Analysis and Experimental Validation of Bidirectional Z-Source DC Circuit Breakers

• Published in: IEEE transactions on industrial electronics (1982) 2020-06, Vol.67 (6), p.4613-4622
• Main Authors: Savaliya, Swati G., Fernandes, Baylon G.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: <named-content xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns:ali="http://www.niso.org/schemas/ali/1.0/" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" content-type="math" xlink:type="simple"> <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX"> Z</tex-math> </inline-formula> </named-content>-source circuit breaker; Bidirectional control; Bidirectional operation; Capacitors; Circuit breakers; Circuit faults; Commutation; Converters; coupled inductor; Distributed generation; fault analysis; Fault detection; Filtration; Inductors; microgrid; Network topology; power system protection; Topology
• ISSN: 0278-0046; 1557-9948
• DOI: 10.1109/TIE.2019.2928284

This paper discusses the analysis and experimental validation of bidirectional Z-source breaker and bidirectional Z-source breaker using coupled inductor for low-voltage dc microgrid application. The proposed topologies use an SCR as a switch to isolate the fault from the system, and LC network to generate required commutation conditions for the SCR under fault conditions. Thus, both topologies are able to isolate the fault naturally within a few microseconds without any fault detection and sensing circuit. In this paper, the breaker operating principle is discussed during fault condition and breaker design criteria are derived. When the breaker is connected in series with power electronic converter, Z-source components offer filtering characteristic. The filtering characteristic offered by the breaker components is analyzed. Functional prototypes are developed for both configurations to validate the breaker performance and experimental results are presented.