A Cost-Effective Current-Limiting Hybrid DC Circuit Breaker Based on Hybrid Semiconductors

DC circuit breakers (DCCBs) are the key equipment to rapidly interrupt the fault current in high-voltage DC power grids and ensure the safe operation of the system. However, most DCCBs do not take current-limiting measures and rely solely on current-limiting reactors in the system to limit the rate of current rise during the interruption process. The extensive use of fully controlled power electronic devices in circuit breakers (CBs) results in high costs. To address the issues above, this paper proposes a DCCB topology with a current-limiting function based on thyristors and diodes, which can reduce the cost of CB while ensuring reliable interruption. The impact of various parameters on CB performance is analyzed using numerical calculations to optimize the parameters. Then, a simulation model of a 500 kV/16 kA DCCB is built in PSCAD/EMTDC, and the performance of the proposed CB topology is compared with the other CB topologies. By comparison, the proposed DCCB topology can reliably isolate fault currents and reduce the amplitude of fault currents and the cost of CBs. Significantly, the energy absorbed by the metal oxide varistor (MOV) during the interruption process decreases by 64.2%, reducing the cost and volume of the MOV. Finally, the feasibility of the CB is further verified in the ±500 kV 4-terminal high-voltage DC power grid simulation model. The results show that the proposed DCCB topology can limit the fault current rise rate, interrupt and isolate the fault reliably, and reduce the cost.