1732 CSEE JOURNAL OF POWER AND ENERGY SYSTEMS, VOL. 9, NO.
5, SEPTEMBER 2023
Research on a Multiport Parallel Type Hybrid
Circuit Breaker for HVDC Grids: Modeling
and Design
Xinming Guo, Student Member, IEEE, Jin Zhu, Member, IEEE, Qingpeng Zeng, Student Member, IEEE,
Hao Xiao, Member, IEEE, and Tongzhen Wei
Abstract—This paper proposes a star type multiport hybrid
circuit breaker (Star-HCB) topology for protection of multi-
terminal DC transmission. Reliability and stability of high
voltage DC (HVDC) grids are determined by their capabilities
to withstand DC-side faults. In order to maintain reliability
of HVDC grids, both ends of each line should be equipped
with hybrid circuit breakers (HCB). This method will increase
expenditure of the HVDC, especially the meshed topology. The
n-port Star-HCB consists of ultra-fast mechanical disconnectors,
load current switch and only one transferring branch which is
formed by improved half-bridge sub-module. Compared with
existing traditional hybrid circuit breakers and other multi-
port hybrid circuit breakers, the proposed topology can realize
the same short-circuit blocking goal using fewer components.
Detailed mathematical transient process calculation and time-
domain simulation of the proposed Star-HCB are given to verify
its superiority.
Index Terms—Fault blocking, HVDC grids half-bridge
submodule, hybrid circuit breaker, multi-port.
I. I NTRODUCTION
T HE direct-current circuit breaker (DCCB) is essential
equipment in DC grids, and has gradually gotten re-
searchers’ attention in recent years, such as mechanical types,
solid state types and hybrid types. In these topologies, hybrid
circuit breakers (HCB) have been widely applied since it can
balance interruption time and conduction loss.
Various HCBs and their applications are analyzed in [1]–
[3]. Classic HCB topology is formed by IGBTs in series and
ultra-fast disconnectors (UFD). It has been successfully tested
by ABB [1]. Another HCB topology proposed by the State
Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) [2], [3] replaces IGBTs in
series with cascaded IGBT full-bridge sub-modules (FBSM) to
prevent voltage imbalance. The scholar in North China Electric
Power University develops a low-loss and compact hybrid DC
Manuscript received July 12, 2021; revised November 21, 2021; accepted
December 31, 2021. Date of online publication August 18, 2022; date of
current version September 19, 2022. This work was supported by the Institute
of Electrical Engineering, CAS under grant (E155610101, E155610201 and
E155610301).
X. M. Guo, J. Zhu (corresponding author, e-mail: zhujin@mail.iee.ac.cn),
Q. P. Zeng, H. Xiao, T. Z. Wei are with Institute of Electrical Engineering,
Chinese Academy of Sciences and University of Chinese Academy of
Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
DOI: 10.17775/CSEEJPES.2021.05040
2096-0042 © 2021 CSEE. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
circuit breaker to reduced the cost [4]. It should be admitted
there will be a large number of HCBs when constructing multi-
terminal DC transmission [5], [6]. It will occupy a large part
of the cost of the system, resulting in low economy of HVDC
grids.
The application of a multiport DC current interrupter device
can be an effective method to solve this problem. A multi-
port hybrid DC circuit breaker is shown in [7], n main
breaker branch, n load current switches (LCS) and n − 1
ultra-fast mechanical disconnectors (UFD) are needed for n
connected lines. Although the main disconnect switch only
needs to have one-way current breaking capacity, it still needs
to independently bear all transient breaking voltages in the
process of fault breaking, which increases the manufacturing
cost of HCB. An interlink HCB proposed by [8] uses path
multiplexing between lines to form a multi terminal DC
circuit breaker. The unidirectional type only needs half the
components of the typical separate HCB. It cannot handle
a DC fault in a DC bus. The bidirectional type requires
3/4 of the components of typical separate HCBs, which has
some economic significance. However, the disadvantage of this
structure is not easy to expand and can only be applied to
three end scenarios. Literature [9] realizes sharing of main
circuit breakers by adding nominal current branches (NCB).
Each DC line of this structure is connected to the positive
and negative bus, respectively, through two NCB to form a
bridge structure. When breaking the fault current, the upper
and lower NCB will force the fault current to flow through the
transfer branch. However, this topology is difficult to break
load currents in different directions. A DC switch yard [10]
adopts an array of main circuit breakers and load transfer
switches to deal with multi terminal faults. The number of
components is slightly less than of typical separate HCB and
it has rich backup protection functions. [11], [12] provides a
bridge-type structure, which uses a diode string to transfer the
current, which protects the LCS from peak fault current.
Most of the topologies mentioned above use series type
main breakers (MB). It will be connected in series to the
fault circuit. [13]–[15] have different designs. The fault current
will flow into the MB rather than the fault circuit. This
novel structure can realize short-circuit current suppression
with many fewer components. For multi-terminal application,
a parallel DC circuit breaker with auxiliary switching is
proposed in [16]. The main circuit breaker connects the DC
GUO et al.: RESEARCH ON A MULTIPORT PARALLEL TYPE HYBRID CIRCUIT BREAKER FOR HVDC GRIDS: MODELING AND DESIGN 1733

bus and the ground to construct a virtual short circuit point. It 1) Nominal current branch
creates the condition for the mechanical switch to realize zero An NCB that consists of UFD and unidirectional LCS is
current switching. However, each line has an extra auxiliary required for each port of the Star-HCB. It connects each line
discharge switch composed of a thyristor and an anti-parallel at the central point A of the star type connection. Unlike
diode, which increases the cost. traditional DCCB with bidirectional LCS, the Star-HCB reuses
Based on parallel type research, a multi-terminal Star-HCB the multi-terminal unidirectional LCS to realize bidirectional
is proposed in this paper based on the concept of using current transfer. It can reduce conduction loss by half.
only one MB for n connected lines. It aims to decrease the 2) Star structure of diodes
overall cost of the MB without extra UFD, LCS or any other The cathodes of diodes D1 -D3 strings are connected to the
additional auxiliary switches. Different from the bidirectional central point B. The anodes of diode strings are connected to
LCS in [15], the Star-HCB can reuse the unidirectional LCS each port of Star-HCB. The main function of the star structure
to achieve the interruption goal, which further reduces conduct of diodes is to lower the peak current value of the LCS of
loss. It is easy to expand from n lines to n + 1 lines and no non-fault lines and bring a zero-current environment of UFD.
matter which line has a short-circuited fault, the corresponding Reduced number of parallel IGBTs in LCS can achieve lower
line can be cut off. conduction loss.
An operation principle of the HCB is provided in Section II. 3) Freewheeling diode strings
The comparative analysis between the proposed star-type HCB Each line needs a freewheeling diode circuit to absorb
and other multi-port HCB solutions is detailed in Section III. the energy of the short-circuit current after the NCB is
Simulation verification in MATLAB is presented in Section IV. opened. Different from series topology, the MB does not have
The Section V summaries the merits and drawbacks of the to dissipate the energy of the line inductance. Due to the
topology. DC reactor and low damping circuit structure, the current
freewheeling process will last for a long time. However, the
II. C IRCUIT C ONFIGURATION AND O PERATION P RINCIPLE maximum current flowing through the diode is equal to that in
A. Topology of Star-HCB LCS, which will decrease exponentially and does not exceed
Based on the characteristics of parallel structure and the the nominal maximum diode current. This process can be
demand of cost reduction, a multi-port Star-HCB is proposed represented in (1).
in this section. To better illustrate, a three-terminal monopolar ID (t) = ILCS (t2 )e− L t
R
(1)
HVDC system is analyzed as an example.
Figure 1 shows the basic structure of the proposed 3-port Meanwhile, the freewheeling diode strings will be equipped
star-HCB topology. Fig. 1(a) is a monopolar type and suitable with a reasonable heat dissipation structure to prevent damage
for unipolar HVDC grids. Fig. 1(b) is a symmetrical structure to the device.
and can be applied in bipolar HVDC grids. The bipolar type 4) Main breaker branch:
can handle both single polar faults and bipolar faults. The main Same as other HCB topologies, the MB is used to break the
components are as follows: final current capability. The main breaker branch is formed

ne 2
2 Li e2
M Lin
2 SR L dc 2
UFD 2 SRM L dc
LCS
2
2 UFD
Line 1 SRM 1 UFD 1 LCS 1 D2 LCS
A UFD 1 LCS 1 Line 1 SRM 1 A D2
LCS
3
D5

Ldc D1 UFD LCS

B 3 SR Ldc 3 U
M3 D1 B FD 3
Line SRM
Per-charge Circuit 3 3
Per-charge Circuit Line
D3 3
Energy Absorption Branch

Ldc
D4

D3 Ldc
D5

Main Breaker Branch

Energy Absorption Branch
MOV

MOV
Main Breaker Branch
D4

MOV

D6

D6
MOV
MOV

(a) (b)

Fig. 1. Structure of a 3-port Star-HCB. (a) monopolar type; (b) bipolar type.
1734 CSEE JOURNAL OF POWER AND ENERGY SYSTEMS, VOL. 9, NO. 5, SEPTEMBER 2023

by improved half-bridge sub-modules (HBSM). The capaci-
tance in a sub-module can realize dynamic voltage balancing
when the IGBTs in series switch off at the same time [17].
In addition, compared with IGBT-in-series structure [1] or
diode bridge type structure [18], the HBSM structure reduces
parasitic resistance and inductance because the current path
in MB is design as a unidirectional parallel structure. It can
ensure the LCS in this topology will withstand less voltage.
Less number of IGBT means less loss.
5) Per-charge circuit
The capacitor in MB needs to be charged first. To prevent
surge current from damaging the device, the charging resis-
tance and a switch are added in MB. when the start-up is
finished, the switch closes and bypasses the resistance. The
charging current can be represented as
Udc − 1 t
Ic (t) = e RC
R
The current Ic should be lower than the maximum current
of diode in HBSM Dsm and Di to prevent device damage.
The charging resistance R will determine this value.
6) Soft reclosing modular (SRM)
The soft reclosing model is proposed in [19]. It aims to
limit surge current when the HCB recloses. The switch in this
modular does not need fast operation and arc extinguishing
function. Therefore, it will not cost too much. Parallel high
resistance can provide enough time for UFD reaction in
permeant faults.
are discharging circuits to prevent overvoltage state of the
capacitor after the interruption.
Assuming the first capacitor is bypassed, and n − 1 capac-
itors are put into the charging circuit. The voltage of each
Udc
capacitor can be charged to n−1 . Then, the second capacitor
is bypassed and first one is switched in. After all the capacitors
are bypassed and charged, the sum of n capacitors voltage can
reach to
n
Vc = Udc (3)
n−1
(3) shows the voltage of a capacitor is higher than nominal
DC voltage Udc . Voltage can be adjusted by the number of
bypassed capacitors each time. This capacitors voltage can
provide a larger reverse current and in turn create the current
zero crossing for the star-HCB.
In this condition, the per-charged capacitor will limit the
(2) fault current after the IGBTs in HBSM switch off. The
process of capacitor charging by fault current will be sig-
nificantly shortened compared with FBSM-HCB proposed by
SGCC [21].
C. Operation Principles of the Proposed Star-HCB
Due to the symmetry of the Star-HCB topology, the control
strategy to handle a short-circuit fault is similar. The control
diagram of Star-HCB is shown in Fig. 3. The complete fault
interruption process is divided into 5 steps.
Fault occurs in Line 2
t0

B. Characteristic of Half Bridge Sub-modules

t1 Fault detected The IGBTs in MB
When the short-circuit fault occurs, the fault current does conduct
not have zero crossing in the DC grid. Therefore, how to
extinguish the arc quickly and safely is the most important LCS2 turns off and
t2
task of DC fault breaking. UFD2 begins to open
Most of HCBs use series IGBTs to interrupt the fault
current. To overcome the asynchronous problem in IGBTs,
snubber capacitance is used. However, the charge current t3 UFD2 completely open
of capacitance in fault interruption will lead to the lag of
peak current. Research [20] points out the lag time will last The IGBTs of MB
t4
50∼200 us. In our study, sub-module capacitors are pre- turn off
charged to reduce this time.
In HBSM design, the capacitance can be charged to a higher
t5 Surge arrester blocking
voltage by alternating conduction. As shown in Fig. 2, each
capacitor of the HBSMs can be put into charging circuit
or bypass by switching the IGBTs in HBSM. Voltage bal- t6 Fault clear
ancing control method is introduced to control the number
of capacitors put into the charging circuit. The Sc and Rc
Fig. 3. Fault clear flow chart.

Take a three-terminal Star-HCB as an example. It is assumed

the DC short-circuit fault occurs on Line2. The handling
Sc Ccb D Sc Ccb D
strategy is as follows:
MOV
MOV

Rc T Rc T 1) Step 1: When the fault is detected at t1 , the IGBTs in

the HBSM switch on immediately. As shown in Fig. 4(a), the
fault current flows from station 1 and 3 into the fault point
(a) (b) and the MB through D1 and D3 . The voltage between joints
A and B will be equipotential. Therefore, the LCS2 will not
Fig. 2. Capacitors per-charge process. (a) Bypass stage; (b) Charge stage. withstand high voltage.
GUO et al.: RESEARCH ON A MULTIPORT PARALLEL TYPE HYBRID CIRCUIT BREAKER FOR HVDC GRIDS: MODELING AND DESIGN 1735

e1
e1 Lin
Lin D1
1 F
UFD 1 U
1 UFD 2 LCS 2 LCS
UFD 2 LCS 2 LCS D1 Line 2 A D1
Line 2 LCS

D4
A LCS 3 UF
3 UF B D 3

D4
D2 B D3 D3
D2 Line
D3 Line 3
3

D5

MOV
D5

MOV

D6
D6
(a) (b)

e1 e1
Lin Lin
1
F D1 UFD
1 U LCS
1
UFD 2 LCS 2 LCS D1
UFD 2 LCS 2
Line 2 A Line 2 A D1
LCS LCS

D4
D4
3 UF 3 UF
B D3 B D3
D3 D2 D3 Line
D2 Line 3
3

D5
D5

MOV
MOV

D6
D6

(c) (d)

e1
Lin
F D1
1 U
UFD 2 LCS 2 LCS 1
Line 2 A LCS D
D4

3 UF
B D3
D2 D3 Line
3
D5

MOV

D6

(e)

Fig. 4. DC fault handling strategy. (a) Step 1 of the strategy; (b) Step 2 of the strategy; (c) Step 3 of the strategy; (d) Step 4 of the strategy; (e) Step 5 of
the strategy.

2) Step 2: When the LCS2 turns off at t2 , the current
which flows through it will be interrupted. The fault current
from station 1 and 3 only flows into the MB through D1 and
D3 respectively, as shown in Fig. 4(b). D1 and D3 construct
two new fault current paths of Line1 and Line3 to limit the
maximum current value of LCS1 and LCS3. The energy of
inductance in Line2 is consumed through the freewheeling
diode string D5 and fault point. At this time, the current loops
of fault and non-fault are separated.
3) Step 3: About 2 ms later, the UFD opens completely at
t3 , as shown in Fig. 4(c). The fault line is separated from the
DC grid physically.
4) Step 4: The IGBTs of MB turn off at t4 , as illustrated
in Fig. 4(d). The fault current is transferred to the capacitor
path, and it rapidly decreases because of higher voltage of the
capacitor in HBSM sub-modules.
5) Step 5: The protected voltage will be set by the metal
oxide varistor (MOV). When the capacitor voltage of the
HBSM sub-modules reaches it, the current will be commutated
again to the MOV, and continue to drop to zero, the fault-
clearance is finished, as illustrated in Fig. 4(e).
D. Normal Isolation Operation
Normal isolation operation is similar to the fault process.
The main difference is there will be no judgment time in the
load interruption. Therefore, peak current will be smaller than
the fault condition. The Star-HCB needs to create an active
short-circuit to ensure the UFD opens without an arc. This
1736 CSEE JOURNAL OF POWER AND ENERGY SYSTEMS, VOL. 9, NO. 5, SEPTEMBER 2023

will generate a short-circuit current in the system. However,
nearly 2 ms short-circuit duration will be permitted because
the current traveling wave will be smoothed by the DC reactor
equipped in the port of the breaker. It will not cause the miss-
operation of other DCCB protection.
E. Reclosing Operation
When the fault is permanent, the Star-HCB will not reclose.
Most of the fault is instantaneous and DC grids need to recover
from the fault status. The recovery process is shown in Fig. 5.
When Star-HCB isolates the fault, the Sc closes and lowers
the voltage of the capacitor. It helps the DCCB restore to
the initial state. At the same time, the SRM opens without
arc and the high resistance access in the short-circuit. Then,
after deionization of the system, the UFD recloses directly.
There will be two conditions. One is fault elimination, the
SMR will then close and the system recovers. Another is
the fault still exists. The SMR prevents the surge current
affecting the system. when the UFD is enabled, the MB will
trip and the UFD will open again. This strategy has some
drawbacks such as shorter lifetime of UFD, current stress of
MOV and IGBT. But all topologies with the ‘O-C-O’ reclosing
strategy have the same problem. In fact, in the field of fault
detection, researchers try to directly judge whether the fault
still exists through data analysis such as transient operating
voltages before the reclosing [22]. Applying that strategy in
this topology will avoid the drawback of the strategy.
Star-HCB isolates the fault
Sc closes and discharges the
capacitor
SRM opens
After deionization, UFD recloses
are short circuited simultaneously, the equivalent short-circuit
impedance is smaller and the current in a DC bus will rise
more during t0 ∼ t1 . But in t1 ∼ t2 the MB will not
endure larger current because the active short-circuit branch
is closer to the DC bus than other short-circuit branches. The
main task is to ensure the two UFDs open in an acceptable
time. In practice, the time difference of fault occurrences may
not exceed the whole breaking period. This urges the MB to
conduct more time and leads to a higher magnitude of fault
current. This is the common drawback in multiterminal HCB.
III. M ODELING A NALYSIS OF S TAR -HCB
Different with the series type DCCB, the parallel type
DCCB has complex impacts on a grid. To analyze the transient
process of the Star-HCB clearly, a simplified model of the DC
grid with it is established in this section. Traditional analysis
of circuit breakers focuses on each stage in HCB. It can
calculate the current at any time of short circuit, according
to the parameters of any line [7]–[11]. However, the influence
of a circuit breaker on a power system is not considered. The
math equation of a grid with DCCB is necessary to analysis
each state of the whole system. The basic structure of the
radial three-terminal monopolar HVDC system with a DC
short-circuit fault is shown in Fig. 6.
A. RLC Equivalent Circuit of DC Grid
Figure 7 shows the RLC equivalent circuit of the radial DC
grid with three terminals. In this simplified model, the positive
short-circuit
Line 1 fault Line 2
HCB
HCB
Proposed Star-HCB
Line 3
HCB
HCB

Yes Fig. 6. Radial HVDC network with three terminals with a DC short-circuit
Fault clear ? fault.

No A1
L 14
ic1
R 14
SRM closes Wait for UFD A2 L24 R24 A4 uc2+ C
to be enabled − c1
ic2
+ R
Cc2 − uc2 34 Lc1
L
34
Reclosing Star-HCB A3
success isolates the fault Lc2
ic3 Rc1

Fig. 5. Reclosing process. Rc2 uc3+ Cc3

−

F. Extreme Conditions Operation Lc3

Research [7] indicates the transmission line is not physically Rc3

close together, and the fault of a different line is dependent.
Therefore, the possibility of two lines short circuiting at the Fig. 7. RLC equivalent circuit of the radial HVDC network with three
same time is very low. In extreme conditions, when two lines terminals.
GUO et al.: RESEARCH ON A MULTIPORT PARALLEL TYPE HYBRID CIRCUIT BREAKER FOR HVDC GRIDS: MODELING AND DESIGN 1737

line resistance and inductance are the same as the negative A1

L 14 ic1
since the system is a bipolar structure. R 14 i 14
A2 Lf24 Rf24 if24 Ls24 Rs24 A4 uc1 + Cc1
Before analyzing the calculation, the stations and branches −
i if
in a DC grid should be defined first. In Fig. 7, the stations +c2 R
Cc2 uc2 34 Lc1
A1 , A2 and A3 are the “real stations” which are connected − L i3
34 4
to a converter. A4 is defined as a common joint of three Lc2 Rf A3
ic3
transmissions. The Rij and Lij (i, j = 1, 2, 3, 4) represent Rc1
line resistance and line inductor, including current limiting Rc2 uc3 + Cc3
inductance between stations Ai to Aj , the Rci , Lci and Cci −
(i = 1, 2, 3) represent on-state resistance, AC reactor and Lc3
sub-module capacitor of station Ai (i = 1, 2, 3).
Rc3
B. Math Equations of Stage1
Fig. 8. Equivalent circuit of star-HCB in HVDC system at stage 1.
When the short-circuit fault occurs, a path with resistance
Rf will be formed between the positive and negative transmis-
sion lines. As described in section II, there are five steps to And
break this short-circuit fault.
Because the fault point is between stations A2 and R=
A4 , the impedance on Branch 24 is divided into two  
Rc2 + 2Rf24 + Rf Rf Rf
impedances Ls24 &Rs24 and Lf 24 &Rf 24 , The Ls24 &Rs24  Rf Rc1 + 2R14 + Rf + 2Rs24 Rf + 2Rs24 
includes the limiting impedance and part of line impedance. Rf Rf + 2Rs24 Rc3 + 2R34 + Rf + 2Rs24
The Lf 24 &Rf 24 only contains the rest of line impedance. (10)
The branch current is written as L=
 
T 2Lf24 + Lc2 0 0
I1 = [if24 i14 i34 ] (4)
 0 2L14 + 2Ls24 + Lc1 2Ls24 
The voltage of equivalent converter capacitor is chosen as 0 2Ls24 2L34 + 2Ls24 + Lc3
the state variable to shows the influence of short circuit fault (11)
on a converter station.
T These equations describe the process of capacitor discharge
Uc = [uc2 uc1 uc3 ] (5)
after the fault occurs. When the state equation (8) is transferred
Figure 8 is stage 1 of the fault interruption. The differential into a discrete format, each variable of the system can be
equations can be formed by KVL and KCL. The circuit calculated step by step.
equations from A2 to A4 are derived as follow
C. Math Equations of Step 2∼3
uc2 = −Rc2 ic2 − Lc2 didtc2 + 2Rf24 if24



+ 2Lf24 didtf24 + Rf if

At the time of fault detection, the MB will conduct imme-

(6)

 ic2 = −if24 diately. The current in UFD2 will immediately transfer to the


if = if24 + i14 + i34 MB. The LCS2 switches off simultaneously to block the rest
of the current. The UFD2 begins to open to form electrical
Simplified (6) can be written as isolation. The Ron is the on-resistance of all IGBTs in the
dif24 dif24 MB.
uc2 = Rc2 if24 + Lc2 + 2Rf24 if24 + 2Lf24
dt dt The system is divided into two parts. One is formed by
+ Rf if24 + Rf i14 + Rf i34 (7) Star-HCB and normal transmission line. It should be noted the
current from A1 and A3 flows into the artificial short circuit
It can be seen from (7), the current from A2 can be replaced point naturally. Another is formed by the traditional series
by the line’s current and converter’s voltage. The other lines’ type DCCB and fault transmission line. With the freewheeling
current and voltage can be obtained in the same way, and then diode, the residual energy in line inductance can be consumed
the equivalent equation can be established. gradually. At the same time, the LCS2 will withstand almost
(
I˙1 = R 1 zero voltage. The equivalent equation and circuit impedance
L I1 + L Uc (8) matrix should be changed at the same time.
U̇c = −CI1
The equivalent equation
where C is the equivalent capacitor matrix of converter,
(
(R)3×3 and (L)3×3 are the circuit impedance matrix. Uc = R0 I1 + L0 I˙1
C can be written as (12)
  U̇c = −CI1
1 1 1
C = diag (9)
Cc2 Cc1 Cc3 R0 can be written as
1738 CSEE JOURNAL OF POWER AND ENERGY SYSTEMS, VOL. 9, NO. 5, SEPTEMBER 2023

A1 A1
L 14
R 14 i 14 ic1 L 14 ic1
A2 Lf24 Rf24 Ls24 Rs24 A4 uc1+ Cc1 R 14 i 14
ic2
−
A4 uc1 + Cc1
if24 if −
Cc2 +
−uc2
R
34 Lc1
L i3 R
34 4
Lc2 Ron A3 34 Lc1
Rf
ic3 Rc1 L i3
34 4
Ccb +
ucb A3
Rc2 uc3+ Cc3 − ic3
− Rc1
Lc3

Rc3 +
uc3 Cc3
−
Fig. 9. Equivalent circuit of star-HCB in HVDC system at stage 2∼3. Lc3

R0 = Rc3
 
Rc2 + 2Rf24 + Rf 0 0
 0 Rc1 + 2R14 + Ron Ron  Fig. 10. Equivalent circuit of star-HCB in HVDC system at stage 4.
0 Ron Rc3 + 2R34 + Ron  
(13) 2R14 + Rc1 0
R1 = (19)
0 2R34 + Rc3
L0 can be written as  
2L14 + Lc1 0

2Lf24 + Lc2 0 0
 L1 = (20)
0 2L34 + Lc3
L0 =  0 2L14 + Lc1 0  (14)
C can be changed as C1
0 0 2L34 + Lc3  
1 1 1
The freewheeling circuit is not included in the equation due C1 = diag (21)
Ccb Cc1 Cc3
to its independent structure. It can be seen from (13) and (14),
the line impedances Ls24 &Rs24 are removed from the circuit Since the capacitors of the HBSM Ccb are pre-charged and
impedance matrix. It means the short-circuit current will rise their voltages are higher than the voltage of Cc1 or Cc3 , the
in a fixed rate due to the artificial short-circuit point. It may voltage of inductance L14 and L34 will be reversed at once.
be a drawback of the Star-HCB. However, compared with the It means the inductance current will decrease without delay.
converter smoothing reactor, the reduced line impedance can
E. Math Equations of Step 5
be ignored to some degree. In addition, no matter parallel or
series type, the design of MB should consider extreme cases, In Fig. 11, when the Ccb is charged to the protected voltage
especially the short-circuit point closed to the DCCB. of the MOV, the fault current will be commutated to a surge
arrester. Then the vector Uc1 degenerates into the Uc2 . Due to
D. Math Equations of Step 4 the change of networks, the voltage vector can be written as
T
When the UFD2 in the TB achieve adequate isolation, Uc2 = [uc1 uc3 ] (22)
the IGBTs in the MB begin to turn off. As the residual
The equation can be written as
inductive current has decreased to zero, station A2 is locked. (
The capacitors in the HBSMs Ccb are plugged into the circuit Uc2 = R1 I1 + L1 I˙1 + Uadd
and replace the on-resistance, as shown in Fig. 10. (23)
U̇c2 = −C2 I1
The Uc vector expand the voltage of the capacitors Ccb
as Uc1 where the Uadd represents the protect voltage of a surge arrester
T
Uc1 = [ucb uc1 uc3 ]
T
(15) Uadd = [1.5Udc 1.5Udc ] (24)

The branch current is written as C can be narrowed as C2

 
T 1 1
I11 = [i14 i34 ] (16) C2 = diag (25)
Cc1 Cc3
And the equation changes to Finally, this state will last until the fault current decays to
( zero. The fault is eliminated.
T Uc1 = R1 I11 + L1 I˙11
(17) From an operation process, it can be concluded that during
U̇c1 = −C1 T T I11 the process of handling the short-circuit fault, Line1 and Line3
where the T is transmission matrix can be written as have no need to be isolated from the HVDC system. Station
  A1 and A3 can keep working properly.
−1 1 0
T = (18) This RLC equivalent model can calculate the transient value
−1 0 1
of the Star-HCB in fault interruption. It can guide the circuit
R1 and L1 can be written as breaker according to grid configuration.
GUO et al.: RESEARCH ON A MULTIPORT PARALLEL TYPE HYBRID CIRCUIT BREAKER FOR HVDC GRIDS: MODELING AND DESIGN 1739

A1 solutions. Based on the above calculation method, the number

L 14
i 14 ic1 of IGBT in MB of the proposed solution is ns np , the other
R 14
A4 uc1+ Cc1
− solution IGBT number can also be calculated based on similar
approaches, and results are shown in Table I.
R Lc1
34
L
It can be observed the solution in [9], [10], [12] and the
Ccb 34 i3 proposed solution require the least number of IGBTs, but the
+u 4
A3
− cb ic3 solution in [9] needs an additional double number of LCS and
Rc1
UFD, the solution in [10] needs additional n thyristor strings
for n lines, that still increases the overall cost of the system.
uc3 + Cc3
− The proposed solution only needs an additional 2n diode string
Lc3 for n lines, the system cost is significantly reduced.

Rc3
Fig. 11. Equivalent circuit of star-HCB in HVDC system at stage 5.
IV. C OMPARISON
This section takes several characteristics of DCCB into
consideration. Comparison of the proposed multiport HCB
topology with other existing multiport HCB topologies are
shown in Table I.
A. Economic Considerations
The MB is the main cost in HCB, and the number of
semiconductor devices mainly determines the cost of MB, and
can be calculated by (26).
NMB = ns np nd
where ns is the number of series IGBT modules in the MB,
np is number of parallel IGBT modules, nd is the direction
parameter.
The IGBTs in a series of MB need to withstand maximum
pole-to-ground voltage. Therefore, protected voltage should be
1.5 times nominal DC grid voltage [23]. The IGBT module
HiPak 5SNA 3000K452300 is applied in MB and LCS part,
which can withstand 4.5 kV. Considering the safety of each
module, a single IGBT module will bear half of the rated
voltage [24], 2.3 kV. The number of parallel IGBT modules
ns in the proposed solution is 652. Based on (8) (12), the
peak fault current can be calculated. The rated current of the
IGBT module is 3 kA. Considering the maximum current of
MB is the sum of multiple lines to ground current, the parallel
index np is usually several times larger than original HCB. In
this case, it is 4. The direction index nd is only 1 because
only unidirectional blocking capacity is required in proposed
B. Extensibility
In the multi-terminal DC network (MTDC), a converter
station always connects with multiple lines. Thus, in the
typical separate solution, three or more HCBs are needed
to meet each line protection. Excessive HCBs means huge
equipment investment.
This proposed solution integrates multiple HCBs into a
single multiport MB through a star-connection. It is clear that
the Star-HCB can be easily extended from n port HCB to
n + 1 port HCB due to its symmetrical structure and without
a greater number of MB branches.
Such as solution in [7], [9] and [10] also have symmetrical
structures. The solution in [7] increases the number of MB
branches while extending the ports, the solution in [9] must
need more UFD and MB branches. The solution in [10]
(26) will not increase the number of MB branches but have huge
implementation difficulty of MB. Detailed comparison results
are shown in Table I.
C. Other Important Features
1) Structure of MB: Grounded active modular main breaker
structure is adopted in the proposed solution. A half-bridge
sub-module cascade structure is used to replace the IGBTs-
in-series structure to avoid the IGBT string synchronization
and dynamic voltage balancing problem. The capacitor in sub-
module can be pre-charged in a flexible value. Some other
unidirectional main breaker structures such as traditional IGBT
in series structure can also be used in the proposed star-type
HCB topology.
2) Fault line isolation: According to the working process
mentioned above, the fault line Line2 can be cut off by LCS2
and UFD2, but Line1 and Line3 are able to continue working
and connect via LCS1, UFD1, LCS3, UFD3. This means that
no matter on which line the fault occurs, the normal operation

TABLE I
C OMPARISON OF D IFFERENT M ULTIPORT HCB S OLUTIONS

Solution based Proposed

Component description Solution in [7] Solution in [8] Solution in [9] Solution in [10] Solution in [12]
on Typical HCB Solution
Number of LCS 3 3 2 6 3 3 3
Number of UFD 3 3 2 6 3 3 3
Number of MB 3 3 3 6 1 1 1
Number of MOV in MB 3m 3m 3m m m m m
Number of IGBT in MB 6ns np 3ns np 3ns np ns np ns np ns np ns np
Number of thyristor string 0 0 0 0 3 0 0
Number of diode string 0
√ 0√ 0 0
√ 3√ 6
√ 6√
Extensibility ×
1740 CSEE JOURNAL OF POWER AND ENERGY SYSTEMS, VOL. 9, NO. 5, SEPTEMBER 2023

of other non-fault lines will not be terminated. However, in 15

iUFD2

Current (kA)
the solution of [7] and [8], all lines need to be cut off in some 10 iIGBT
special cases. iMOV
5

V. C ASE S IMULATION 0

In this section, to verify the feasibility of the proposed 2 2.002 2.004 2.006 2.008 2.01
(a)
Star-HCB, a three-terminal HVDC system is built in MAT-
LAB/Simulink platform, as shown in Fig. 6. The simulation 5 iLCS1

Current (kA)
iLCS2
parameters of the star-HCB and equivalent model of MMC iLCS3
are listed in Table II. The MMC model uses a simplified RLC 0
model to simulate its capacitor discharge. To make the result
of simulation more convincing, all parameters are chosen from −5
practical projects. The HiPak 5SNA 3000K452300 is applied 2 2.002 2.004 2.006 2.008 2.01
in the HBSM sub-module. Station A1 is seen as a regulating (b)
voltage station which balance the DC line voltage. Stations 10
iDiode1
A2 and A3 are set as active power regulation mode, which is

Current (kA)
iDiode2
−1500 MW and 3000 MW, respectively. 5 iDiode3

TABLE II
T HE PARAMETER OF MMC AND HCB 0

2 2.002 2.004 2.006 2.008 2.01

Parameter Value
DC cable inductance 0.22 mH/km (c)
DC cable resistance 0.014 mohm/km 2000
uC
DC cable capacitance 0.22 uF/km
Voltage (kV)

Arrester protective voltage in HCB 1500 kV

DC voltage ± 500 kV 1500
AC voltage 525 kV
Sub-module capacitor in HCB 2 mF
Arm inductor 75 mH
Arm resistance 0.147 ohm 1000
Limiting current inductor 100 mH 2 2.002 2.004 2.006 2.008 2.01
SRM Resistance 1500 ohm (d)

A. Fault Current Interruption
In the simulation model, a pole-to-ground fault occurs
between stations A2 and A4 at t = 2 s. The fault current
breaking waveforms of the star-HCB are illustrated in Fig. 12.
As can be seen from Fig. 12(a)(b), when a fault occurs, the
current of UFD2 and LCS2 increase rapidly. Then, at t =
2.001 s, the fault is detected by the system and the IGBTs of
HBSM in the MB branch are immediately conducted. At the
same time, LCS2 turns off and UFD2 begins to open to force
the residual current transfer from UFD1 to the MB branch.
From t = 2.001 to t = 2.003 s, the MB branch continues to
conduct until the UFD2 recovers dielectric strength. During
this period, current flow through LCS1 and LCS3 will be
relatively lower. The D1 and D3 withstand the current flowing
into the artificial short-circuit point, which protects the LCSs
from the fault current.
At t = 2.003 s, the UFD2 opens completely. Considering
Fig. 12. Simulation curve of the proposed star-HCB. (a) Current of separate
components; (b) Current of the LCS; (c) Current of diodes; (d) Voltage of the
capacitor.
Finally, when the capacitance’s voltage charges to the
threshold voltage of the arresters, the fault current will be
consumed by the MOV.
B. Influence Degree of Branches Current
From the analysis of different parts of the star-HCB, the
fault current breaking process could be obtained. However, for
the whole HVDC system, the impact of the proposed HCB on
the branches also needs to be evaluated.
For the three terminals HVDC system simulation model, the
influence degree of lines’ current when the fault occurs can be
seen from Fig. 13. When the fault occurs at t = 2 s, because
iLine1
5
Current (kA)

the UFD2 recovers dielectric strength and can withstand the iLine2
iLine3
DC voltage, the IGBTs in the MB begin to turn off. Then, the 0
fault current transfers to the capacitors branch in the HBSM.
As described in Fig. 12(d), the voltage of the pre-charging −5
capacitors increases sharply. Since the capacitors have been
2 2.002 2.004 2.006 2.008 2.01
pre-charged, the sum of the capacitor’s voltage is higher than
the DC bus voltage of the converter station A1 , the fault Fig. 13. Current in each branch of the three-terminal MTDC system during
current drops immediately. fault current breaking process.
GUO et al.: RESEARCH ON A MULTIPORT PARALLEL TYPE HYBRID CIRCUIT BREAKER FOR HVDC GRIDS: MODELING AND DESIGN
of the short-circuit point on Line2, the fault current of Line2
rises faster than the other two branches. Then, 1 ms later, the
LCS2 turns off and a part of the fault current transfers to the
MB branch. The rest of the fault current flows through Line2
and decreases to zero through the freewheeling diode. The
current in this line can be maintained at a low level.
After Line2 is disconnected, the non-fault Line1 and Line3
have been separated from the fault. They will withstand the
current caused by the artificial short-circuit point. However,
due to the large smoothing reactor, the line inductance has
a finite effect on the fault current. Compared with the series
type DCCB, the current in Line1 and Line3 will not increase
more. Since Line1 and Line3 are still connected to the system,
load current transfer will occur between stations A1 and A3 .
As can be seen from Fig. 13, after the fault current breaking
process, station A1 keeps supplying current to A3 .
The whole fault current breaking process takes about 9 ms.
After the isolation, the other non-fault lines such as Line1 and
Line3 will work normally, which is one of the characteristics
of this proposed Star-HCB.
C. Load Current Interruption
Line2 is isolated in t = 2.001 s. As illustrated in Fig. 14,
when the MB conducts, the line current will reverse. Different
from fault interruption, the current of the isolated line will
decrease rapidly to zero. It is because the freewheeling circuit
is in a high resistance state. The other two lines should
withstand the residual current.
iLine1
5 studied. The coordination of DRM and UFD will help identify
Current (kA)
iLine2
iLine3
0 Extreme conditions will require the MB to conduct more time,
−5
2 2.002 2.004 2.006 2.008
Fig. 14. Load current interruption.
D. Reclosing Verification
This section will use two types of fault duration in Line2 to
verify the reclosing strategy. Transient fault occurs in t = 2 s
and lasts for 200 ms, while a permeant fault will last all the
time. As shown in Fig. 15(a), the freewheel current descends
to zero at t = 2.2 s since the fault is eliminated. At t = 2.5 s,
the SRM opens and high resistance accesses to Line2. At t =
3 s, when UFD recloses, the current will not rise too much. It
is a criterion to judge whether the fault is eliminated or not.
The SRM recloses at t = 3.5 s and the system is restored.
Permeant fault condition is shown in Fig. 15(b), the operation
sequence of SRM and UFD are the same. At t = 3 s, the fault
current rapidly reaches to a relatively low steady state. The
protection system will identify a permeant fault. At t = 3.5 s,
the UFD can operate and the MB will be triggered again to
isolate the fault line.
VI. C ONCLUSION
In this paper, a novel multi-port HCB topology with star
type structure is presented. It uses a parallel structure; thus,
1741
iLine1
5
Current (kA)
iLine2
iLine3
0
−5
1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
(a)
iLine1
5
Current (kA)
iLine2
iLine3
0
−5
1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
(b)
Fig. 15. Reclosing process. (a) transient fault; (b) permeant fault.
the voltage balance capacitor can be pre-charged to save
charging time during the interruption. Thanks to the symmetric
structure, the LCS in this design is unidirectional and it can
block any line’s short-circuit fault. Besides, the freewheeling
circuit will reduce energy consumption of the arrester. By
sharing the expensive IGBT and surge arrester string, the
whole protection cost can be relatively low.
For load current interruption, an active short-circuit mecha-
nism will force the line current decline to zero rapidly but also
affect other lines. This is still a problem that should be further
the type of the fault and complete the reclosing operation.
which may lead to exceeding the current withstanding capacity
of semiconductor devices. This is a common problem the
2.01 integrated HCB should face.
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Xinming Guo received his B.S. degree from China

University of Mining and Technology in 2017. He
is presently a doctoral student in the Institute of
Electrical Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sci-
ences, and with the University of Chinese Academy
of Sciences. His current research interests include
distributed generation and circuit breaker.