Solid-State Circuit Breaker with Avalanche Robustness using Series-Connection of SiC Diodes

This paper proposes a solid-state circuit breaker with avalanche robustness during cutoff operation using series-connection of SiC diodes. Solid-state circuit breakers need to consume energy generated by energy dissipation in the wiring inductance when the cutoff operation. The proposed solid-state circuit breaker improves the cutoff current tolerance by using SiC diodes connected in series to share the avalanche energy. Furthermore, the consuming energy by the solid-state circuit breaker is reduced by maintaining a higher clamping voltage than using single SiC diode during the interruption operation. Experimental results show that the proposed solid-state circuit breaker with two series-connection SiC diodes reduces the consumed avalanche energy by 34.3% compared to using single SiC diode under the same cutoff condition. The proposed solid-state circuit breaker is investigated based on a 400 VDC distribution system with unclamped inductive switching (UIS) condition up to 50 A cutoff current.