Query: Current limiting circuit

Candidate papers:

abstract: Although many attempts have been made to design a fault current limiting circuit breaker (FCLCB) for medium voltage electric power systems, no economically attractive solution has been achieved so far. A novel concept for an F CLCB is introduced based on a hybrid arrangement of semiconductors, temperature dependent resistors, and a newly developed fast opening mechanical switch. The latter utilizes one part of an electrodynamic repulsion drive, which is concurrent with the moving double contact system. Laboratory tests as well as computer simulations of the complete FCLCB verify as an example the feasibility for the goal ratings 12 kV and 2/20 kA (single phase) A cost analysis shows the FCLCB to be more expensive than a conventional generator circuit breaker but to be in the price range of the Is limiter and below the costs of superconducting FCL principles. It is concluded that the method provides the basis for further commercial product development.
author_names: Mischa Steurer

K Frolich

Walter Holaus

Kurt Kaltenegger
title: A Novel Hybrid Current Limiting Circuit Breaker for Medium Voltage: Principle and Test Results
venue: IEEE Power Engineering Review
year: 2002

abstract: The high fault current of dc line is a major threat to multiterminal voltage source converter based HVDC (VSC HVDC) system. However, dc circuit breaker (DCCB) with large capacity and fast breaking speed is still under development. Therefore, fault current limitation is vital for the multiterminal VSC HV DC system. This paper proposes a simple and easily applied hybrid current limiting circuit (HCLC) at dc side, which consists of a current limiting inductor (CLI) and an energy dissipation circuit (EDC) in parallel with the CLI. The CLI is designed to reduce the requirement for the DCCB's capacity and breaking speed. The EDC, which consists of thyristor controlled resistors, is proposed to reduce the stress on energy absorption element (metal oxide arrester) in DCCB and to accelerate the fault current interruption. The design and discussion about the HCLC parameters are performed in detail. By employing the proposed HCLC, dc line fault in the multiterminal system can be isolated effectively with existing DCCB technology, and fast system restoration without power interruption of healthy part can be achieved. Numerous simulations with real time digital simulator and comparisons with traditional schemes have demonstrated the promising performance of the proposed HCLC. The effectiveness of the HCLC's topology has also been verified by a simplified and scaled test circuit.
author_names: Jian Wei Liu

Nengling Tai

Chunju Fan

Shi Chen
title: A Hybrid Current Limiting Circuit for DC Line Fault in Multiterminal VSC HVDC System
venue: IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics
year: 2017

abstract: Summary form only given. Although many attempts have been made to design a fault current limiting (FCL) circuit breaker (FCLCB) for medium voltage electric power systems, no economically attractive solution has been achieved so far. In this paper, a novel concept for a FCLCB is introduced based on a hybrid arrangement of semiconductors, temperature dependent resistors, and a newly developed fast opening mechanical switch. The latter utilizes one part of an electrodynamic repulsion drive, which is concurrent with the moving double contact system. Laboratory tests as well as computer simulations of the complete FCLCB verify as an example the feasibility of the goal ratings 12 kV and 2/20 kA (single phase) A cost analysis shows the FCLCB to be more expensive than a conventional generator circuit breaker, but to be in the price range of the Is limiter and below the cost of the superconducting FCL principles. It is concluded that the presented method provides the basis for further commercial product development.
author_names: Mischa Steurer

K J Frohlich

Walter Holaus

Kurt Kaltenegger
title: A novel hybrid current limiting circuit breaker for medium voltage: principle and test results
venue: 2003 IEEE Power Engineering Society General Meeting (IEEE Cat. No.03CH37491)
year: 2003

abstract: This paper studies the problem of heat transfer in a thermistor, which is used as a switching device in electronic circuits. The temperature field is coupled to the current flow by ohmic heating in the device, and the problem is rendered highly nonlinear by a very rapid variation of electrical conductivity with temperature. Approximate methods based on high activation energy asymptotics are developed to describe the transient heat flow, which occurs when the circuit is switched on. In particular, it is found that a transient "surge" phenomenon (akin to thermal runaway, but self saturating) occurs, and we conjecture that this phenomenon may be associated with cracking of thermistors, which sometimes occurs during operation.
author_names: Andrew C Fowler

Ian A Frigaard

Sam Howison
title: Temperature surges in current limiting circuit devices
year: 1992

abstract: Arc motion in low voltage (240 VAC) high current (10/sup 3/ 10/sup 4/A. current limiting circuit breakers is dominated by arc root mobility. The mobility is influenced by the gas flow and gas composition in the contact region, but there is little experimental data on these effects. New pressure and spectral data measurement during arc movement are presented using a flexible test apparatus and an arc imaging system. These measurements are used to investigate gas flow characteristics in the arc chamber. The chemical and physical phenomena occurring during the arc motion are discussed. The combination of optical and spectral data provides new insight into the arc motion. The influences of arc chamber material, contact material, and contact opening speed, are investigated to improve arc control for a low contact opening velocity.
author_names: John W McBride

K Pechrach

Paul M Weaver
title: Arc motion and gas flow in current limiting circuit breakers operating with a low contact switching velocity
year: 2002

abstract: In Japan, a new network distribution system with advanced protective and operational functions designed to meet the needs of today's information society is being studied. For this new distribution system, the authors have developed high speed current limiting equipment using gate turn off thyristors (GTOs) to lower the breaking capacity of switches and to suppress instantaneous voltage drops. The main components of this equipment are a high speed vacuum switch and a GTO switch connected in parallel. The usual load current is carried by the vacuum switch. In the case of a system fault, the fault current is commutated to and interrupted by the GTO switch by opening the vacuum switch. The time from fault occurrence to current interruption is less than 1 ms. This response time is about 100 times as fast as that of mechanical breakers. This equipment dose not require a large cooling system and is compact compared with conventional solid state equipment.
author_names: Takamu Genji

Osamu Nakamura

Masaru Isozaki

Makoto Yamada

Tadashi Morita

Masanobu Kaneda
title: 400 V class high speed current limiting circuit breaker for electric power system
year: 1994

abstract: This paper presents a review of different topologies of power converters that are suitable for interfacing power sources to the dc distribution bus of a microgrid. Despite the high controllability of electronic power converters, not all converter topologies behave the same during a bus fault condition. Some topologies are able to limit fault currents, can participate in the protection scheme and can decrease the risk of catastrophic damage. Other topologies lose controllability in a situation of fault on the distribution bus and need to be protected against permanent damage by fast fuses, circuit breaker and fault current limiters. Power converters, such as back to back VSCs, buck type isolated converters, Full Bridge MMCs and similar, can be controlled to limit the fault currents, coordinated with protection devices, minimize the risk of catastrophic damage of the distribution system and increase the resilience and survivability of the microgrid.
author_names: Pietro Cairoli

Rostan Rodrigues

Huaxi Zheng
title: Fault current limiting power converters for protection of DC microgrids
venue: SoutheastCon 2017
year: 2017

abstract: The saturated core superconducting fault current limiter (SCSFCL) is an important new device for limiting fault current in power grids. As the loss of its core and tank can reach up to a few hundred kilowatts and influence both the transitional process and the steady limiting state, the method for simulating its current limiting effect considering the loss needs to be tackled. In this paper, a field circuit coupled simulation method for computing the current limiting effect of the SCSFCL is presented. The SCSFCL is simulated in detail by the finite element model, which can reflect both its magnetic and loss properties. The SCSFCL is excited by a voltage source in series with inner impedance, which is the simplified circuit of the power grid. The approach of getting this simplified power grid is given. Moreover, approaches of achieving high simulation accuracy and efficiency are also given. One is the varying simulation time step approach based on the characteristics of the voltage waveform. The other is setting a proper beginning phase of the voltage source to decrease the transitional period and increase the simulation efficiency. Finally, the structure of an SCSFCL in a 220 kV power grid is given, and its current limiting effects under a 50 kA fault current in the cases of withdrawing and keeping the dc bias are compared, showing that the former case is of a little bit higher current limiting effect.
author_names: Yuelong Jia

Jiansheng Yuan

Zhengjun Shi

Haojun Zhu

Yiqing Geng

Jun Zou
title: Simulation Method for Current Limiting Effect of Saturated Core Superconducting Fault Current Limiter
venue: IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity
year: 2016

abstract: DC fault current limitation is important for the low voltage dc distribution network, because the existing dc selective protection cannot act fast enough. However, the typical dc fault current limiting method installing dc reactors directly in the dc system will lead to negative influence on the system normal operation and dc circuit breaker (DCCB) fast isolation. This paper proposed a novel solid state circuit breaker (SSCB) with self adapt fault current limiting capability, namely, no negative influence on the dc distribution network normal operation, swift fault current limiting response to the dc fault, and efficient cooperation between the fault current limitation and isolation. The hybrid configuration strategy of the proposed SSCB and mechanical DCCB for multiterminal dc distribution network is proposed to reduce the conducting power loss and investment from the scale of the whole system. Finally, the experiment tests and simulation cases are carried out to verify the working principle and superiorities of the proposed SSCB.
author_names: Bin Li

Jiawei He

Ye Li

Ruisheng Li
title: A Novel Solid State Circuit Breaker With Self Adapt Fault Current Limiting Capability for LVDC Distribution Network
venue: IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics
year: 2019

abstract: In order to maintain the reliability of the opening operation of a new vacuum DC current limiting circuit breaker in cutting off short circuit current,the vacuum dielectric recovery after current zero was investigated.An equivalent experiment was designed and set up.Dynamic vacuum dielectric recovery characteristic of the circuit breaker during opening of the vacuum contacts was achieved from experiments results and theoretical deduction.Researching results show that the breakdown voltage of the vacuum interrupter can be improved with less arcing energy and higher contact moving speed;and with the increasing of arcing time the breakdown voltage reduces at first and increases later.These results can be used in the designing of the new vacuum DC circuit breaker.
title: Vacuum Dielectric Recovery Characteristics of a Novel Current Limiting Circuit Breaker Base on Artificial Current Zero
year: 2012