overview of the field.

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HVDC Circuit Breakers–A Review

Hybrid dc circuit breakers (HCBs) are vital equipment in dc grid systems. However, HCBs are usually costly since massive full-controlled power semiconductors are required to withstand high surge voltage and current stresses during current interrupting. Thyristors are good alternatives in realizing HCBs in view of their low cost and high current carrying capability; however, turning off the thyristor fast and reliably is a challenging task. In this article, a novel HCB topology is proposed, of which the solid-state part is realized by hybrid connection of thyristors and insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) half-bridge submodules. The use of IGBT half-bridges provides a negative voltage across the thyristors to turn them off ; accordingly, thyristors withstand a major of turn- off surge voltage instead of IGBTs. By this means, a low-cost HCB can be established while maintaining a high breaking speed. Besides, fast reclose and rebreak function is provided by the proposed topology. Operation principle and design consideration of the novel HCB topology are analyzed in detail, and the effectiveness of the proposed HCB is verified by both software simulation and downscaled experimental results.

Novel Hybrid DC Circuit Breaker Based on Series Connection of Thyristors and IGBT Half-Bridge Submodules

Today, in electric railways, the old dc supply systems are reaching their limits. To improve their efficiency and increase railroad traffic, a new dc electrification has recently been proposed at 9 kV. It is now necessary to prepare the migration of infrastructure and rolling stock, using power electronic transformers (PETs), for adaptation to this voltage level. For this application, high efficiency and reduced volume are essential. This article clearly demonstrates that it is now possible to achieve a compact, high-power, isolated dc–dc converters using 3.3-kV SiC-MOSFET power modules with high efficiency. After a preliminary study based on simulations, this article focuses on the characterization and implementation of elementary isolated dc–dc converters. The proposed topology is a series-resonant converter rated for a nominal power of 300 kW at 1.8 kV. First, laboratory testing using an “opposition method” is used to evaluate the elementary converters up to their nominal power using both electrical and thermal measurements to accurately determine losses and efficiency. At the nominal output power, an efficiency of 98.93% is obtained. This is quite remarkable for an isolated dc–dc converter operating under 1.8 kV with a switching frequency of 15 kHz. Finally, two elementary isolated dc/dc converters are associated with input series/output parallel (ISOP) configuration in order to achieve a 3-kV/1.5-kV PET with a nominal power of 600 kW as a prelude to the final 9-/1.5-kV power conversion.

Characterization and Implementation of Resonant Isolated DC/DC Converters for Future MVdc Railway Electrification Systems

Future meshed high-voltage direct current grids require modular multilevel converters with extended functionality. One of the most interesting new submodule topologies is the semi-full-bridge because it enables efficient handling of dc-side short circuits while having reduced power losses compared to an implementation with full-bridge submodules. However, the semi-full-bridge submodule requires the parallel connection of capacitors during normal operation, which can cause a high redistribution current in case the voltages of the two submodule capacitors are not equal. The maximum voltage difference and resulting redistribution current have been studied analytically by means of simulations and in a full-scale standalone submodule laboratory setup. The most critical parameter is the capacitance mismatch between the two capacitors. The experimental results from the full-scale prototype show that the redistribution current peaks at 500 A if the voltage difference is 10 V before paralleling and increases to 2500 A if the difference is 40 V. However, neglecting very unlikely cases, the maximum voltage difference predicted by simulations is not higher than 20–30 V for the considered case. Among other measures, a balancing controller is proposed, which reduces the voltage difference safely if a certain maximum value is surpassed. The operating principle of the controller is described in detail and verified experimentally on a down-scaled submodule within a modular multilevel converter prototype. It can be concluded that excessively high redistribution currents can be prevented. Consequently, they are no obstacle for using the semi-full-bridge submodule in future HVdc converters.

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Implications of Capacitor Voltage Imbalance on the Operation of the Semi-Full-Bridge Submodule

The performance of solid-state dc circuit breaker (SS-DCCB) is mainly determined by the on -state feature of power device. In this article, an optimized low on -state voltage integrated gate-commutated thyristor (LO-IGCT) for SS-DCCB is developed. First, the impacts of device parameters, including base length, carrier lifetime, and emitter injection efficiencies, on on -state voltage are presented. The boundary conditions raised by blocking voltage and safe operation area (SOA) are analyzed. Based on that, a three-step blocking-SOA-emitter optimization routine is proposed. Then, the optimization methodology for doping profiles in different regions, especially in n -drift, n buffer, p + base, n + emitter, and p + emitter regions, is presented. The optimal values are derived with theoretical deduction or numerical calculation. After that, based the optimization result, samples of LO-IGCTs are fabricated and tested. The fabricated LO-IGCT sample shows a blocking voltage capability over 4500 V and an on -state voltage of 1.11 V at the current of 2000 A. The commercialized IGCT and IGBT optimized for high-frequency applications exhibits 1.23 and 1.85 times the on -state voltage under the same test configuration.

Ultra-Low on -State Voltage IGCT for Solid-State DC Circuit Breaker With Single-Switching Attribute

In future high-voltage direct current (HVDC) systems, a large number of HVDC breakers will be required. In this paper, the influence of HVDC breakers on the transient performance of point-to-point HVDC links in both asymmetrical and symmetrical monopolar configuration with half-bridge modular multilevel converters is studied with simulations in PSCAD. As HVDC breakers, the active resonant breaker and ABB's hybrid breaker are considered. The analyzed scenarios include DC line faults, DC bus faults, and AC faults between the converter and the transformer. The highest DC breaking capability is required during DC line faults in the asymmetric and symmetric monopole. The converter stress is highest for DC bus faults and unbalanced converter AC faults in the asymmetric monopole and for DC bus pole-to-pole faults in the symmetric monopole. During DC pole-to-ground faults in the symmetric monopole, the HVDC breaker combined with DC side arrestors yields the lowest overvoltage stress on the cable of the healthy pole. The fault current shapes depend strongly on the interaction of the converter and the travelling waves on the lines, and differ from the fault current shapes in typical HVDC breaker test circuits. Furthermore, the active resonant breaker and the ABB hybrid breaker perform similarly in the used benchmarks due to the very fast DC line fault detection.

/pdf/transient-behaviour-of-vsc-hvdc-links-with-dc-breakers-under-4wdboby0yx.pdf

Transient behaviour of VSC-HVDC links with DC breakers under faults

Direct current circuit breakers (DCCBs) have become a large research topic and are considered one of the critical components for future DC grids. Proposed DCCB concepts may be grouped into hybrid DCCBs and active resonant DCCBs. In this work, the enhanced active resonant (EAR) DCCB family is introduced. EAR DCCBs combine elements of hybrid and active resonant DCCBs. The EAR DCCB family consists of one unidirectional and six bidirectional concepts. All concepts feature proactive commutation. The main characteristic of the EAR DCCBs is that discharge closing switches are used instead of semiconductors with turn-off capability. Relevant discharge closing switch technology is reviewed, a laboratory prototype is explained, and experimental results are presented to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed DCCB concepts.

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Enhanced Active Resonant DC Circuit Breakers Based on Discharge Closing Switches

In future HVDC systems, many DC circuit breakers (DCCBs) will be required. In this paper, an advanced test circuit for DCCBs is described. A DC source is combined with a capacitor bank. In contrast to other test circuits, the proposed test circuit allows to replicate constant DC and temporary faults. In addition to conventional faults, this enables testing of auto-reclosing, proactive commutation, and complex test sequences combining all of these modes. The test circuit is easy to setup and also suitable for smaller research facilities. Experimental results from a down-scaled mock-up are included to demonstrate the capabilities of the test circuit.

Advanced Test Circuit for DC Circuit Breakers

This paper deals with the modelling of high-voltage direct current (HVDC) breakers in PSCAD. The models are aimed at HVDC grid simulation and are kept as simple as possible. An overview is given ov ...

/pdf/modelling-of-hvdc-breakers-for-hvdc-grid-simulations-4h63al9av3.pdf

Modelling of HVDC breakers for HVDC grid simulations

One of the major challenges of DC circuit breakers is the required fast mechanical actuator. In this paper, a Thomson coil actuator system for a vacuum interrupter is designed. Active damping is used to decelerate the moving contacts. Challenges are discussed, especially concerning the power supply needed for the Thomson coil actuator. The design philosophy is explained and FEM simulation results are presented. The results indicate that a wide range of combinations of drive circuit capacitance and voltage fulfill the requirements for armature acceleration. However, active damping requires a very careful selection of drive circuit voltage and timing of applied damping.

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System Design of Fast Actuator for Vacuum Interrupter in DC Applications

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