Title :
Solid state circuit breakers for DC micrgrids: Current status and future trends
Author :
Shen, Z. John ; Zhenyu Miao ; Roshandeh, Aref Moradkhani
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Illinois Inst. of Technol., Chicago, IL, USA
Abstract :
Short circuit protection remains one of the major technical barriers in DC microgrids. This paper reviews state of the art of DC solid state circuit breakers (SSCBs). A new concept of a self-powered SSCB using normally-on wideband gap (WBG) semiconductor devices as the main static switch is described in this paper. The new SSCB detects short circuit faults by sensing its terminal voltage rise, and draws power from the fault condition itself to turn and hold off the static switch. The new two-terminal SSCB can be directly placed in a circuit branch without requiring any external power supply or extra wiring. Challenges and future trends in protecting low voltage distribution microgrids against short circuit and other faults are discussed.
Keywords :
circuit breakers; distributed power generation; fault diagnosis; power generation faults; power generation protection; semiconductor switches; short-circuit currents; switchgear protection; wide band gap semiconductors; DC solid state circuit breaker; SSCB; WBG semiconductor device; low voltage distribution DC microgrid protection; short circuit fault detection; short circuit protection; wideband gap semiconductor device; Circuit breakers; Circuit faults; Fault currents; JFETs; Microgrids; Silicon carbide; Switches; DC power; SiC JFET; WBG semiconductors; solid state circuit breaker (SSCB);
Conference_Titel :
DC Microgrids (ICDCM), 2015 IEEE First International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Atlanta, GA
DOI :
10.1109/ICDCM.2015.7152044
