Of a High Current Hvdc Circuit Breaker with Fast Fault Clearing Capability

Recent yea rs have seen r a p i d growth i n d i r e c t c u r r e n t t ransmiss ion. Th is growth increases the need and scope o f a p p l i c a t i o n f o r a h i g h vo l tage d i r e c t c u r r e n t c i r c u i t breaker . S i g n i f i c a n t improvements have been made i n a p r e v i o u s l y developed 500 kV, 2000A HVdc c i r c u i t breaker . These improvements have increased t h e c u r r e n t i n t e r r u p t i n g c a p a b i l i t i e s t o 4000A dc and more and have decreased t h e f a u l t c l e a r i n g t ime t o t h e o r d e r o f ac breakers o f s i m i l a r v o l t a g e r a t i n g s . The r e s u l t i s a HVdc c i r c u i t breaker t h a t i s b u i l t u s i n g w e l l proven ac power system components. I t i s modular i n des ign so as t o be s u i t a b l e f o r a wide range o f system v o l tages and energy 1 eve1 s .