scholarly journals Design and Testing of a Low Voltage Solid-State Circuit Breaker for a DC Distribution System

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 338
Author(s):  
Leslie Tracy ◽  
Praveen Kumar Sekhar

In this study, a low voltage solid-state circuit breaker (SSCB) was implemented for a DC distribution system using commercially available components. The design process of the high-side static switch was enabled through a voltage bias. Detailed functional testing of the current sensor, high-side switch, thermal ratings, analog to digital conversion (ADC) techniques, and response times of the SSCB was evaluated. The designed SSCB was capable of low-end lighting protection applications and tested at 50 V. A 15 A continuous current rating was obtained, and the minimum response time of the SSCB was nearly 290 times faster than that of conventional AC protection methods. The SSCB was implemented to fill the gap where traditional AC protection schemes have failed. DC distribution systems are capable of extreme faults that can destroy sensitive power electronic equipment. However, continued research and development of the SSCB is helping to revolutionize the power industry and change the current power distribution methods to better utilize clean renewable energy systems.

Electronics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 306 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lujun Wang ◽  
Boyu Feng ◽  
Yu Wang ◽  
Tiezhou Wu ◽  
Huipin Lin

In order to solve the imminent problem in that the traditional protection strategy cannot meet time requirements, together with the fact that the rotational inertia of a DC microgrid is small and short-circuit fault develops rapidly, a bidirectional short-circuit current blocker (BSCCB) based on solid-state circuit breaker for a DC microgrid is proposed. Firstly, the bidirectional current blocking circuit structure is proposed based on the analysis of key components. Then, a top-level differential protection strategy is developed based on the aforementioned proposal. Finally, the performance of the blocking circuit is simulated and verified by experiments. The results show that the proposed method can block short-circuit current within 4 ms, and the response speed of the protection strategy is very fast compared with previous approaches. BSCCB also has reclosing, bidirectional blocking and energy releasing functions. The current blocker proposed in this paper can be reused multiple times and has a promising future in low-voltage DC microgrid application.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pavel Purgat ◽  
Samad Shah ◽  
Nils van der Blij ◽  
Zian Qin ◽  
Pavol Bauer

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lingyu Sun ◽  
Song Tang ◽  
Pengcheng Wang ◽  
Junfei Han ◽  
Yuqiang Wang ◽  
...  

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (20) ◽  
pp. 6838
Author(s):  
Hyosung Kim

With the present state of the direct current (DC) distribution market, securing the safety of the DC distribution system is emerging as a major issue. Like AC distribution systems, DC switches and circuit breakers are one of the main means to ensure safety. However, in the DC system, since there is no current zero point in the load current, the phenomenon occurring when the circuit is cut off is different from that of the AC system, so technical research is required to cope with this. In this study, the aging characteristics of the contact electrode of a 400 V class low voltage DC (LVDC) switch is studied for the development of wall-mount switches or circuit breakers for residential houses. As an arc extinguishing method to break DC load current, a prototype experimental circuit breaker that uses a magnetic extinguishing method that is effective for blocking low voltage low power DC is invented, and an automated experiment system is established. The DC switch test repeats the operation of turning it on and off 13,000 times, and continuously evaluates the performance of the electric contacts by calculating the voltage drop between the electrode contacts and the corresponding Ohmic resistance value when conducting every 500 times. This paper tests six contact materials to compare the aging characteristics of them by evaluating contact resistance during the test period. AW18-Cu composite material showed the most stable and excellent contact performance for LVDC switches during the entire test operation period.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document