SOLID-STATE CIRCUIT BREAKERS AND RELATED CIRCUITS

• US 20130154391A1
• Filed: 01/29/2013
• Published: 06/20/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: United States Secretary of the Army
• Original Assignee: US Army Research Laboratory (Government of the United States of America)
• Inventors: Urciuoli, Damian P.
• Granted Patent: US 9,755,630 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 307/112
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/1602 Diamond
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/1608 Silicon carbide
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/2003 Nitride compounds
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 1/32 Means for protecting converters other than automatic disconnection
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/00 Electronic switching or gating, i.e. not by contact-making and –breaking gated amplifiers H03F3/72; switching arrangements for exchange systems using static devices H04Q3/52
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/081 without feedback from the output circuit to the control circuit
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/08142 in field-effect transistor switches
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/6874 in a symmetrical configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/785 controlling field-effect transistor switches
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/00 Substation equipment, e.g. for use by subscribers subscriber services or facilities provided at exchanges H04M3/00; prepayment telephone coin boxes H04M17/00; current supply arrangements H04M19/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/00 Telephonic communication systems specially adapted for combination with other electrical systems

Abstract

Various solid-state circuit breakers and related circuits are presented herein. These include, among other things, a common node bidirectional solid-state circuit breaker (BDSSCB) having diodes connected between terminals of its switches, a shunt voltage actuated driver (SVAD) circuit for use with a BDSSCB, a SVAD circuit for use with a unidirectional solid-state circuit breaker (UDSSCB), a bipolar current actuated driver (BCAD) for use with a BDSSCB, and a multi-directional solid-state circuit breaker (MDSSCB).

Claims

1. A bidirectional solid-state circuit breaker (BDSSCB), the BDSSCB comprising:

a pair of solid-state switches, each one of said pair of solid-state switches having a source, gate and drain, the pair of solid-state switches being electrically connected at a common node; and

a pair of diodes, each one of the pair of diodes electrically connecting the gate and either the drain or the source of a respective one of said pair of solid-state switches which is not connected to the common node.

2. The BDSSCB of claim 1, wherein the pair of solid-state switches is electrically connected in a common-source configuration or in a common-drain configuration at the common node.

3. The BDSSCB of claim 2, wherein the pair of solid-state switches is electrically connected in a common-source configuration at the common node such that the pair of diodes each comprises an anode and cathode, the cathodes of the pair of diodes being connected to the drains of the respective ones of said pair of solid-state switches and the anodes of the pair of diodes being connected to the gates of the respective ones of said pair of solid-state switches.

4. The BDSSCB of claim 3, wherein the pair of diodes each have a forward voltage drop during conduction that is less than that of the gate-to-drain junction of the respective ones of said pair of solid-state switches.

5. A shunt voltage actuated driver (SVAD) circuit for use with a bidirectional solid-state circuit breaker (BDSSCB) having a pair of solid-state power switches, each one of said pair of solid-state power switches having a source, gate and drain, wherein the sources of the solid-state power switches are electrically connected to a common node, the SVAD comprising:

a voltage triggered module configured to connect to said pair of solid-state power switches and the common node comprising;

a pair of solid-state switches, each of the pair having a source, gate and drain, the drains of the pair of solid-state switches being configured to electrically connect to one of the respective drains of the pair of solid-state power switches of the BDSSCB; and

a plurality of shunt resistors in series electrically connecting the pair of solid-state switches, and being configured to electrically connect to the common source node,

wherein the pair of solid-state switches each have a blocking voltage greater than or equal to that of the respective solid-state power switch of the BDSSCB.

6. The SVAD of claim 5, further comprising a voltage sensing and actuation module having:

a second pair of solid-state switches;

one or more shunt resistors configured to generate resistance to enable the BDSSCB to turn off current flow in one or both directions through the BDSSCB, each of the one or more shunt resistors being configured to electrically connect to the common node of the BDSSCB and to a respective one of the second pair of solid-state switches; and

a third pair of solid-state switches configured to turn on when sufficient voltage is present across the one or more shunt resistors.

7. The SVAD of claim 6, further comprising a voltage isolated external triggering module configured to turn off the BDSSCB having:

a fourth pair of solid-state switches configured to turn on the pair of solid-state switches;

an inverter; and

an optocoupler connected to the inverter configured to turn on both of the fourth pair of solid-state switches.

8. The SVAD of claim 7, further comprising a voltage isolated reset module having:

a fifth pair of solid-state switches configured to turn off the third pair of solid-state switches; and

a second optocoupler connected through one or more resistors to a respective one of the fifth pair of solid-state switches configured to to stop the flow of current through both of the fifth pair of solid-state switches.

9. The SVAD of claim 8, further comprising an isolated fault status module having:

one or more sixth solid-state switches configured to provide a digital feedback signal indicating the state of the BDSSCB; and

an third optocoupler having a light emitting diode connected to the one or more sixth solid-state switches configured to indicate said status.

10. An electrical device comprising:

a shunt voltage actuated driver (SVAD) circuit for use with a bidirectional solid-state circuit breaker (BDSSCB) having a pair of solid-state power switches, each one of said pair of solid-state power switches having a source, gate and drain, wherein the sources of the solid-state power switches are electrically connected to a common node; and

the SVAD of claim 5.

11. A shunt voltage actuated driver (SVAD) circuit for use with a unidirectional solid-state circuit breaker (UDSSCB) having a solid-state power switch having a source, gate and drain, the SVAD comprising:

a voltage triggered module configured to connect to the solid-state power switch comprising;

a solid-state switch having a source, gate and drain, the drain of the solid-state switch being configured to electrically connect to the drain of the solid-state power switch of the UDSSCB; and

a plurality of shunt resistors in series electrically connecting to the solid-state switch, and being configured to electrically connect to the source of the solid-state power switch,

wherein the solid-state switch has a blocking voltage greater than or equal to that of the solid-state power switch of the UDSSCB.

12. The SVAD of claim 11, further comprising a voltage sensing and actuation module having:

a second solid-state switch;

one or more shunt resistors configured to generate resistance to enable the UDSSCB to turn off current flow through the UDSSCB, each of the one or more shunt resistors being configured to electrically connect to the source of the solid-state power switch of the UDSSCB and to the second solid-state switch; and

a third solid-state switch configured to turn on when sufficient voltage is present across the one or more shunt resistors.

13. The SVAD of claim 12, further comprising a voltage isolated external triggering module configured to turn off the UDSSCB having:

a fourth solid-state switch configured to turn on the solid-state switch;

an inverter; and

an optocoupler connected to the inverter configured to turn-on the fourth solid-state switch.

14. The SVAD of claim 13, further comprising a voltage isolated reset module having:

a fifth solid-state switch configured to turn-off the third solid-state switch; and

a second optocoupler connected through one or more resistors to the fifth solid-state switch configured to to stop the flow of current through the fifth solid-state switch.

15. The SVAD of claim 14, further comprising an isolated fault status module having:

one or more sixth solid-state switches configured to provide a digital feedback signal indicating the state of the UDSSCB; and

a third optocoupler having a light emitting diode connected to the one or more sixth solid-state switches configured to indicate said status.

16. An electrical device comprising:

a unidirectional solid-state circuit breaker (UDSSCB) having a solid-state power switch having a source, gate and drain; and

the SVAD of claim 11.

17. A bipolar current actuated driver (BCAD) for use with a bidirectional solid-state circuit breaker (BDSSCB) having a pair of solid-state power switches, each one of said pair of solid-state power switches having a source, gate and drain, wherein the sources of the solid-state power switches are electrically connected to a common node, the BCAD comprising:

a pair of solid-state switches, each of said pair of solid-state switches having a drain, gate, and source, with the drain being connected to one or more series resistors and the source being configured to connect to the common node; and

one or more resistors connected to the pair of solid-state switches are configured to connect to a respective gate of one of the pair of solid-state power switches of the BDSSCB.

18. The BCAD of claim 17, further comprising:

a second pair of solid-state switches, each of the second pair of solid-state switches being configured to electrically connect with the common-node and the resistors, such that when sufficient voltage is present across the one or more resistors, the second pair of solid-state switches is turned on.

19. An electrical device comprising:

a bidirectional solid-state circuit breaker (BDSSCB) having a pair of solid-state power switches, each one of said pair of solid-state power switches having a source, gate and drain, wherein the sources of the solid-state power switches are electrically connected to a common node; and

the BCAD of claim 17.

20. The electrical device of claim 19, further comprising:

a pair of diodes, each one of the pair of diodes electrically connecting the gate and the drain of a respective one of said pair of solid-state switches.

21. A multi-directional solid-state circuit breaker (MDSSCB) comprising:

at least three solid-state switches, each of the at least three solid-state switches having a source, gate and drain, the at least three solid-state switches being electrically connected to a common node,

wherein the at least three solid-state switches are configured to provide conduction and voltage blocking in at least three discrete electrical paths relative to the common node.

22. The MDSSCB of claim 21, wherein the pair of solid-state switches is electrically connected in a common-source configuration or a common-drain configuration at the common node.

23. The MDSSCB of claim 21, wherein at least one of the three or more solid-state switches is part of a set of parallel connected solid-state switches.