XXIVth Int. Symp.
on Discharges and Electrical Insulation in Vacuum - Braunschweig - 2010
Fundamental Investigation and Application
of High-speed VCB for DC Power System
of Railway
Y. Niwal ,K. Yokokural and J. Matsuzakil
IToshiba Corporation, 1, Toshiba-cho, Fuchu-shi, Tokyo, Japan
Abstract- The fundamental phenomena of the high-speed
vacuum circuit breaker, which forced the fault current to
zero, for the DC power system were investigated by the
experiments. The interruption characteristics of the circuit
breaker, which was consisted from a vacuum interrupter,
a high frequency current source and a high-speed driving
mechanism, were estimated experimentally. The arcing
period of the high-speed vacuum circuit breaker is much
shorter than that of conventional circuit breaker. The arc
behavior of the test electrodes immediately after the
electrode separation was observed by a high-speed video
camera. The relation between the current waveform just
before current zero and the interruption ability by varying
the high frequency current source was investigated. The
results demonstrate the interruption characteristics and
the arc behaviors of the high-speed vacuum circuit
breaker. And the high-speed vacuum circuit breakers were
applied for DC1500V and DC750V power systems of
railway.
I. INTRODUCTION
Vacuum circuit breakers (VCBs) have been widely
used in power distribution systems. Conventional VCBs
used in AC systems interrupt fault currents within
several cycles of the system's frequency from an instant
of a fault occurrence. The I-cycle VCB, which was
developed recently, interrupts the fault current within
only one cycle of the AC supply frequency. One method
for reducing the duration from the instant of a fault
occurrence to the fault current interruption is to force
the fault current to zero by injecting a high frequency
current that is opposite polarity to the fault current
[1][2][3]. The results indicate that VCBs were able to
interrupt the high current under very high dIldt
condition. Thus, VCBs can be considered to be suitable
for DC current interruption. In this paper, the
application of this method to DC circuit breakers for
railways is investigated experimentally. A conventional
DC circuit breaker for DC power system of railways is
air circuit breaker. The electrodes of DC air circuit
breaker are damaged by the air arc during the arcing
time. And large noise occurs because of the air arc, at
the current interruption. But, the electrode damage and
the noise of VCB are small at the current interruption.
The experimental research was carried out with a test
VCB and the synthetic test circuit. The test circuit
978-1-4244-8365-5/1 0/$26.00 mOl 0 IEEE
breaker consisted of a VCB, compnsmg a vacuum
interrupter, a driving mechanism, and a high frequency
current source. To decrease the interruption time from
the fault occurrence to the current interruption, a high
speed driving mechanism was used, which drove the
movable part of the vacuum interrupter by a magnetic
impact force. The vacuum interrupter has an axial
magnetic field (AMF) electrode, which is well known to
have high current interruption ability [4]. The vacuum
arc is diffused and stabilized by an axial magnetic field.
The effect of the current waveform just before the
current zero for the high interruption current, the short
arcing time, are investigated experimentally.
The results demonstrate the interruption ability and
the arc behavior of the proposed high-speed vacuum
circuit breaker. The arc is ignited between the electrodes
at the instant of the electrode separation and is
concentrated at the ignition point. Within a few ms after
electrode separation, the arc is diffused by the axial
magnetic field. Under the concentrated arc condition,
with higher in dIldt, the interruption current limit is
decreased. The high current interruption is made
possible by the low current period just before the
current zero, despite the short arcing time and the
comparatively concentrated arc. With increasing in the
low current period, the maximum interruption current is
increased.
These results were applied to the DCI500V and 750V
high speed VCB for the DC power system of railways.
The two types of driving mechanism were applied. The
magnetic impact mechanism opens the movable
electrode of the vacuum interrupter quickly, when the
fault occurs. The Balanced magnetic actuator opens and
closes the movable electrode, when the no current and
the load current interruption. This new VCB type passed
industry standard tests and is already commercialized.
II. FUNDAMENTAL TEST METHOD
The arc observation and interruption tests were carried
out using the synthetic test circuit. The current
waveforms of the test VCB are shown in Fig. I. The test
electrode of the VCB was tripped before the peak of the
main current wave. A few ms after the electrode
separation, the high frequency current was injected. The
current waveform around the current interruption,
shown in Fig. 1(b), was achieved by controlling the
injected high frequency current waveform. Two types of The relationship between the interruption current and
waveforms, without the low current period and with the the arcing time, without the low current period just
low current period, were tested. A recovery voltage before current interruption, is shown in Fig.3. The
from the voltage source appeared between the interruption current is normalized with respect to the
electrodes after the current zero. maximum interruption current for the case where dl/dt
equals O.63[P.U.] and the arcing time is 2.3 ms. The
interruption ability for the low diidt is higher than that
Arcing time
for the high diidt. A large high frequency current source
:( :
�
) Current of test
is needed, if the dl/dt is kept low to interrupt the high
I VCS
current. The interruption ability is increased, with
increasing the arcing time. When the arcing time is short
and the interrupted current is high, the arc is
concentrated during the arcing time. This result shows
Time
that the high current interruption is difficult, when the
arcing time is short.
separation High current interruption is difficult, when the arc is
concentrated during the arcing time. The effect of the
(a)Current waveforms low current period just before the current interruption on
Current of test VCS
the interruption ability was investigated. The
Current of test VCS
relationship between the breaker's interruption ability

....
c
Q)
....
� urrent ....
c
Q)
ILow curre�t period
.
and the low current period is shown in Fig.4. With
increase in the low current period, the interruption
....
:::l
....
.... �I current is increased. The interruption ability with the
I Current
:::l
o o I low current period is higher than that without the low
I I interruption
11/ current period. These results demonstrate that high
Time
current interruption and short interruption can be
Time
achieved by using this current injection method.
Without low current period With low current period
(b)Current waveforms around current interruption 8

I I
Fig. 1. Current waveforms of test VCB o Interruption success
X Interruption failure

V> 6
di/dt 1.0P.U .
..s ��
I
di/dtcO P.u.
0

� @I
III. RESULS OF FUNDAMENTAL TESTS Q)

�
E

�O
'';::; 4
The arc appearances between the electrodes, as bD
c

�9 �
observed by a high speed camera, are shown in Fig.2. '0
.... <X
O
0
<l:
"Time" shown on the left side indicates the time from 2

the instant of electrode separation. The arc column was

ignited at the instant of electrode separation. The arc
was concentrated around the ignition point, and was
0
r
o 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.2
diffused into a uniform distribution over the whole
Interruption current [P.U']
electrode area around 2.5ms by the axial magnetic field
Fig. 3. Relationship between interruption current and arcing
effects.
time

Time
Cathode r-;>
1.5
0.5ms ::J

Anode
�
....
c
Q)
I�
t: [ ' dIldt:O.63P.U. Arcing time:2.2ms
:::l
Cathode () "

I
ArCi�g time:2.�ms
1.5ms C
0
'';::;
Anode 0. 0.5
:::l
.... \ dIldt:1.0 P.U.
....
Q) Arcing time:2.5ms
....
Cathode oS
2.5ms 0
I I
o 5 10 15 20 25
Anode
Low current period[ J1 s]

Fig. 4. Relationship between interruption current and low

Fig. 2. Arc appearances between electrodes current period
 IV APPLICATION FOR DC HIGH-SPEED VCB
Interruption Main va uum interrupter
The High-speed VCB for DC power system of current-\, ____
l
-I
S�� ".!:u � � erruPter
__ � �
railway was developed and designed by applying the
results of the fundamental investigation. The rated
values of the High-speed VCB are shown in Table1 and
Table2. The high-speed VCB is able to be interrupted
the fault current and the normal current for many
numbers of time, because the damage of electrodes by
the vacuum arc is small. Two main circuits of
high-speed VCB are shown in Fig.S and Fig.6. The high
frequency current source is designed by the interruption
characteristics of fundamental investigation. The high Fig. 5. Circuit of High-speed VeB of middle interruption
frequency current source without the low current period capability

is applied to the high-speed VCB shown in Fig.S. That

\
Interruption . .
with the low current period is applied to the high-speed Main vacuum Interrupter
current Saturable reactor
VCB shown in Fig.6, because the interruption capability / Sub vacuum interrupter
is high. A saturable reactor is set for the low current J r---+----i--l
1-----' W
period just before the current zero.
I-
I
I
TABLE 1. Rated values of High-speed VCS of Middle Interruption I
Capability I
Nominal voltage IS00V17S0V I Arrester(ZnO)
I High frequency
Rated service current 3000A, 4000A
Short circuit current SOkA(increased rate:3A1lls) L - ���� ..:��� - - - : current
Interruption 2SkA
Fig. 6. Circuit of High-speed VCB of high interruption
capability capability
Expected interruption IOOtimes (Fault current)
number 2000times (Normal current)
Driving mechanism Balanced magnetic actuator The main vacuum interrupter and driving mechanism
(No load current, Normal are shown in Fig.7. Two types of mechanism are
current interruption) applied. High speed mechanism is used for the fault
current interruption to shorten the time from the fault
Magnetic impact mechanism occurrence to the electrode separation. When the fault
(Fault current interruption) occurs, a high frequency current is injected to the coil
Standard JEC-71S2 1991 by the current source, and the magnetic impact force
between the coil and the conducting ring drives to open
the movable electrode of the main vacuum interrupter.
TABLE 2. Rated values of High-speed VCS of High Interruption
Capability
When the normal current interruption and the no load
Nominal Voltage IS00V current, the movable electrode is driven by the balanced
Rated service current 3000A, 4000A magnetic actuator, which is driven by magnetic force
Short circuit current 1 OOkA(increased rate:1 OA/�s) and spring force[S).
Interruption 3SkA
capability Conducting bar
Expected interruption 30times (Fault current) � Main vacuum interrupter
number 2000times (Normal current)
r---------------

: Cu source:
Driving mechanism Balanced magnetic actuator I I
I
I
(No load current, Normal I I
I
current interruption)

Magnetic impact mechanism

(Fault current interruption)
__

� Conducting
Coil
ring
High speed mechanism
Standard JEC-71S2 1991
Balanced Magnetic Actuator

Fig. 7. Main vacuum interrupter and its driving mechanism

 The out view of the high-speed VCB is shown in Fig.8. The comparison of the high-speed VCB and the air CB
The vacuum interrupters and driving mechanism are set is shown in Table3. The VCB is expected many
in the VCB unit. And high frequency current source to numbers of fault current interruption, compared with the
force the interruption current zero, and the arrester are air CB. The noise of VCB at the current interruption is
set in the commutation unit. These two units are lower than that of the air CB. The interruption time of
controlled by the control unit. the air CB from the electrode separation to the current
The current wave forms of duty interruption test are interruption is not constant for the same fault condition,
shown in Fig.9. The current of main vacuum interrupter because the air arc condition is not stable. The
is forced to zero, and is interrupted. The current of VCB high-speed VCB demonstrates good performance.
is decreased after the current interruption of main
vacuum interrupter by the arrester, and is interrupted.
TABLE 3. Comparison of VCB and air CB for railway DC power
s stem
'f3�' .4�'" f" .. Expected number of fault
current interruption
VCB
>10
Air CB
10>
·

Noise at interruption Small Large

. .

.
�
.
! Interruption time Constant Not-constant

-- , i
. .

. .
Control
�I .
Unit
.
V CONCLUTION

·
A high speed VCB for DC power systems of railways
was investigated experimentally. The following
I : conclusions were obtained.
Front view of high-speed YCB (a) The interruption characteristics and the arc behavior
are demonstrated by the fundamental investigation.
(b) The experimental results are applied to high speed
VCBs for the DC power system of railways. These
VCBs have already been commercialized and applied
for the actual power systems.

REFERENCES

YCB unit Commutation u nit [I] S.Tamura. YKito, YKanai, R.Shimada, H.Koike, H.Ikeda
Fig. 8. Out view of High-speed YCB for DC power system of and S. Yanabu, "Parallel Interruption of Heavy Direct Current
railway by Vacuum Circuit Breaker", IEEE PES Summer
Meeting,1978.
30
I I Current interruption I [2] R.Shimada, K.Tani, H.Kishimoto and S.Tamura,
I I f ' I I . I "Development of High Current DC Circuit Breaker for Large
"'�" """"'- - -
':;? 20 - - - - ,- - - - " � m"o

T
I I I I I Tokamak Fusion Device", IEEE PES Summer Meeting,1978.
.::s
.... I I I I
[3] YNiwa, T. Funahashi, K. Yokokura, J.Matsuzaki, M.Homma,
....
C
10 ____ L ___ J
I
___
I
l ____ ! ____ L
I
____

E.Kaneko, "Basic investigation of a high-speed vacuum

....
Q) I I I
I � --- ....,I ---- ,----
I I
I
I
:l circuit breaker and its vacuum arc characteristics",IEE
0 0 Proc.-Gnener. Transm. Distrib., Vo1.153, No1, ppll-15,2006

[4] S.Yanabu, S.Sohma, T.Tamagawa, S. Yamashita, T.Tsutsumi,

-10
" Vacuum Arc under an Axial Magnetic Field and its
-2 0 2 4 6 8 10 Interrupting Ability", Proceeding lEE, Vol. 126, No. 4,
pp313-320 , 1979
Time[ms]
[5] Kato K, Kubota N, Sakaguchi 0, Matsuo K, Matsumoto Y,
(a) Main vacuum interrupter
"The Development of Magnetic Actuator for 24/36kV Solid
Insulated Switchgear" , Joint technical meeting lEE Japan,
30 EO-04-131 SP-04-42 HV -04-72, 2004
�
Curr nt interruption of YCB
':;? 20
.::s
.... E-mail ofauthors:yoshimitsu.niwa@toshiba.co.jp
....
c
10
....
Q)
:l
0 0

-10
-2 0 2 4 6 8 10
Time[ms]
(b) VCB terminal
Fig. 9. Current waveforms of duty current interruption test