Thomson-Coil Actuator System for Enhanced Active Resonant DC Circuit Breakers

Enhanced active resonant (EAR) dc circuit breakers (DCCBs) are a promising set of recently proposed DCCB concepts. As other DCCBs, EAR DCCBs still require fast mechanical switch. The requirements on the actuator switch depend concept and grid derived here for an DCCB. Thomson-coil actuators (TCAs) can open close switches sufficiently to satisfy requirements. This work studies experimentally TCA system with damping off-the-shelf industrial vacuum interrupter used as in prototype is explained detail, extensive measurement results presented, showing that must be perfectly timed effective. A novel (TC) driver studied experimentally, which operates more efficiently by recycling energy during actuation. Moreover, TC reduces capacitive storage 50% allows faster recharging lower charging current. Finally, autoreclosing proactive commutation operation interruption capability demonstrated experimentally.