A Novel Bidirectional Z-source DC Circuit Breaker for Fuel Cell Related System

The DC circuit breakers play a key role in the performance of the fuel cell electric vehicle. The DC circuit breaker can quickly isolate the short-circuit faults and reduce the damage of the short-circuit current to the fuel cell system. However, traditional DC circuit breakers still have issues, such as complex structure, large volume and weight, and false triggering caused by step load. These problems restrict the further application of fuel cell systems. Thus, this paper proposed a novel Z-source bidirectional DC solid-state circuit breaker (NSCB) applied to the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) electric vehicle. First, a simulation of 72V power supply voltage in Saber was established to verify the validity of the topology. Second, the working principle and process of the novel circuit breaker were analyzed. Third, this paper described how to choose the parameters of the transformer. Then, this paper analyzed the maximum fault resistance of the novel circuit breaker. Finally, the impact of the capacitor values on the circuit breaker was explored. With the help of simulation analysis, it can be seen that the novel Z-source bidirectional DC circuit breaker proposed in this paper has an excellent capability to isolate faults and can effectively protect the fuel cell system.