Research Projects

Conventional electrical protection system is driven by electro-mechanical circuit protection devices, where physical opening of the contacts during fault creates arcing and takes time in milliseconds to clear the fault. According to the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB), there are several short-circuit incidents in India, approximately in thousands in a year, which cause accidental fire. Solid state circuit breaker has the potential to bring down this number by continuously monitoring the voltage and current, and clearing the fault almost instantaneously by recognizing any unusual behavior in them. This project proposal aims to design a solid state circuit breaker which can be used for both AC and DC applications. For the AC applications, the targeted area is AC residential, office and commercial buildings, and for DC application, the targeted area is DC data center. A solid state circuit breaker has a solid state switch for making and breaking the circuit, current sensor for sensing short-circuit and overcurrent, voltage sensor for sensing over-voltage and under-voltage conditions, a controller for tripping pulse generation and a voltage clamping circuit for absorbing short-circuit energy. Considering the present research gap, the research objectives are formulated as (1) Design of cost-effective and reliable active voltage clamping circuit, (2) Design of high speed current sensing circuit, (3) Design of suitable heat dissipation system, in this project proposal. The research objectives will be accomplished in a hardware prototype of a solid state circuit breaker with operating voltage range of 110V-240V AC and 300V-350V DC, with a nominal current of 6A-16A. The short-circuit tests will be carried out at different fault level to verify objective-(1) and (2). It will also be subjected to continuous duty for verifying objective (3). The research objectives aim to improve the reliability of the solid state circuit breaker and to make it a viable alternative to electro-mechanical circuit breaker for sensitive loads.