Analysis of an eddy current brake for an actuator of a high-voltage direct current circuit breaker

Abstract

High-voltage direct current (HVDC) system is difficult to proliferate due to the absence of a useful brake for the HVDC circuit breaker. To overcome this problem, this study proposes a useful brake, termed as an Eddy current brake (EB). A timeconsuming time step analysis using the finite element method (FEM) is required to analyse the EB. To address this problem, a rapid and accurate analysis method is proposed using the equivalent circuit model, equation of motion, and the Runge-Kutta method. This technique is termed as the EER method in this research. The characteristic of the EB is analysed by using the proposed EER method and the results are compared with those of the 2D FEM analysis. The usefulness of the proposed EER method with regard to accuracy and rapidness is confirmed via 2D FEM analysis. © The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2019.