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Title: Direct current momentary circuit interrupter

Abstract

A momentary circuit interrupter in series connection with a mechanical switch to provide protection against short circuit faults in a DC power circuit. The momentary circuit interrupter injects a transient voltage pulse via a pulse transformer to reduce a DC fault current to near zero in a DC circuit branch, thus allowing the mechanical switch to disconnect the faulty branch under a near zero-current condition. The power electronic circuit on the primary side of the transformer controls the discharge of a plurality of pre-charged capacitors to generate the transient voltage pulse during the fault interruption process, but otherwise does not incur any power loss during normal operation. The secondary winding of the pulse transformer conducts the main DC current, and is highly conductive to minimize the conduction power loss. The invention provides ultrafast response to a short circuit fault (even faster than solid-state circuit breakers and much faster than hybrid circuit breakers), significantly reduced overcurrent stress in the power system, and/or ultralow conduction power losses.

Inventors:
; ;
Issue Date:
Research Org.:
Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E)
OSTI Identifier:
1998458
Patent Number(s):
11670933
Application Number:
17/501,175
Assignee:
Illinois Institute of Technology (Chicago, IL)
DOE Contract Number:  
AR0001463
Resource Type:
Patent
Resource Relation:
Patent File Date: 10/14/2021
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Citation Formats

Shen, Zheng John, Zhou, Yuanfeng, and Na, Risha. Direct current momentary circuit interrupter. United States: N. p., 2023. Web.
Shen, Zheng John, Zhou, Yuanfeng, & Na, Risha. Direct current momentary circuit interrupter. United States.
Shen, Zheng John, Zhou, Yuanfeng, and Na, Risha. Tue . "Direct current momentary circuit interrupter". United States. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1998458.
@article{osti_1998458,
title = {Direct current momentary circuit interrupter},
author = {Shen, Zheng John and Zhou, Yuanfeng and Na, Risha},
abstractNote = {A momentary circuit interrupter in series connection with a mechanical switch to provide protection against short circuit faults in a DC power circuit. The momentary circuit interrupter injects a transient voltage pulse via a pulse transformer to reduce a DC fault current to near zero in a DC circuit branch, thus allowing the mechanical switch to disconnect the faulty branch under a near zero-current condition. The power electronic circuit on the primary side of the transformer controls the discharge of a plurality of pre-charged capacitors to generate the transient voltage pulse during the fault interruption process, but otherwise does not incur any power loss during normal operation. The secondary winding of the pulse transformer conducts the main DC current, and is highly conductive to minimize the conduction power loss. The invention provides ultrafast response to a short circuit fault (even faster than solid-state circuit breakers and much faster than hybrid circuit breakers), significantly reduced overcurrent stress in the power system, and/or ultralow conduction power losses.},
doi = {},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {2023},
month = {6}
}

Works referenced in this record:

DC Voltage Switch
patent-application, February 2019


MULTIPHASE GRID SYNCHRONIZED REGULATED CURRENT SOURCE INVERTER SYSTEMS
patent-application, December 2009


Current-Limiting Reactor Apparatus
patent-application, June 2016


DC Circuit Breaker and Circuit Breaking Method of the DC Circuit Breaker
patent-application, June 2016