A Grid-Integrable Medium-Voltage Hybrid DC Circuit Breaker (GR-19-08)

Principal Investigator: Dr. Fang Luo

This project investigates a new concept for hybrid DC breaker (HCB). This new HCB uses low voltage device to provide protection for the high voltage power grid, and there are no semiconductor devices in series with the mechanical switch. Thus, this HCB can provide extremely high efficiency, fast response time and relatively low cost. The proposed design is expected to achieve efficiency >99.97% with power density > 70 MW/m₃ and response time < 300 µs. On top of these features, the new HCB design can also provide DC-grid voltage support and filtering functions. This new HCB concept promotes a grid control device with integrated protection/grid-management functions.