A Trade-off Between Cost and Efficiency in Solid-State Circuit Breakers

This paper deals with techno-economic analysis (TEA) of a 4 kV/100 A medium-voltage solid-state circuit breaker (SSCB). The aim is to find insights into interactions among design, cost, and performance of the SSCB in practical applications. First, the main design components of the 4 kV/100 A SSCB are realized. Second, the cost distribution among the major components is presented which helps to achieve a cost-effective design. Next, the performance of the SSCB is discussed in terms of efficiency, operating speed, power density, modularity, reliability, and lifetime. The results show that the final cost of SSCB is mostly related to the efficiency of the breaker. Also, a comparison between different solid-state silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFET power modules shows that a trade-off between the breaker cost and efficiency is essential in practice.