I-Corps: Market Analysis and Customer Needs Identification for the Commercialization of a High-Speed Disconnect Switch

Florida State University, Tallahassee FL

Investigators

Abstract

The electric power distribution grid enables us to have a convenient and reliable access to electrical power for our daily needs. Electric power is used for lighting, HVAC, communication, transportation, medicine, manufacturing, defense, and many other vital applications. For the United States to remain competitive, there must be a secure, reliable, and adaptable electrical power grid. Aging systems, hardware failures, and interruptions in service have immediate and severe impacts on our economy and quality of life. It is for these reasons among others that there is a push from the community to improve these aging systems and provide the society with next generation electrical power distribution grids. However, for this to be viable, it is imperative that new enabling technologies, on which these systems can be built, are developed. A critical design problem in any power system is how to handle electrical faults within the system that come from internal failures or external environmental causes, e.g. trees falling on power lines. Due to requirements in the next-gen power systems being developed, the conventional methods and technologies, such as conventional circuit breakers, are insufficient and poorly suited to the demands of future highly adaptable and flexible power grids as they are currently envisioned. The high speed disconnect switch that this team has developed has the potential to fill this need and provide a foundational technology on which these next-gen electric power distribution systems can be built. A novel ultra-fast low-loss switch, for which this proposal seeks to perform commercialization research, has been developed in response to the paradigm shift currently occurring in how terrestrial domestic distribution power systems are designed. Ultra-fast low-loss switches are seen as a key enabling technology for these dynamic and highly flexible systems. The ultra-fast disconnect switch invented by the team presents a novel, compact, and elegant solution for a problem that is fast becoming more and more relevant in power grid design. With its novel design, the switch is able to accomplish the several key requirements necessary for it to be a viable solution. Due to smart material selection and a thermally efficient design, the switch is able to carry load currents of several hundred amps with very low losses while closed. With its unique use of integrated piezoelectric actuators the switch is able to open and electrically isolate within several hundred microseconds. The use of vacuum technologies gives it the ability to withstand distribution level system voltages less than a millisecond after opening without interrupting current (current interruption is done by the power electronic converters in the next-gen systems). In preliminary discussions with major industry players who supply the electric utility market, the novel design was met with interest. By participating in the I-Corps program, the team hopes to understand how to best act upon this interest from the primary market and to also determine if there are secondary markets that can be explored and served.