Study on DC Circuit Breaker

Unlike ac systems, there is no zero crossing to extinguish the arc that occurs on breaker opening. With the rapid development of EHVDC, VSC-HVDC and DC distribution calling for the use of DC circuit breaker, more and more work has been done in recent years on this aspect. The paper firstly summarizes the sort, configuration and characteristics of mechanical DC Circuit Breaker, Static DC Circuit Breaker and Hybrid Mechanical-Static DC Circuit Breaker at the present and introduces the dynamic research and application at home and abroad. The key issues in the simulation and research of DC Circuit Breaker are establishing the mathematic model of the electric arc, the techniques about equal sharing of voltage and current series and parallel connection of Static electronic devices and Auxiliary circuits in DC Circuit Breaker. This paper summarizes and highlights these three key issues. And finally it includes difficulties of the research about DC circuit breaker in recent years.

I. Introduction

The HVDC has been widely used in non-synchronization communication transmission and large power transmission with its irreplaceable advantages over AC transmission. Over last decade, the technology of HVDC light has been proposed and developed and the HVDC has extended to the application of close and small capacity power transmission. On the other hand, with the development of economic and society, the research on DC distribution network which is reliable and friendly has huge market and economic value.