1. Home
  2. Portfolios
  3. Energy and Environment
  4. HVDC Circuit Breaker with System and Method of Delatching the Locked-On Switch

Explore Similar Technologies

Biodegradable field-tested soil temperature sensor

LLNL researchers developed and field-tested a biodegradable soil temperature sensor device that can be used in industry-scale agriculture.  At the end...

Instruments, Sensors, and Electronics (ISE)

x-ray compensation in hohlraums with spherical shine shields

This LLNL invention details a unique approach that involves the incorporation of a new geometry of spherical shine shields, which occupy a small...

Energy and Environment

Identifying Arcing Hazards in Power Distribution Systems

High-resolution, high-fidelity sensor measurements can be used to detect unique signatures of electric power grid equipment malfunction and anomalies...

Energy and Environment

Small 3D nuclear battery with big potential

Lab researchers have developed a radiovoltaic battery that contains a microstructured platform made of a semiconducting material that interacts with...

Energy and Environment

Gas Diffusion Electrodes for CO2 electrolysis in Cation Free Systems

LLNL inventors have developed a gas diffusion electrode (GDE) architecture employing a multi-stack design.  The first layer consists of a physical...

Energy and Environment

Composite Meter-Class Monolithic Space Telescope

The approach is to use foundational materials science, structural design, thermal analysis, optic fabrication, and space systems engineering, and to...

Instruments, Sensors, and Electronics (ISE)

HVDC Circuit Breaker with System and Method of Delatching the Locked-On Switch

Contact
Alex Hess
Reference Number
IL-13634, IL-13805
Technical Overview

AC electric power has dominated transmission and distribution system in the US for over a century.  However, DC offers several benefits over AC:  

  1. reducing system power losses due to improved electrical conductivity 
  2. utilizing fewer power cables with 
  3. higher power carrying capacity. 

Wind and solar PV generators, energy storage, electric transportation, and consumer devices all utilize DC power.  High Voltage DC (HVDC) is more effective than HVAC at distances >500 km, and it is used for AC grid interconnection and frequency regulation.  HVDC circuit breakers become essential hardware protection against HV faults, short circuits, and overloads.  LLNL researchers have developed a diffuse discharge circuit breaker that can interrupt fault currents in HVDCs as well as medium voltage circuitsand their delatching methods.

Description

A thyristor will stay conducting until the current through the device is zero (“current zero”) or perhaps slightly negative.  LLNL’s approach is to use the opticondistor (“OTV”) to force this current zero in order to force the device into an “off” state.  By combining a light-activated thyristor with an OTV, a noise-immune, high efficiency, high-power switching device can be constructed. The device can be turned on with a small amount of light to render the thyristor conducting, and then turned off using the OTV.

Image Caption: Diffuse discharge circuit breaker with latching switch

Diffuse discharge circuit breaker with latching switch
Development Status

Current stage of technology development:  TRL 3 

US Patent Application No. 2022/0045232 DIFFUSE DISCHARGE CIRCUIT BREAKER published 02/10/2022, 

LLNL has filed for patent protection on this invention.  LLNL has a huge portfolio of opticondistor patents. 

Advantages
  • Value Proposition -> Novel HVDC breakers that can provide faster interruption of DC fault pin order to ensure stable and reliable operations of HVDC systems. 
  • Improved switching performance over conventional thyristors with faster switching speed.
Potential Applications
  • High efficiency power inverters for the grid where HVDC transmission systems are being built to integrate renewable sources of energy
  • Ultrafast switches
  • Power Electronics