ABB has announced the development of its high voltage direct current circuit breaker. It combines very fast mechanics with power electronics, and will be capable of ‘interrupting’ power flows equivalent to the output of a large power station within 5 milliseconds- that is thirty times faster than the blink of a human eye.
On this clip on youtube, a simple and brief description of the operation of this breaker is shown. On an interview Claes Rytoft, head of technology in ABB’s Power Systems division explains how this development is groundbreaking. For a few years power electronics were used for DC power flow interruption. The drawback was the high power losses and now ABB has combined the power electronic breaker functionality with a mechanical breaker, thereby lower the losses and increasing the speed.
This means hopefully in near future we can see DC grids, so far we mainly have point to point DC lines. This can add to the security and reliability of the whole power network.
Category Archives: RenewableEnergy
RenewableEnergy Smart GridsABB HVDC Circuit Breaker
November 11, 2012 – 9:08 am
Renewable Energy for Olympics!!
August 11, 2012 – 8:45 pm
Olympic Park Energy Centre is one of the largest combined cooling, heating and power generating facilities built in the UK. The facility has been built for sustainable energy generation during the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The project was developed by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) and was opened in October 2010. A second energy centre has been built in the Stratford City. It will also serve the heating, cooling and electricity requirements of the Games venues and other facilities. The Energy Centre design is based on iconic or well-known industrial revolution buildings such as the Tate Modern and Battersea Power Station. The Energy Centre includes much of the old Edwardian building of King’s Yard. It took two years to remove 52 overhead electricity pylons from the Olympic site. 200km of electricity cables run beneath the ground through two 6km tunnels. Both the energy centres will serve the new metropolitan development in East London after the 2012 Games.
The 2012 IEEE General Meeting Plenary Video
July 27, 2012 – 5:00 am
The 2012 IEEE General Meeting ended today. The focal topics of interests of this conference were on Renewable Energy, Smart Grids and Electric Vehicles. This premier power engineering conference brings together many engineers, executives and policy makers from all over the world. The aim of this conference is to provide an international forum for experts to promote, share and discuss their expertise in the field of power engineering. You can watch the complete plenary session of this event online. [Video]
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