Arcing Time of a DC Circuit Breaker Based on a Superconducting Current-Limiting Technology

A dc circuit breaker (DCCB) based on a superconducting current-limiting technology was proposed for the interruption of short-circuit fault currents in high-voltage dc (HVDC) systems. The proposed DCCB includes a superconducting current-limiting module (SCLM), which is used to limit fault currents, and an interrupter module (IM), which uses a self-excited oscillation method to interrupt the limited current. The objective of this paper is to determine methods that reduce the arcing time of the proposed self-excited oscillation-type DCCB. The self-excited oscillation-type circuit breaker alone is generally unable to interrupt the fault current when it exceeds 8 kA. However, the proposed DCCB can interrupt a fault current of 30 kA when using the SCLM, which can limit a 30-kA fault current to approximately 3.5 kA within 2.5 ms. The arcing time of the IM was also significantly reduced as a result of the greatly reduced interrupting current. The effects of the IM parameters, including the commutation capacitance C2, the commutation inductance L2, the arc power loss coefficient N, and the arc time constant θ on the arcing time were analyzed. The arcing time can be reduced by increasing C2and N and reducing L2and θ.