Fault current limiter (FCL) is one of the efficient technological measures to solve the increasingly serious problem of excessive short-circuit current in power grid. A fast breakertype fault current limiter with modularized design is developed on the basis of 12kV fast-speed vacuum breakers and shortcircuit current perfect forecast and zero-cross point precise phase controlled breaking technologies. Zero-loss of the FCL is obtained under normal condition and up to 80 kA short-circuit current could be limited within 20ms to the safe breaking level of the system circuit breaker. The security, efficiency and reliability of the device are verified by field operation and two single-phase transient short-circuit experiment in a 330 kV network.

A balanced voltage distribution for each break is required for normal operation of a multi-break vacuum circuit breaker (VCB) This paper presented a novel 363 kV/5000 A/63 kA sextuple-break VCB with a series-parallel structure. To determine the static voltage distribution of each break, a 3D finite element method (FEM) model was established to calculate the voltage distribution and the electric field of each break at the fully open state. Our results showed that the applied voltage was unevenly distributed at each break, and that the first break shared the most voltage, about 86.3%. The maximum electric field of the first break was 18.9 kV/mm, which contributed to the reduction of the breaking capacity. The distributed and stray capacitance parameters of the proposed structure were calculated based on the FEM model. According to the distributed capacitance parameters, the equivalent circuit simulation model of the static voltage distribution of this 363 kV VCB was established in PSCAD. Subsequently, the influence of the grading capacitor on the voltage distribution of each break was investigated, and the best value of the grading capacitors for the 363 kV sextuple-break VCB was confirmed to be 10 nF. Finally, the breaking tests of a single-phase unit was conducted both in a minor loop and a major loop. The 363 kV VCB prototype broke both the 63 kA and the 80 kA short circuit currents successfully, which confirmed the validity of the voltage sharing design.

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