A DC hybrid circuit breaker with ultra-fast contact opening and integrated gate-commutated thyristors (IGCTs)

Air-magnetic circuit breakers are widely used for short-circuit protection in dc electric railways or industrial plants. The well-known drawbacks of these breakers are mainly a slow breaking action, a short lifetime, and high maintenance costs due to the destructive effects of the arc. The use of power semiconductors in a full-static circuit breaker configuration allows the elimination of these disadvantages but is limited by excessive conduction losses. The paper will present the study of a so-called hybrid breaker, drawing its name from the combination of a high-speed mechanical switch and a bi-directional integrated gate-controlled thyristor assembly connected in parallel. The paper also includes experimental results from a prototype real scale.