Megawatt High Speed Solid State Circuit Breaker for Pulse Power Applications

Abstract

Two 3.3 Megawatt 3 phase 4160 V solid state circuit breakers, which can interrupt full current within 300 microseconds, have been installed on the 6.6 Megawatt power supply at the Army Pulse Power Center at Fort Monmouth. These devices, utilizing Gate Turnoff Thyristors (GTOs), can interrupt two orders of magnitude faster than standard mechanical contact type circuit breakers. The system also includes a personal computer based power supply control and data acquisition system, with over seventy data channels and the capability to operate unattended. This system will make possible pivotal evaluation of megawatt class pulse power components under the most severe conditions, since it will be possible to run said experimental components at their limits and still protect them from fault damage and destruction, while measuring operating parameters even at the point of the fault.

Design Considerations for High-Voltage High-Current Bi-Directional DC Solid-State Circuit Breaker (SSCB) for Aerospace Applications

“…GTOs also require an auxiliary circuit, a resistor and capacitor (connected in parallel) for protection against turn-off voltage [5]. Thyristor-based semiconductor devices such as GTOs used in this topology have superior voltage and current ratings as compared to MOSFETs and IGBTs; therefore, they are of particular interest for very high power SSCBs [6]. However, gate drive circuit design is complex due to the gate drive current and speed requirements for turning off the GTO, which is quite difficult to meet [7].…”

Topologies of multiterminal HVDC-VSC transmission for large offshore wind farms

“…Example applications include pulsed power [28] and traction [29]. Solid-state circuit breakers are suitable and able to interrupt current within a couple of milliseconds [28,30]. They are generally based on Integrated Gate Commutated Thyristors (IGCT) as they have lower on-state losses than IGBTs [31].…”

“…The main disadvantages of the solid-state circuit breakers are their high on-state losses and capital costs. Typical ratings of solid-state circuit breakers in operation are 4 kV, 2 kA [28,29], although in [30] ratings of up to 150 kV, 2 kA were considered.…”