Novel Bidirectional Hybrid DC Circuit Breaker Topology using Current Fed Converter

2023

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An isolated gate driver is a prime requirement to operate an IGBT/MOSFET or any electronic devices like SiC MOSFET. The paper proposes a novel gate driver circuit based on UCC21750 gate driver IC, which can drive the devices of different technologies such as si-MOSFET, SiC MOSFET, superFET MOSFET, and IGBT in the first part of the investigation. The proposed gate driver circuit can trigger the devices that operate on various gate to source(emitter) voltage $V_{GS}(V_{GE})$ because it provides a gate to source(emitter) voltage of 18V, 15V, 12V, 8V, and 5V by switching a 4-way DIP switch. The second part of the paper focuses on developing a novel hybrid Direct Current Circuit Breaker (DCCB) that can accommodate the mechanical time constant taken by the mechanical switch after the pulse is provided to the actuator or a relay. The hybrid DCCB consists of four MOSFETs driven by the proposed gate driver circuit. The proposed DCCB operates when the current through the mechanical switch is zero and provides arc-free fault clearance. A detailed analysis of the proposed DCCB and MATLAB simulation is conducted. The results are validated through appropriate hardware on 100V and 2A load using an electromechanical relay GR2G-2A-X 12VDC and a DC contactor (part no. DCNLEV100-BN) as the mechanical switch.

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Section: Fig 5: Gate Driver Boardmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of Gate Driver Circuit for A Proposed Novel Hybrid DC Circuit Breaker Topology

2023

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“…• The presented topology [33] uses the same switches for charging the commutation capacitor and fault current interruption. • A coupled inductor used gives an additional degree of freedom in designing circuit elements.…”

Section: Salient Features Of the Proposed Topologymentioning

confidence: 99%

A Modular Novel Bidirectional Hybrid DC Circuit Breaker Topology for More Electric Avionics

2023

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A DC-based power distribution system is adopted in the architecture for more electric aircraft (MEA) and all electric aircraft (AEA). The paper proposes a bidirectional Direct Current circuit breaker (DCCB) based on coupled inductor capable of interrupting a short circuit current in few tens of microseconds. The proposed topology is a hybrid circuit breaker that provides arc-less current disruption in the primary circuit. The breaking operation is based on the current reflected in the primary winding from the auxiliary resonant circuit (commutation module). In the proposed converter, the time for circuit breaking is significantly reduced using a current-fed high gain converter, which acts as a boost converter to charge the pre-charging capacitor. The same switches employed in the current fed converters are used in commutation; hence, fewer components are needed. The switches are operated so that the pre-charging capacitor voltage profile is unipolar. A modular approach for DCCB is presented that uses the commutation circuit as a module. With the modular approach of breaking the current in the primary circuit, the voltage and current rating of the DCCB can be enhanced. The presented DCCB with modular commutation circuits can interrupt the current flow in the opposite direction, which makes it a bidirectional DCCB. A detailed simulation study is conducted in Matlab Simulink environment, further experimentally the hardware results are validated for breaking the current in 270V/10A and 540V/5A DC systems.

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Enhancement of Power Rating for a Bidirectional DC Circuit Breaker using Modular Commutation Circuits

IECON 2021 – 47th Annual Conference of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society

2021