scholarly journals Technical Assessment of Hybrid HVDC Circuit Breaker Components under M-HVDC Faults

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (23) ◽  
pp. 8148
Author(s):  
Saqib Khalid ◽  
Ali Raza ◽  
Umar Alqasemi ◽  
Nebras Sobahi ◽  
Muhammad Zain Yousaf ◽  
...  

One of the technical challenges that needs to be addressed for the future of the multi-terminal high voltage direct current (M-HVDC) grid is DC fault isolation. In this regard, HVDC circuit breakers (DCCBs), particularly hybrid circuit breakers (H-DCCBs), are paramount. The H-DCCB, proposed by the ABB, has the potential to ensure a reliable and safer grid operation, mainly due to its millisecond-level current interruption capability and lower on-state losses as compared to electromechanical and solid-state based DCCBs. This paper aims to study and evaluate the operational parameters, e.g., electrical, and thermal stresses on the IGBT valves and energy absorbed by the surge arrestors within H-DCCB during different DC fault scenarios. A comprehensive set of modeling requirements matching with operational conditions are developed. A meshed four-terminal HVDC test bench consisting of twelve H-DCCBs is designed in PSCAD/EMTDC to study the impacts of the M-HVDC grid on the operational parameters of H-DCCB. Thus, the system under study is tested for different current interruption scenarios under a (i) low impedance fault current and (ii) high impedance fault current. Both grid-level and self-level protection strategies are implemented for each type of DC fault.

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (16) ◽  
pp. 4493 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fazel Mohammadi ◽  
Gholam-Abbas Nazri ◽  
Mehrdad Saif

One of the major challenges toward the reliable and safe operation of the Multi-Terminal HVDC (MT-HVDC) grids arises from the need for a very fast DC-side protection system to detect, identify, and interrupt the DC faults. Utilizing DC Circuit Breakers (CBs) to isolate the faulty line and using a converter topology to interrupt the DC fault current are the two practical ways to clear the DC fault without causing a large loss of power infeed. This paper presents a new topology of a fast proactive Hybrid DC Circuit Breaker (HDCCB) to isolate the DC faults in MT-HVDC grids in case of fault current interruption, along with lowering the conduction losses and lowering the interruption time. The proposed topology is based on the inverse current injection technique using a diode and a capacitor to enforce the fault current to zero. Also, in case of bidirectional fault current interruption, the diode and capacitor prevent changing their polarities after identifying the direction of fault current, and this can be used to reduce the interruption time accordingly. Different modes of operation of the proposed topology are presented in detail and tested in a simulation-based system. Compared to the conventional DC CB, the proposed topology has increased the breaking current capability, and reduced the interruption time, as well as lowering the on-state switching power losses. To check and verify the performance and efficiency of the proposed topology, a DC-link representing a DC-pole of an MT-HVDC system is simulated and analyzed in the PSCAD/EMTDC environment. The simulation results verify the robustness and effectiveness of the proposed HDCCB in improving the overall performance of MT-HVDC systems and increasing the reliability of the DC grids.


2021 ◽  
Vol 256 ◽  
pp. 01020
Author(s):  
Chunbing Jiang ◽  
Chengyong Zhao

DC faults are critical events in a flexible high-voltage dc (HVDC) grid. Thus, ensuring that the power system returns to normal operation rapidly and reliably after fault isolation is very important. This requires a HVDC breaker. In overhead line systems under temporary faults, reclosing is often required. However, once the dc circuit breaker (DCCB) is reclosed directly, the large second overcurrent may occur which could damage the power electronic devices. To avoid this problem, a current-commutation DC circuit breaker with adaptive reclosing capability is proposed. Compared with the traditional auto-reclosing strategy, the second damage under permanent fault condition can be avoided by the proposed DCCB, which can identify the fault property. Compared with the hybrid DCCB, the power electronic breaking branch composed of lots of IGBTs is replaced by the current-commutation branch, which is employed to interrupt bi-directional dc fault current. Moreover, bypassing branch is configured to reduce the energy dissipation of arrester and shorten the fault isolation time effectively. Finally, simulation cases in PSCAD /EMTDC verify the effectiveness and superiorities of the proposed DCCB.


Electronics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 1204
Author(s):  
Gul Ahmad Ludin ◽  
Mohammad Amin Amin ◽  
Hidehito Matayoshi ◽  
Shriram S. Rangarajan ◽  
Ashraf M. Hemeida ◽  
...  

This paper proposes a new and surge-less solid-state direct current (DC) circuit breaker in a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission system to clear the short-circuit fault. The main purpose is the fast interruption and surge-voltage and over-current suppression capability analysis of the breaker during the fault. The breaker is equipped with series insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) switches to mitigate the stress of high voltage on the switches. Instead of conventional metal oxide varistor (MOV), the resistance–capacitance freewheeling diodes branch is used to bypass the high fault current and repress the over-voltage across the circuit breaker. The topology and different operation modes of the proposed breaker are discussed. In addition, to verify the effectiveness of the proposed circuit breaker, it is compared with two other types of surge-less solid-state DC circuit breakers in terms of surge-voltage and over-current suppression. For this purpose, MATLAB Simulink simulation software is used. The system is designed for the transmission of 20 MW power over a 120 km distance where the voltage of the transmission line is 220 kV. The results show that the fault current is interrupted in a very short time and the surge-voltage and over-current across the proposed breaker are considerably reduced compared to other topologies.


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yunhai Shan ◽  
Tee C. Lim ◽  
Barry W. Williams ◽  
Stephen J. Finney

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 4210
Author(s):  
Kang-Cheol Cho ◽  
Min-Ki Park ◽  
Sung-Hun Lim

Recently, a lot of interesting research has been conducted to solve the fault current problem of the DC system. In long-distance transmission, DC transmission is more economical than AC transmission. The connection of power grids with a DC system can also better control the power flow and provide high stability. However, the control of the fault current in a DC system is more difficult to handle than in an AC system because the DC system does not make a zero point, unlike the AC system. In addition, there is a disadvantage, in that an arc occurs when a circuit breaker operates. In this paper, a new type of DC superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL) is proposed. This new type of SFCL is composed of two superconducting elements, a current limiting resistor/reactor (CLR), and a transformer. With the proposed SFCL, the DC fault current limiting experiments were performed and the DC fault current limiting characteristics of this SFCL due to the component of the CLR were analyzed.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saurabh Kulkarni ◽  
Surya Santoso

This paper describes and demonstrates the principle and efficacy of a novel direct current fault interruption scheme using a reactor in series with a controlled rectifier and a conventional AC circuit breaker. The presence of the series reactor limits the capacitive discharge current from the DC filter capacitor at the output terminals of the phase-controlled rectifier. In addition, the series reactor along with the filter capacitor forms an underdamped series RLC circuit which forces the fault current to oscillate about zero. This synthetic alternating current can then be interrupted using a conventional AC circuit breaker. The selection criteria for the series reactor and overcurrent protection are presented as well. Using the proposed scheme for an example case, a DC fault current magnitude is reduced from 56 kA to 14 kA, while the interruption time is reduced from 44 ms to 25 ms.


2009 ◽  
Vol 19 (01) ◽  
pp. 183-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. P. URCIUOLI ◽  
VICTOR VELIADIS

Power electronics in hybrid-electric military ground vehicles require fast fault isolation, and benefit additionally from bi-directional fault isolation. To prevent system damage or failure, maximum fault current interrupt speeds in tens to hundreds of microseconds are necessary. While inherently providing bi-directional fault isolation, mechanical contactors and circuit breakers do not provide adequate actuation speeds, and suffer severe degradation during repeated fault isolation. Instead, it is desired to use a scalable array of solid-state devices as a solid-state circuit breaker (SSCB) having a collectively low conduction loss to provide large current handling capability and fast transition speed for current interruption. Although, both silicon-carbide (SiC) JFET and SiC MOSFET devices having high breakdown voltages and low drain-to-source resistances have been developed, neither device structure alone is capable of reverse blocking at full voltage. Limitations exist for using a dual common-source structure for either device type. Small-scale SSCB experiments were conducted using 0.03 cm2 normally-on SiC VJFETs. Based on results of these tests, a normally-on VJFET device modification is made, and a proposed symmetric SiC JFET is considered for this application.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (14) ◽  
pp. 4157
Author(s):  
Sang-Jae Choi ◽  
Jun-Hyup Lee ◽  
Jin-Wook Lee ◽  
Sung-Hun Lim

In this paper, direct current (DC) fault current limiting and interrupting operation of hybrid DC circuit breaker (DCCB) using double quench, which consists of DCCB, a series resonance circuit, power electronic switch, surge arrestor, two separated current limiting reactor/resistor, and two superconducting elements, were suggested. The suggested hybrid DCCB can perform the interrupting operation after twice or once DC fault current limiting operation according to DC fault current amplitude. To verify the effective operation of the suggested hybrid DCCB, the modeling for the components of DCCB, the surge arrestor, and the SCE was carried out and its DC operational characteristics were analyzed. Through the analysis of the modeling results for the suggested hybrid DCCB, the advantages of hybrid DCCB were discussed.


10.14311/548 ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
D. J. Telfer ◽  
J. W. Spencer ◽  
G. R. Jones ◽  
J. E. Humphries

This contribution explores the role of PTFE ablation in enhancing current interruption for various background gases in high voltage circuit breakers. An assessment of the current interruption capability has been made in terms of the arcing duration and the contact gap length at which critical arc extinction is achieved. These observations are supported by measurements of the magnitude of extinction and re-ignition voltage peaks. Most previous and other current experimental work on gas filled circuit breaker design follows conventional wisdom in investigating arcing behaviours at elevated gas pressures (usually up to 6 bar). But in this work we concentrate on the effects of using low gas pressures (less than 1 bar) in the presence of a close-fitting shield of ablatant polymer material (PTFE) that surrounds the electrode assembly of an experimental high power circuit breaker. We demonstrate that for several different gases, arc extinction capability compares well under these conditions with SF6, suggesting that SF6 could be replaced entirely in this novel system by more environmentally friendly gases. Moreover, the critical contact gap lengths at extinction are only slightly greater than when using SF6 at 6 bar. Weight loss measurements from the ablatant shield suggest that a chemical puffer action is the most likely mechanism for achieving the observed arc extinctions in this system.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 8-16
Author(s):  
Oshin Ola Austin ◽  
Oluwasanmi Alonge ◽  
Ajayi Joseph Adeniyi

In any power systems, protective devices will detect fault conditions and operate circuit breakers in order to disconnect the load from the fault current and limit loss of service due to failure. This fault may involve one or more phases and the ground, or may occur between two or more phases in a three-phase systems. In ground, fault’ or ‘earth fault, current flows into the earth. In a poly-phase system, a fault may affect each of the three phases equally which is a symmetrical fault. If only some phases are affected, the resulting ‘asymmetrical fault’ becomes more complicated to analyze due to the simplifying assumption of equal current magnitude in all the phases being no longer applicable. Therefore, the prospective short circuit current of the fault can be calculated for power systems analysis procedures. This will assist in the choice of protective devices like circuit breakers, current transformers and relays. This research work evaluated and analyzed the occurrence of faults in a distribution system. Fault currents were obtained and the maximum tripping time required for the protective devices to operate were determined. Hence, it was possible to select appropriate relay and circuit breaker for effective operation of a distribution


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