IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON APPLIED SUPERCONDUCTIVITY, VOL. 28, NO.
1, JANUARY 2018
Direct-Current Vacuum Circuit Breaker With
Superconducting Fault-Current Limiter
Kun Yang , Yi Yang , Muhammad Junaid , Siyuan Liu, Zhiyuan Liu, Senior Member, IEEE,
Yingsan Geng, Senior Member, IEEE, and Jianhua Wang , Senior Member, IEEE
Abstract—The objective of this paper is to propose a dc current
interruption technology for railway dc traction systems, consist-
ing of a dc vacuum circuit breaker with a superconducting fault-
current limiter (SFCL). To this end, a 1.5-kV dc circuit breaker
prototype is designed, involving a dc vacuum circuit breaker and
a resistive-type SFCL serially connected. The dc vacuum circuit
breaker is developed with a commutation circuit to generate a re-
verse injection current, and the resistive-type SFCL is composed
of yttrium barium copper oxide superconducting tape. An LC cur-
rent source tested the 1.5-kV prototype, showing that, when the
precharged capacitor voltage is 1.5 kV, the prospective current
is 47 kA increasing at a rate of 9.4 A/µs. The SFCL limits this
current to ∼3 kA (peak value), and then, decreases the current to
2 kA after 6 ms, followed by successful clearance via the dc vacuum
circuit breaker. The proposed 1.5-kV circuit breaker will success-
fully clear short-circuit faults up to 47 kA by first limiting the
prospective current and then interrupting it.
Index Terms—DC circuit breakers, dc power systems, supercon-
ducting fault-current limiter (SFCL), vacuum circuit breakers.
I. INTRODUCTION
AILWAY transportation has existed for the past two cen-
R turies [1], and modern systems employ electric traction in
their vital mission to develop and progress society. Electric trac-
tion railways are one of the most convenient and cost-effective
methods of travel. It can use both ac and dc voltage sources for
operation: ac traction utilizes 15 kV for a 16.7-Hz system or
25 kV for 50/60-Hz systems [2], [3], whereas dc traction re-
quires 600, 750, 1200, 1500, or 3000 V supplies to operate
trams, light railways, subways, and fast trains [4]–[6].
The power distribution lines for electric trains generally op-
erate in open-air environments, and thus, are vulnerable to
potential faults. DC fault current has no zero-current point,
which makes dc interruption challenging. The standard rated
short-circuit currents for railway dc switchgear systems are
Manuscript received March 2, 2017; revised August 31, 2017; accepted Oc-
tober 21, 2017. Date of publication October 27, 2017; date of current version
November 20, 2017. This work was supported in part by the National Basic
Research Program of China (973 Program) under Grant 2015CB251005, and in
part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 51323012
and Grant 51221005. This paper was recommended by Associate Editor A. Po-
lasek. (Corresponding author: Zhiyuan Liu.)
The authors are with the State Key Laboratory of Electrical Insulation
and Power Equipment, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
(e-mail: makun.yang@gmail.com; yangyi_isa@163.com; junaid@126.com;
931720980@qq.com; Liuzy@mail.xjtu.edu.cn; ysgeng@mail.xjtu.edu.cn;
jhwang@mail.xjtu.edu.cn).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TASC.2017.2767500
1051-8223 © 2017 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
5600108
31.5, 40, 50, 63, 75, 80, and 100 kA, for 1.5-kV dc systems
[7], which is well beyond that of high-voltage dc transmission
systems. Currently, conventional air and SF6 switchgear sys-
tems are used commercially [8]–[10]. However, air switchgear
systems experience issues with high noise, low current inter-
ruption times, and their large size. Alternative SF6 switchgear
implementations contribute to the greenhouse effect, with a poi-
sonous arcing product, and due to the danger presented by SF6 ,
such systems are not recommended for low- and middle-voltage
applications.
Hence, vacuum circuit breakers have received growing con-
sideration as a promising substitute. Several research groups
have investigated their potential as a replacement [11]–[15],
accompanied by emerging commercialized designs [16]–[18],
since vacuum circuit breakers boast ecofriendly and low-noise
qualities, while providing high insulation strength, space ef-
ficiency, simple maintenance, quick response times, and safe
interruption capabilities. This technology ensures safe interrup-
tion because decomposition products are not released outside of
the vacuum chamber. Yet, the fact that dc has no zero crossing
still limits commercial implementation of this kind of circuit
breaking technology. To mitigate this challenge, a reverse cur-
rent of greater amperage than the fault current must be injected
in parallel to the protection system.
Prohibitively, dc vacuum circuit breakers need a large
precharging capacitor for inverse current injection, and they ne-
cessitate expensive saturable reactors to reduce di/dt around the
zero-current point. During dc current interruption, an arrester
absorbs the high overvoltage, but this absorption can present
potential risks for explosion. Besides these dangers, the me-
chanical lifetime of this vacuum circuit breaker is rather low,
reduced by the necessary high-speed repulsion mechanism.
Alternatively, we investigate using a superconducting fault-
current limiter (SFCL) to first restrict the fault-current, fol-
lowed by interruption using a conventional dc breaker [19]–
[21]. The best choice breaker for this approach is the vacuum
circuit breaker, given its many benefits [21]. By current limit-
ing, the capacitance value used in the LC commutation circuit
can be reduced significantly. This implementation avoids the
expensive saturable reactor and the less-reliable fast-operation
mechanisms (including the repulsion mechanism). Moreover,
breakers experience less overvoltage spikes. For these reasons,
this dc current interruption technology is a viable option for rail-
way traction systems, as proposed and described in this paper
using a dc vacuum circuit breaker and an SFCL.
5600108 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON APPLIED SUPERCONDUCTIVITY, VOL. 28, NO. 1, JANUARY 2018

TABLE I
SUPERCONDUCTING TAPE SPECIFICATIONS

Manufactured by AMSC
Stabilizer Stainless Steel
Material YBCO
Width of the Superconducting Tape 12 mm
Critical Current 225 A at 77 K
Resistance at Room Temperature 0.11 /m

Fig. 1. Vacuum dc breaker with SFCL to interrupt the fault current.

II. PRINCIPLES OF OPERATION

The proposed technology includes two main modules: a dc
SFCL as the current limiting device and a dc vacuum circuit
breaker for current interruption. The circuit breaker consists of
a vacuum interrupter and a commutation circuit, comprised of a
capacitor, an inductor, and a vacuum switch for reverse current
injection. The proposed dc vacuum circuit breaker with an SFCL
is shown in Fig. 1.
When the current falls below the critical current of the SFCL,
the SFCL enters the superconducting state where the SFCL
conducts normal current without any loss. The current flow-
ing through vacuum interrupter also has negligible loss. It is
important to note that all current flows in the main current path.
When a fault occurs, its current increases to a value, which is Fig. 2. Structure of the 1.5-kV, 400-A SFCL prototype.
significantly greater than the critical current of the SFCL. Under
this condition, the SFCL transitions to the quenching mode, and TABLE II
its resistance increases rapidly. This quenched resistance limits SUPERCONDUCTING COIL PARAMETERS
the fault current.
When the fault is detected, a relay commands the vacuum Room Temperature Resistance () Inductance (μH)
interrupter to open its contacts, which draws an arc in the vacuum
A1 0.980 1.668
interrupter. Since there is no current zero in dc, the arc continues A2 0.985 1.736
to burn. A3 0.980 1.757
To generate a zero-current point, a reverse current is injected A4 0.979 1.629
A5 0.982 1.738
by the commutation circuit. When the vacuum switch closes, the A6 0.980 1.649
precharged capacitor generates a reverse current in the vacuum
interrupter, thereby generating an artificial zero-current con-
dition to extinguish the arc. Consequentially, the mechanism
interrupts the main current path. Six winding plates, denoted as A1 to A6 , were fabricated and
As the SFCL limits the fault current, there is no need to wound with the superconducting tape. Their parameters were
generate a high reverse current, and as a result, the capacitance measured by both a bridge-resistance meter and an inductance
of the precharging capacitor can be small. meter, with obtained characteristics presented in Table II. The
results show that the windings are quite similar, so they can be
used either in series or parallel, owing to their similar voltages
III. SFCL DESIGN or similar currents, respectively.
In this work, we adopt a high-temperature resistive SFCL Six winding plates were utilized to connect 54 m of super-
made of yttrium barium copper oxide (YBCO) superconducting conducting tape in the design of a 1.5-kV dc SFCL. They were
tape. YBCO superconducting tape uses liquid nitrogen as a divided into two parallel branches, and each branch contained
cryogenic medium to achieve the superconducting state. Table I three winding plates connected in series. The critical current
demonstrates the specifications of the SFCL superconducting of the SFCL was slightly lower than 450 A (2 × 225 A, see
tape. Table I) due to nonuniform current distribution. Therefore, it
Fig. 2 shows the design of the SFCL. The winding plates and satisfied the rating requirement for a nominal 400-A current,
spacers used were made of nylon, and it incorporates a pancake- which is an IEC standard for railway dc switchgear.
type winding design [22]. Nine meters of superconducting tape The SFCL experimental circuit is shown in Fig. 3. During the
were wound on each winding plate. Each winding can safely experiment, the capacitor C1 was set to 100 mF, and the inductor
operate up to 500 V, as long as the fault current flows for less L 1 was set to 0.101 mH. The resonant frequency of C1 and L 1
than 50 ms. was 50 Hz. When C1 is charged to 1500 V, the theoretical
YANG et al.: DIRECT-CURRENT VACUUM CIRCUIT BREAKER WITH SUPERCONDUCTING FAULT-CURRENT LIMITER 5600108

Fig. 3. SFCL experimental circuit. C1 is 100 mF, L 1 is 0.101 mH, and S1 is

the main switch.

Fig. 5. Resistance curves for various prospective currents.

Fig. 4. Current limiting performance of the SFCL.

prospective current becomes 47 kA (peak value) with a rate

of increase around 9.4 A/μs. This configuration can imitate
the rising part of the dc fault current [18]. The total resistance
of the test circuit, including current source resistance, contact
resistance, and cable resistance, is estimated around 3 m. The
output current without SFCL is approximately 44 kA, which is
higher than the two IEC standard rated short-circuit currents,
31.5 and 40 kA. A Hall-effect sensor (IEFUL CS2500 HB) was
used to measure the current inside the superconducting tape, and
a high voltage probe measured the voltage across the SFCL.
Experiments were conducted with various system voltages,
150, 200, 500, 1000, and 1500 V, and the prospective fault
currents were 4.7, 6.3, 15.7, 31.3, and 47 kA, respectively. All
experimental results show that the designed SFCL can limit the
fault current to 2 kA. Fig. 4 shows the SFCL prototype results
with 1500 V, where the current rises above the SFCL’s critical
current rapidly. The SFCL, then, quenches and limits the current
to ∼3 kA within 1 ms, and the current decreases to 2 kA at
5 ms, a mere 4.3% of the prospective current (47 kA). At 5 ms,
the resistance of the SFCL is 0.7 .
Fig. 5 shows the resistance curves for various prospective
currents. The resistance curves during the quenching process
can be divided into three periods. First, when the fault cur-
rent reaches above the critical current, the superconducting tape
starts to quench, as its resistance increases rapidly. Then, the
superconducting tape reaches a mixed state where both the su-
perconductor and stabilizer determine the resistance at point A.
Temperature is the main determinant of stabilizer resistance,
which increases due to heat accumulation. This resistance con-
tinues to increase, but at a slower rate than the first period. Fi-
nally, the superconductor quenches completely at point B, since
it enters its normal, nonsuperconducting state. The resistance
of the superconducting tape is, then, decided by the stabilizer
Fig. 6. Resistance curves for various durations of current flow.
resistance, and the rate of increasing resistance is the slowest of
the three periods.
Fig. 6 shows the resistance curves for different durations
of current flow (5, 10, and 15 ms). As the duration increases,
so does the resistance. However, the prospective current has a
stronger influence on the resistance than the duration of current
flow.
IV. CURRENT INTERRUPTION SIMULATION
To determine the design parameters of the dc vacuum circuit
breaker assisted by reverse-current injection, the interruption
process was simulated, and the corresponding circuit is shown in
Fig. 7. An LC circuit was used to imitate the rising short-circuit
current in a dc system, in which C1 was chosen at 100 mF and
L 1 was 0.101 mH to generate a sinusoidal current with a 50-Hz
frequency. The commutation-current frequency was selected to
be 500 Hz, due to its strong capability of suspending current
while operating at this frequency [15]. The charging voltage of
C2 was set to the system voltage 1.5 kV. Apparent from the
experiment result in Section III, the SFCL is able to limit the
47 kA fault current less than 2 kA. The commutation-current
peak should be larger than the limited fault current. Accordingly,
it was set to 4.7 kA, more than double the current limit set by
the SFCL. According to (1) and (2), C2 was 1 mF, and L 2 was
5600108
Fig. 7. Simulation model of the dc vacuum circuit breaker.
Fig. 8. Simulation results for the dc vacuum circuit breaker.
0.1 mH,
I2
C2 =
2π f U2
U2
L2 = . (2)
2π f 2 I2
Wherein, I2 is the reverse-current peak, f is the frequency of
the commutation current, and U2 is the charging voltage of C2 .
We investigated the following parameters: the source current
(i 1 ), the commutation current (i 2 ), the vacuum interrupter current
(i 3 ), the commutation capacitor voltage (u c ), and the vacuum
interrupter voltage (u m ). Two capacitors (Cpm and Cpc ) were
added in parallel with the vacuum interrupter, and S1 allowed
simulation of the parasitic capacitors across the electrodes. Cpm
and Cpc were 20 and 5 pF, respectively. The SFCL was simu-
lated by a time varying resistor Sr according to its resistance
characteristic calculated from Figs. 4 and 5.
The simulation result is shown in Fig. 8. The charging volt-
ages for C1 and C2 (see Fig. 7) were set to 1.5 and −1.5 kV,
respectively. The capacitor C2 was set to 1 mF and the inductor
L 2 to 0.1 mH. The resonant frequency of C2 and L 2 was 500 Hz.
As previously mentioned, these generate the necessary reverse
current to create an artificial zero-current point in the vacuum
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON APPLIED SUPERCONDUCTIVITY, VOL. 28, NO. 1, JANUARY 2018
Fig. 9. Experimental circuit for dc current interruption.
interrupter. The peak value of the reverse current was 4.7 kA,
which was more than double that of the limited current.
Initially, S1 is closed, and current in the vacuum interrupter
branch increases. When the current reaches above the critical
current of the SFCL, which is 450 A (2 × 225 A, see Table I),
the resistance of Sr increases from near zero to the 1- level,
representing the quenching resistance of the SFCL. As a result,
the peak value of short-circuit current is limited to 3.7 kA as
shown in Fig. 8. At 5.8 ms, the vacuum interrupter is opened,
and the switch S2 closes at 7.3 ms when i m is 1.75 kA. Then,
the precharged capacitor C2 discharges through L 2 , and i 2 is
injected into the vacuum interrupter branch. Thereafter, i 3 de-
creases rapidly as i 2 increases. At 7.4 ms, i 3 decreases to zero,
and the dc arc extinguishes. The source circuit and the commu-
tation branch thereby form a new circuit. At 9.9 ms, i 1 and i 2
decrease to zero at the same time, completing the interruption
process.
The simulated voltage waveforms are also shown in Fig. 8.
The precharged voltage of C2 (u c ) is −1.5 kV, and the commu-
tation current is injected at 7.3 ms when i2 is equal to 1.75 kA,
followed by an increase in u c . The current commutation process
between the vacuum interrupter and commutation branch ends
at 7.4 ms when i 3 reaches zero, and finally at 9.9 ms, when the
fault current is interrupted completely, u c stops increasing, and
(1) the vacuum interrupter receives a reverse voltage of 1.27 kV.
Initially, the voltage across the vacuum interrupter (u m ) is zero.
When the vacuum interrupter opens at 5.8 ms, a vacuum arc is
drawn between the electrodes. After achieving zero current for
i 3 at 7.4 ms, u m and u c increase together. The source circuit
current i 1 decreases to zero at 9.9 ms, after which u m and u c
both become 1.27 kV.
Apparent from this simulation result, the SFCL limits the
47-kA fault current to 1.75 kA, which is less than 2 kA, well
under the designed interruption capability of the dc vacuum
circuit breaker. By achieving an artificial zero-current point, the
design could successfully interrupt the necessary current.
V. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
A. Experimental Setup
A dc circuit breaker prototype was built for a dc voltage of
1.5 kV, a short-circuit current of 47 kA, and a rated nominal
current of 400 A.
The experimental circuit is shown in Fig. 9. S1 is the main
switch, whereas S2 is for reverse current injection into the vac-
uum interrupter. The two switches and the breaker are controlled
YANG et al.: DIRECT-CURRENT VACUUM CIRCUIT BREAKER WITH SUPERCONDUCTING FAULT-CURRENT LIMITER
Fig. 10. Experimental setup of the dc circuit breaker.
TABLE III
VACUUM INTERRUPTER PARAMETERS
Rated voltage 12 kV
Rated current 630 A
Short-circuit current 25 kA
Average speed 1 m/s
Gap length 11 mm
by three time-delay relays (t1 , t2 , and t3 ) connected to a control
desk.
Three Hall-effect sensors (IEFUL CS2500 HB) were used
to measure the current in the vacuum interrupter, the reverse
current, and the source current. A high voltage probe was used
to measure the voltage across the vacuum interrupter.
The test dc vacuum circuit breaker with an SFCL is shown
in Fig. 10. The SFCL comprises 54 m of superconducting tape
wound around six winding plates, all placed in a Dewar vessel.
The dc vacuum circuit breaker consists of two parallel
branches: the vacuum interrupter and the commutation circuit.
The parameters of the vacuum interrupter are shown in Table III.
The commutation circuit includes a metallized film capacitor
(1 mF, 3 kV), a multitap inductor (0.1 mH), and a vacuum
switch (1.14 kV). The capacitor charging module consists of a
rectifier bridge and a voltage regulator.
B. Time Sequence
The time sequence of switches S1 , S2 , and the vacuum in-
terrupter is set by the three time delays of the relays, and the
time sequence data are shown in Fig. 11. S1 closes first, and the
current flows from the source, L 1 and C1 . Initially, all current
flows through the vacuum interrupter. Thus, the source current
and vacuum interrupter waveforms match over this period.
After the time delay set by relay 1 and relay 2, the vacuum
interrupter opens. For all experiments, the time delay is set to
6 ms. Since the current is dc, there is no zero-current point,
so after the opening operation of the vacuum interrupter, the
arc keeps burning. There is an arc voltage across the vacuum
5600108
Fig. 11. Time evolution of the experiment.
interrupter (about 20 V), which is too small to appear in Fig. 11.
During this time, all the current is also flowing through the
vacuum interrupter, again showing the same current as that of
the source.
After a time delay, set by relay 3, S2 is closed, and the reverse
current generated by L 2 and C2 is injected. This time delay is
varied during the experiment. Once reaching the zero-current
point in the vacuum interrupter current, its arc extinguishes.
Then, the current in the vacuum interrupter decreases to zero,
and the current charges the capacitor C2. When the voltage in
C2 is equal to the system voltage, the source current decreases
to zero to complete the interruption process.
C. Interruption With Varied Time Delays
Interruption time is defined as the period between applying
current (when S1 closes) and arresting the fault current (current
in the vacuum interrupter reaches zero), as shown in Fig. 11.
Experiments with different interruption times were con-
ducted. The interruption time was varied by changing the time
delay of relay 3. As shown in Fig. 12, the main switch S1 closes
at 0 ms, and then, the source current increases steeply. After
quench of the superconductors, the peak source current is lim-
ited from 47 to 3.56 kA. Then, the source current decreases as
the resistance of superconductor rises. At 5.8 ms, the source
current decreases to 2 kA, and the vacuum interrupter opens. At
7.2 ms, the vacuum switch S2 in the commutation branch closes,
and the reverse current is injected while the source current is
1.84 kA. Then, the current in the vacuum interrupter reduces
zero quickly, and the vacuum interrupter arrests the fault cur-
rent within 7.2 ms. The voltage across vacuum reverses polarity,
5600108 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON APPLIED SUPERCONDUCTIVITY, VOL. 28, NO. 1, JANUARY 2018

Fig. 12. Experimental waveforms for the prospective fault current of 47 kA. Fig. 13. Experimental waveforms for the prospective fault current of 23.5 kA.

TABLE V
TABLE IV EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS FOR DIFFERENT PROSPECTIVE CURRENTS
EXPERIMENTAL RESULT WITH DIFFERING INTERRUPTION TIMES

Prospective Increase rate Peak Value of Time for Interruption

Interruption Time for Interruption Residual Over-Voltage Current of Prospective Source Reaching 2 Current in
Time/ms Reaching 2 Current/kA Voltage of of Vacuum Peak/kA Current/A/μs Current/kA kA/ms VI/kA
kA/ms Source/kV Interrupter/kV
15.7 3.1 2.14 1.1 0.92
24.1 6.1 1.18 1.09 1.10 23.5 4.7 2.69 1.4 1.16
13.1 6.2 1.53 1.24 1.26 31.3 6.3 3.06 2.8 1.46
7.2 5.8 1.84 1.28 1.33 47 9.4 3.56 5.8 1.84

D. Interruption With Varied Prospective Currents

reaching –0.78 kV. At 9.9 ms, the source current and the commu-
tation current both decrease to zero, and the whole interruption
process completes. The over-voltage and residual voltage of the
vacuum interrupter are 1.33 and 1.28 kV, respectively.
Experimental results with various interruption times are
shown in Table IV. It becomes clear that as interrupting time
increases, the interruption current decreases since the resistance
of the SFCL increases with time. The increased resistance of
the SFCL also decreases the over-voltage of the vacuum inter-
rupter. As the energy in C1 discharges, increasingly with longer
interruption times, the residual voltage is lower.
Longer interruption times reduce the interruption current and
energy in the vacuum interrupter, thus, reducing the interruption
burden. However, the SFCL must absorb more energy, which
may require more superconducting tape and increase its cost.
The residual source voltage is also lower and is detrimental
for dc systems. The optimized design must employ the shortest
possible interruption time to achieve the highest residue voltage
for the source. The shortest interruption time is 7.2 ms in this
experiment, as the interruption of 2-kA dc is not challenging for
the vacuum interrupter.
The maximum over-voltage of vacuum interrupter is
1.33 kV. The SFCL shows adequate energy absorbing ability,
and it suppresses the over-voltage of the vacuum interrupter,
making the interruption easier and safer.
Experiments with different prospective current levels were
also considered. The current was varied by changing the
precharged voltage of C1 , with values of 500, 750, 1000, and
1500 V. The corresponding prospective short-circuit currents
were 15.7, 23.5, 31.3, and 47 kA, respectively. Accordingly, the
rate of increase for the currents was 3.1, 4.7, 6.3, and 9.4 A/μs,
respectively. The interruption time was set to 7.5 ms.
The implemented dc circuit breaker successfully handled
many short-circuit currents. A typical experimental result with a
prospective current of 23.5 kA and an increase rate of 4.7 A/μs
is shown in Fig. 13. The peak value of the source current is
2.69 kA. The SFCL limits the source current below 2 kA after
the fault current flows for 1.4 ms. The interruption time of the
vacuum interrupter is 8.2 ms, at which time the reverse current
is injected, and the current in the vacuum interrupter becomes
1.16 kA.
The results for the prospective currents 15.7, 23.5, 31.3, and
47 kA are compared in Table V. Table V shows that, when the
prospective current increases, the peak value of the source cur-
rent also increases, as does the time required before the source
current is limited to 2 kA. Interestingly, as the prospective-
current peak increases by a factor of 3.0 (from 15.7 to 47 kA),
the peak value of the source current only increases 1.7 times
(from 2.14 to 3.56 kA). The reason is that as the prospective
YANG et al.: DIRECT-CURRENT VACUUM CIRCUIT BREAKER WITH SUPERCONDUCTING FAULT-CURRENT LIMITER
current increases, the quenching resistance of the SFCL in-
creases, resulting in a source current decrease. Notably, no mat-
ter how large the prospective current peak is, the SFCL can
always limit the fault current below 2 kA within 6 ms.
The interrupting current in the vacuum interrupter increases
as the prospective current peak increases. The maximum inter-
ruption current of 1.84 kA occurs when the prospective current
is 47 kA, which is only 4.6 times the rated current of the proto-
type.
VI. DISCUSSION
SFCLs restrict fault current to a level that dc vacuum circuit
breakers can interrupt. This new interruption technology has
four merits.
1) The interruption current is not sensitive to the prospective
fault-current peak. Without the SFCL, the demand of the
interruption current could be 10 times that of the rated
breaker current, which is problematic for the dc circuit
breaker [17]. With the SFCL, even when the prospective
fault-current peak reaches 47 kA, the resulting interrup-
tion current is 1.84 kA, just 4.6 times the rated current.
Thus, the interruption current range is restricted, ensuring
a manageable interruption event.
2) The dc vacuum circuit breaker only needs to interrupt
the small current limited by the SFCL. Thus, only small
reverse current is needed to create zero current.
3) The SFCL absorbs the short-circuit energy resulting in
less over-voltage spikes during the interruption process.
4) SFCLs can respond to faults very quickly. For this reason,
dc vacuum circuit breakers do not need to open as rapidly,
which simplifies the design.
VII. CONCLUSION
This work proposes a dc current interruption technology
for dc railway traction systems, involving a dc vacuum circuit
breaker with an SFCL. After describing the working principle,
this paper describes the design and testing of a 1.5-kV proto-
type. During testing, the SFCL limited the fault current below
2 kA within 6 ms for prospective short-circuit currents up to
47 kA, and a dc vacuum circuit breaker successfully interrupted
the limited current subsequently.
The dc vacuum circuit breaker only needs to be designed to
interrupt 2 kA, assisted by the SFCL. Therefore, the required
commutation circuit capacitance is quite low, and the rated cur-
rent interruption is maintained for small reverse currents. The dc
vacuum circuit breaker is reliable and easy to design. Thus, a dc
SFCL combined with a dc vacuum circuit breaker is a suitable
combination for 750 V and 1.5 kV dc traction systems, and it
shows potential for use in higher dc-voltage systems.
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Kun Yang was born in Xi’an, China, on August 7, 1989. He received the B.E.
degree in electrical engineering from Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China,
in 2012. Since 2012, he has been studying for the successive postgraduate and
doctoral programs degrees in electrical engineering in Xi’an Jiaotong Univer-
sity, Xi’an.
His research interests include dc superconducting fault current limiter tech-
nology and new dc interruption technology.
5600108 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON APPLIED SUPERCONDUCTIVITY, VOL. 28, NO. 1, JANUARY 2018
Yi Yang received the B.E. degree in electrical engineering from Xi’an Jiao-
tong University, Xi’an, China, in 2014, the French Engineer Degree (master’s
degree)from CentraleSupélec, Gif-sur-Yvette, France, in 2015. She is currently
working toward the master’s degree in electrical engineering from the School
of Electrical Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University. She also took part in the
exchange program of double degrees with Supélec, Paris, France.
She did an internship from September 2015 to March 2016 in R&D Depart-
ment, KEMA Laboratories, DNV GL, the Netherlands. She took part in high
voltage direct current system fault current project during that time. Her research
interest includes dc interruption based on artificial current zero method.
Muhammad Junaid received the B.Eng. and M.S. degrees in electrical en-
gineering from COMSATS institute of information technology with the spe-
cialization in power system engineering, in 2011 and 2015, respectively. He is
currently working toward the Doctoral degree in electrical engineering from the
School of Electrical Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China.
He has also served as a Lecturer in power engineering in the Department
of Electrical Engineering, Sarhad University of Science and Information Tech-
nology, Peshawar, Pakistan. His research interests include key technologies for
fault current interruption using vacuum interrupters and cryogenic fluids.
Mr. Junaid is an active member of IAENG Hong Kong, Pakistan Engineering
Council, and the Institute of Engineers Pakistan.
Siyuan Liu was born in Harbin, China, on May 31, 1990. He received the
B.E. degree in electrical engineering from the Harbin Institute of Technology,
Harbin, in 2013. Since 2013, he has been working toward the Ph.D. degree
in electrical engineering in the Department of Electrical Engineering, Xi’an
Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China.
His research interests include dc circuit breaker with active injection and
vacuum arc theory.
Zhiyuan Liu (M’01–SM’14) was born in Shenyang, China, in 1971. He received
the B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from Shenyang University
of Technology, Liaoning, China, in 1994 and 1997, respectively, and the Ph.D.
degree in electrical engineering from Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China,
in 2001.
From 2001 to 2002, he was in the General Electric Company Research
and Development Center, Shanghai, China. Since 2003, he has been working in
State Key Laboratory of Electrical Insulation and Power Equipment, Department
of Electrical Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an. He is currently a
Professor in Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an.
Prof. Liu is a member of Current Zero Club and a member of CIGRE
Working Group WGA3.27 “The impact of the application of vacuum switchgear
at transmission voltages.” He is also a member of CIGRE Working Group
JWGA3/B4.34 “Technical requirements and specifications of state-of-the-art
DC switching equipment.”
Yingsan Geng (M’98–SM’14) was born in Henan Province, China, in 1963.
He received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from
Xi’an Jiaotong University (XJTU), Xi’an, China, in 1984, 1987, and 1997, re-
spectively.
He is currently a Professor in the State Key Laboratory of Electrical Insula-
tion and Power Equipment, Department of Electrical Engineering, XJTU. His
research interests include theory and application of low voltage circuit breaker
and high voltage vacuum circuit breakers.
Jianhua Wang (SM’14) received the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical en-
gineering from Xi’an Jiaotong University (XJTU), Xi’an, China, in 1981 and
1985, respectively.
He is currently a Professor and the Director in the State Key Laboratory of
Electrical Insulation and Power Equipment, Department of Electrical Engineer-
ing, XJTU. His research interests include theory and application of intelligent
electrical apparatus and systems, and CAD/CAE in electrical engineering.
Dr. Wang is the Chairman of the Professional Branch Committee on Intelli-
gent Electrical Systems and their Applications of the China Electro-Technical
Society, and an Associate Council Member of the China Electro-Technical
Society.