Proceedings of the International Conference on Smart Electronics and Communication (ICOSEC 2020)

IEEE Xplore Part Number: CFP20V90-ART; ISBN: 978-1-7281-5461-9

A Z-Source based Bidirectional Series circuit

Breaker for DC Application
1stTejas Bhaskar 2ndM rs. S. L. Shaikh
dept. ElectricalEngineering dept. ElectricalEngineering
Walchand College of Engineering Walchand College of Engineering
Sangli, India Sangli, India
[email protected] [email protected]

Abstract—A topology of the Z-source circuit breaker which the z-source circuit , the capacitor voltages are not
enables a power flow in both the direction with the capability immed iately falling to zero. The elements of ZCB work
to interrupt dc fault autonomously is discussed. Using the together attain rapid alleviat ion towards the fault tolerance.
diode bridge in this concept lets the current flow in a forward
The ZCB spontaneously react to the occurrence of a fault,
as well as reverse direction. The bridge arrangement of the
diode allows only a single controlled switch to respond to fault
giving quick detachment between source and load.
on the source as well as the load side. The proposed topology However, none of the previous arrangements of ZCBs
utilizes thyristor as a switch to detach the system from fault permits bidirectional power flo w [3]-[5]. The ability to work
with the formation LC network which is necessary for the with a bidirectional power flo w is an inexorably necessary
commutation of thyristor under fault conditions. Compared to imp rove the efficacy of systems. The paper presents a
with different unidirectional series Z-source circuit breaker bidirectional series ZCB. The introduction of the
configuration, no additional passive components are needed. presented ZCB is analy zed in a simp le power system. The
Research is done to identify the states of fault that allow the expressions derived are validated with simulated results.
bidirectional circuit breaker to trip while working in a single -
load power system. Then using the MATLAB S imulink The paper is structured according to the following. Part
platform, the bidirectional circuit breaker operation is
assessing for both load and source-side fault.
II portrays the presented ZCB with the bidirect ional
operation and its operating characteristics. It also includes
Index Terms—Thyristor, bidirectional Z-source circuit the investigation of different conditions of fault. Part III
breaker, fault conductance, LC network, fault current. consists of the operation of the breaker tested using
MATLAB Simulink. The paper is concluded in part IV.
I. INT RODUCT ION
The dc power system engineering has pulled in II. BIDIRECT IONAL ZCB TOPOLOGY
enthusiasm for accomp lishing higher effectiveness for the The presented circuit breaker design is shown in Fig. 1.
dc system, empowering simp ler coordination of sustainable To achieve bidirectional power flo w, the diodes are arranged
sources and giving uninterruptible power flexib ility. For the in a full-bridge manner. It maintains a similar conduction
effective use of dc systems, the protection system should be path through the inductor and capacitor. The fault current is
reliable. Perhaps one of the biggest challenges in the dc restricted and interrupts irrespective of the direction of the
system is the circuit breaker. The absence of a characteristic current. A depiction of the normal operating condition is
current and voltage zero -crossing which required fo r presented in part II-A. Part II-B contains a portrayal of the
extinguishing an arc that is developed during the opening of reaction of a breaker to the load side fault. Part II-C contains
the supportive derivation of load side fault conductance. The
the circuit breaker. Conventional power electronics dc
response to source side fault is given in part II-D. Part II-E is
breakers ordinarily depend on auxiliary electronics
trailed by an equation for detectable fault conductance for a
switching devices and pre-charged inductive and capacitive fault on the source side fault. Part II-H contains the peak
networks that reverse biases the main switching device and current and voltage stress on the breaker co mponent. In the
commutate forcefu lly. This results in quick and arc -less analysis performed, it is accepted that C1 = C2 = CZCB and L1
interruption of current. In any case, the auxiliary solid -state = L2 = L. The examination is embraced with a bidirectional
exchange device should be effectively headed the main Z-source circuit breaker which is shown in Fig. 1. The ideal
switch reverse bias until the fau lt current exceeds beyond dc voltage source feeds RC load and line inductance LL . The
the breakers interrupting capability. Accordingly, CL represents the load capacitance. All together for breaker
preconditions for exact location and time must be forced on status change from the OFF to the ON, the gate signal is
the traditional breaker design. The Z -source breaker was supplied to thyristor T1 . The gate signal is then removed after
acquainted regarded as a system with interruption of the dc the breaker arrives at a normal state.
power due to a fault [1]. Z -source breaker use guidelines
that are characterized in the presentation of the z-source
inverter [2]. By utilizing an L-C circu it arranged in a
crossed manner, the z-source based inverter had presented
one extra shoot-through state in wh ich all inverter
switches can be gated ON. The short circuit fault in the dc
circuit appears like a shoot-through condition of a z-source
inverter. The circuit uses thyristors that are economical,
robust, and can deal with larger voltages and currents. At the
point when the fault occurs, since the inductor is present in

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 Proceedings of the International Conference on Smart Electronics and Communication (ICOSEC 2020)
IEEE Xplore Part Number: CFP20V90-ART; ISBN: 978-1-7281-5461-9

and it clamped by diode D5 and D6 .The voltage across the

thyristor from transcending the supply voltage. This blocks
the thyristor voltage to VS. The current flowing through the
inductors are clamped in this manner, the stored energy is
drained in the diode (D5 and D6 ). The resistors can be added
in series with the diode, as depicted in Fig. 2, for the quicker
dissipation of the stored energy.
At the time of resonance, the output diode (D2 or D4 ) current
is the aggregate of the current in the two series LC circu its.
The input diode (D1 or D3 ) current is equal to one series LC
circuit. Hence, it is half of the output diode current.
C. Detectable Fault Conductance—load side
Fig. 1. Bidirectional Z-source breaker. The response of the circuit breaker to fault depends upon
the fault characteristic and the operating system. For the
A. Normal operation autonomous operation, characteristics of the fault should be
During the normal operation (see Fig. 1), the load current such that the thyristor current drops to zero after a fault.
IL passes through the line inductances LL , L1 , and L2 . The
Prior to the fault, load current be
voltage drop over the inductor is negligible. The diode D 1
and D4 conduct, while D2 and D3 are in the reverse-biased ܸௌ
mode. The voltage across the load is VS and C2 is charged to ‫ܫ‬௅ ൌ (1)
VS , and C1 is discharged. The circuit breaker acts similarly ܴ௅
even the interchange of the terminals is performed. Be that as IL is the load current. VS and RL are DC supply voltage and
it may, D2 and D3 are conducting, and D1 and D4 are in the load resistance respectively.
reverse blocking mode.
The fault current is calculated from (1)is given by
The thyristor T1 has predefined turn-off time t q and
holding current iH . If the thyristor current is permitted to fall ‫ ݂ܫ‬ൌ ‫ܩ‬௙ ‫ܸ כ‬ௌ (2)
below iH for a span greater than tq , the thyristor will go to the
Where If and Gf are fault current and fault conductance
blocking state.
respectively.
B. Reaction to load side Fault Both the load as well as breaker capacitors feed the fault.
At the point when a fault occurs on the load side of the Using the current division rule, the capacitor currents after
breaker, the fault current flo ws through the red path as shown fault is derived as follow
in Fig. 2 is a direct short circuit fault at load terminals . The
fault current is divided into if, ZCB which is the current flow ‫ܥ‬
‫ ܥܫ‬ൌ ൬ ൰ ‫ܫ כ‬௙ ൌ ‫ܥ‬ௌ ‫ܫ כ‬௙ (3)
through the breaker capacitors , and if,C is the current flow ‫ܥʹ כ ܥ‬௅
through the load capacitor. When the fault occurs, the
inductors oppose the change in current. Therefore the current ʹ‫ܥ‬௅
‫ܮܥܫ‬ ൌ൬ ൰ ‫ܫ כ‬௙ ൌ ‫ܥ‬ோ ‫ܫ כ‬௙ (4)
through inductor maintains at its pre-fault state. Assessing ‫ܥʹ כ ܥ‬௅
the node (a) (see Fig. 2), when i f, ZCB increases to IL , iT falls to
zero causing thyristor T 1 turns OFF. After this, two LC The detectable fault currentis mentioned below
circuits are shaped: 1) through L1 , C1 , and the fault, and 2) ‫ܥʹ כ ܥ‬௅
through L2 , C2 , and the fault. ‫ ܥܫ‬ൌ ൬ ൰ ‫ܫ כ‬௅ (5)
‫ܥ‬
The conductance of the fault must be larger than the
conductance of the load.
ʹ‫ܥ‬௅ ͳ
‫ ݀ܽ݋݈ ݂ܩ‬ൌ ൬ͳ ൅ ൰‫ כ‬ሺ ሻ (6)
‫ܥ‬௓஼஻ ܴ௅
Due to the greater part of the fault current through the
breaker capacitors, Gf load diminishes as CZCB builds
comparative with CL . Fro m equation (6) it is seen that fault
conductance and RL are inversely proportional. The reason
for this is the reduction in load current, which decreases fault
current through breaker capacitors if,ZCB needed to turn OFF
the thyristor. At the point when CL is zero, Fault conductance
is equal to the load conductance GL . The Fault conductance
is dependent on RL .
D. Response to source side fault
Fig. 2. Fault on the load side .
This circuit breaker can operate autonomously for
As soon as LC circuits start to resonate, VC2 decreases, source-side fault. If in case, the breaker is ON and a fault
and VC1 increases. At the same time, VC1 becomes greater occurs across input terminals, some portion of fault current is
than VS. Hence voltage across the inductor becomes negative

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 Proceedings of the International Conference on Smart Electronics and Communication (ICOSEC 2020)
IEEE Xplore Part Number: CFP20V90-ART; ISBN: 978-1-7281-5461-9

provided by the breaker capacitors. The behavior of other 1) Without load capacitance:When the source-side
parameters is relying on the load capacitance. fault of conductance Gf occurs, the CB responds as defined
in Part II-D for the situation where load capacitance is zero.
Nevertheless, load resistance can not be ignored. Initially,
the fault voltage VS is supplied by breaker capacitors.
ͳ
‫ ݁ܿݎݑ݋ݏ݂ܩ‬ൌ (8)
ܴ௅
For the case of the load capacitance is exists, Gf source> Gf load.
For the case of the load capacitance is zero, Gf source = Gf load .
F. Maximum current and voltage
The voltage stress and peak current on the elements rise
when the breaker works at full load and suddenly there is a
fault. The voltage stress and peak current are important while
designing of the breaker. The maximu m current flow through
the inductor for the unidirectional breaker arranged in series
manner is determined in [6] as given below:
Fig. 3. Fault on the source side.
‫ ݇ܽ݁݌ܫ‬ൌ  ඥͳ ൅ Ͷܳ ଶ (9)
1) With load capacitance: The fault current flo ws, as
depicted in Fig. 3 for the situation where a short circuit fault
occurs in the presence of load capacitance. At the beginning, Where
the fault current is the total of if,ZCB, if,C and ifS. For this
situation, the falling input voltage causes D1 and D4 to turn ܴ௅ ‫ܥ‬
ܳ ൌ ඨ (10)
OFF. At the same time, D3 and D2 will turn ON. The ʹ ‫ܮ‬
inductance of the line constrains the fault current given by
the dc supply (ifS) to load current. Thus, with breaker These expressions are utilized to know the maximu m
inductors, the current IL is restricted fault current (ifc). currents in the presented design of the breaker.
Moreover, the breaker capacitors provide the fau lt current
III. SIMULAT ION RESULT S OF T HE PROPOSED BREAKER
if,ZCB. The two LC series resonant circuits are shaped when
thyristor turns OFF: 1) through C2 , L2 , and the fault, and 2) The simulat ion and performance of the ZCB are
through C1 , CL , L1 , and the fault. The reaction to the fault is measured using the proposed topology. The operation of Z-
like that of portrayed in Part II-B for load side fault. source based circuit breaker shown in Fig. 1 a model is
created in MATLAB Simu link. Tab le I contain the
2) Without load conductance: With CL = 0 μF when the
parameters used in the simu lation. The simu lation is utilized
fault occurred, the total of if,ZCB and ifS is the initial fault
to determine the execution of the presented breaker design.
current. For this situation, the input voltage and the output
The simulat ion is tested with the assumption that before the
voltage collapses instantly. The fault current provided by the
occurrence of a fault, the circuit breaker is in a steady state.
source (ifS) is controlled by the line inductance LL . Breaker
capacitance gives the current to fault as well as load. This 1) Infinite Fault Conductance: The direct short circuit
implies that load resistance and fault are in parallel. fault is applied on the load side of the breaker at t = 0.5 ߗs.
Therefore the load resistance may be ignored for short The response of the breaker to this fault is depicted in Fig. 4.
circuit fault. When the thyristor is switched off, the current After the fault, thyristor current i T, (see Fig. 4) instantly
through L1 is clamped by D5 , and the resonant circuit of the become zero because breaker capacitance provides the fault
series LC is formed by C2 , L2 , and the fault. The in itial current, if,ZCB. The resonant response of an LC circuit occurs
resonance conditions are controlled by the circuit's steady- between t = 0.5 μs to t = 300 μs. The diode D5 and D6
state operating point and the response is like that of an clamps the inductor current at t = 300 μs. The load and
output fault depicted in part II-B. resonant LC circu it are in series when the thyristor is
detached. On the other hand, one the LC resonant circuit
which consist of L1 and C1 will co me in series with the
E. Detectable fault conductance—Source
supply. The time durat ion for which thyristor remains to
The detectable fault conductance for a source-side fault reverse biased is reverse resonance time (t rr). The estimated
(Gf source) is derived for the with and without load t rr from the simulation (see Fig. 5) is 200 μs. To keeps the
capacitance instances with load capacitance: If the source thyristor off, the turn-off t ime of thyristor (t q ) should be
side fault with load capacitance having fault conductance of greater than (t rr).
Gf happens, the breaker reacts as depicted in part II-D.
Initially, the fault voltage VS is supplied by breaker
capacitors.
͵
‫ ݁ܿݎݑ݋ݏ ݂ܩ‬ൌ (7)
ܴ௅

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 Proceedings of the International Conference on Smart Electronics and Communication (ICOSEC 2020)
IEEE Xplore Part Number: CFP20V90-ART; ISBN: 978-1-7281-5461-9

conductance.If load conductance id greater than the fault

conductance circuit breaker will unable to interrupt the fault
TABLE I Simulation parameters current.

Variables Value Comment

L = L1 = L2 1 mH Breaker
inductance
C = C1 = C2 33 μF Breaker
capacitance
Fig. 5. T hyristor current forload side faultGf = 1.05 (Ω) −1 and Gf = 1.00
VS 300V Supply voltage (Ω) −1 with CL = 480μF
RL 30 Ω Resistive load
LL 5 mH Line inductance

CL 480 μF Line inductance

RC 1Ω Clamping
resistance

Fig. 6.T hyristor current for load side faultGf = 0.034 (Ω) −1 and Gf = 0.032
(Ω) -1 with CL = 0μF

3) Fault conductance for source-side fault: On the

source-side of CB, a simulat ion test is conducted for
fault.Min imu m fau lt conductances are calculated according
to (7) and (8) for cases with and without load capacitance.
The measured fault conductance with CL = 480 μF is Gf source
= 0.1 (Ω)−1 . Fo r CL = 0 μF, it will Gfsource = 0.033 (Ω)−1 . The
simu lation is framed a bit up and below the measured fault
conductance, Gf = 0.105 (Ω)−1 and Gf = 0.095 (Ω)−1 with CL
= 480 μF. The results are shown in Fig. 7. It is observed that
when Gf = 0.105 (Ω)−1 , the thyristor turns OFF. Also, Gf =
0.032 (Ω)−1 and Gf = 0.034 (Ω)−1 with CL = 0 is tested in
Fig. 4.T hyristor current and voltage for Infinite Fault Conductance simu lation. The result is shown in Fig. 8. For Gf = 0.034
(Ω)−1 thyristor is turn OFF. For the case of Gf = 0.095(Ω)−1
2) Fault conductance for load side fault: The and Gf = 0.032 (Ω)−1 , the fault current through the breaker
expression for fault conductance for load side fault (6) is capacitors is not adequate to resolve load current and make
validated using MATLAB simu lation. The estimated load the thyristor current to zero. Hence the circu it breaker does
side fault conductance from the parameter values in Table I not turn OFF.
is Gf load = 1.043 (ߗ)-1 . In this way, the two values of fault
conductance a bit higher and lower than the estimated value
tested in simulation to check the performance of the breaker.
These values are Gf = 1.05(ߗ)-1 and Gf = 1.0 (ߗ)-1
respectively. The thyristor current is shown in Fig. 5, with
CL = 480 μF. Befo re the fault occurrence, the steady-state
load current is 10 A. At t = 0.5 μs, a fault occurs on the load
side. The simu lation is then rehashed with CL = 0 μF. The
base issue conductance determined utilizing (6) for this
situation is Gf load = 0.033 (Ω)−1 . The simulation is tested for
Gf = 0.034 (Ω)-1 and Gf = 0.032 (Ω)-1 . The current flo w
through thyristor is shown in Fig. 6. It is observed that for Fig. 7.T hyristor current for the source side fault Gf = 0.105 (Ω) −1 and Gf =
Gf = 0.105 (Ω)−1 , the thyristor will go in OFF state. For the 0.095 (Ω) −1 with CL = 480μF
case of Gf = 1.0 (Ω)−1 and Gf = 0.032 (Ω)−1 , the fau lt current
through the breaker capacitors is not sufficient to control
load current and turns the current thyristor to zero. Hence
breaker is not going to turn OFF. Where there is no load
capacitance, a fundamental limit on fault conductance for
load side fault is specified, which is equal to the load

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 Proceedings of the International Conference on Smart Electronics and Communication (ICOSEC 2020)
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[4] Keith A. Corzine, Senior Member, IEEE, “A New-Coupled-Inductor

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