| Title |
Arc Extinguishment for Low-voltage DC (LVDC) Circuit Breaker by PPTC Device |
| Authors |
Yong-Jung Kim ; Jeaho Na ; Hyosung Kim |
| DOI |
https://doi.org/10.6113/TKPE/2018.23.5.299 |
| Keywords |
LVDC(Low Voltage DC) distribution ; DCCB(DC Circuit Breaker) ; Arc fault current ; PPTC(Polymeric Positive Temperature Coefficient) |
| Abstract |
An ideal circuit breaker should supply electric power to loads without losses in a conduction state and completely isolate the load from the power source by providing insulation strength in a break state. Fault current is relatively easy to break in an Alternating Current (AC) circuit breaker because the AC current becomes zero at every half cycle. However, fault current in DC circuit breaker (DCCB) should be reduced by generating a high arc voltage at the breaker contact point. Large fire may occur if the DCCB does not take sufficient arc voltage and allows the continuous flow of the arc fault current with high temperature. A semiconductor circuit breaker with a power electronic device has many advantages. These advantages include quick breaking time, lack of arc generation, and lower noise than mechanical circuit breakers. However, a large load capacity cannot be applied because of large conduction loss. An extinguishing technology of DCCB with polymeric positive temperature coefficient (PPTC) device is proposed and evaluated through experiments in this study to take advantage of low conduction loss of mechanical circuit breaker and arcless breaking characteristic of semiconductor devices. |