Comments on: ABB achieves another milestone in electrical engineering

By: vikaszope2829@gmail.com

vikaszope2829@gmail.com — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 13:17:00 +0000

what is proactive here?

By: ghollings

ghollings — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 13:07:00 +0000

You're welcome! Here is another related post you might be interested in reading...http://www.abb-conversations.com/2012/11/exactly-why-is-abbs-new-hybrid-hvdc-breaker-important/

Let us know if you have any more questions. Have a good weekend!

By: Matias Lopez

Matias Lopez — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 12:58:00 +0000

Thanks you,this is a very interesting subject, and from the Spanish site I couldn't see the contents, again thank you very much.

By: ghollings

ghollings — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 12:20:00 +0000

Hi Matias,

here is a link to our white paper, which provides detailed information on our hyrbid HVDC breaker:

http://new.abb.com/docs/default-source/default-document-library/hybrid-hvdc-breaker---an-innovation-breakthrough-for-reliable-hvdc-gridsnov2012finmc20121210_clean.pdf?sfvrsn=2

By: Matias Lopez

Matias Lopez — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 12:03:00 +0000

hello,why the detailed description of the hybrid HVDC breaker has been erased? I cannot see it.
Can someone get me a new link or some detailed information about how it works.Thanks you.

By: RogerFaulkner

RogerFaulkner — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 14:32:00 +0000

It is a great achievement, but the author leaves out part of the story.

I have read their patents. Their new device appears to fall under several US patents, including probably 5,517,378 (to Gunnar Asplund), but hybridized with more recent innovations like IGCTs (integrated gate commutated thyristors) and one of their fast electromechanical switch designs (there are several). The published information does not yet make it clear which of their 417 issued US patents on circuit breakers actually apply. This is no doubt a big advance from the prior art DC circuit breaker of US patent 3,809,959 (from ASEA before they joined Brown-Boveri to form ABB), but it is not true to say it is the "world's first circuit breaker for HVDC." It is true to say it is more compact and faster than the prior art methods. However, the prior art ASEA method is widely deployed in HVDC schemes today, to shut down one leg of a bipole HVDC scheme when needed (so that the other leg can still operate as a monopole with ground return in case of a fault on one leg of the scheme). The key questions to ask are, what are the on-state losses (I estimate 0.25% of transmitted power), and what does it cost (I estimate $35/kW, about 100 times higher than an AC breaker to interrupt equivalent AC power). I do not mean any sour grapes, it is a great achievement, just that one should ask the hard questions...

for a more detailed critique, see my blog post:
http://ballisticbreaker.blogspot.com/2012/11/abb-announces-worlds-first-circuit.html

By: Xavier Larrosa

Xavier Larrosa — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 09:02:00 +0000

I've been thaught all my life why are the reasons to use AC...now everything is changing.

By: hCARL

hCARL — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 22:44:00 +0000

Boy i must be getting OLD and way behind. I had just explained to some Kids why we had to use A c

By: hCARL

hCARL — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 22:40:00 +0000

Boy I'm getting OLD I'd had just explained to some kids why we had to use AC. Then i read this article

By: Sarah Eberle

Sarah Eberle — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 08:41:00 +0000

Hello Jerome, thanks for your comment. Here's the link to a white paper - a detailed description of the hybrid HVDC breaker, its design principles and test results:
http://new.abb.com/docs/default-document-library/hybrid-hvdc-breaker---an-innovation-breakthrough-for-reliable-hvdc-gridsnov2012.pdf?sfvrsn=4