High voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission is the most efficient way to move large amounts of power over long distances or through submarine cables. The high voltage dc breaker market provides the circuit breakers needed to isolate faults on HVDC lines and converter stations. Historically, HVDC systems were point-to-point (two terminals) and could clear faults by shutting down both converters. However, the vision of a multi-terminal HVDC grid (like an AC grid but DC) requires fast, reliable DC circuit breakers. A fault anywhere in the grid must be cleared without tripping the entire system. This has driven the development of hybrid and solid-state HVDC breakers that can interrupt currents on the order of thousands of amperes at hundreds of kilovolts in a few milliseconds.
The high voltage dc breaker market is currently dominated by hybrid breakers, which use a mechanical bypass switch to carry current with very low loss, and a solid-state breaker (using IGBTs or IGCTs) to interrupt fault current. The mechanical switch opens first, transferring current to the solid-state path, which then breaks. These breakers are large, complex, and expensive, but essential for building HVDC supergrids. The market is also seeing research into superconducting fault current limiters (SFCLs) as an alternative to breakers, but these are not yet commercial for HVDC. The recent commissioning of several HVDC projects with multi-terminal capability has validated the technology.
Pairing the high voltage dc breaker market with the broader dc circuit breaker market highlights the importance of speed. In an HVDC grid, fault current rises extremely quickly because the line impedance is low. To prevent damage to converters and avoid system-wide blackout, the breaker must operate within a few milliseconds. This requires fast detection (using traveling wave or rate-of-rise algorithms) and equally fast mechanical/electronic action. The high voltage dc breaker market thus pushes the boundaries of power electronics and high-voltage engineering.
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