DC Circuit Protection

Safety and protection against circuit faults represent a major technical challenge in the emerging DC transmission and distribution power networks. Active research is undergoing in developing innovative solid state circuit breaker (SCCB), hybrid circuit breaker (HCB), and other circuit protection solutions. The U.S. Department of Energy ARPA-E has recently awarded over $30M research grants to support these activities. This special session will provide a forum for the researchers in the subject area to report on their work and exchange technical information, and brief the general audience on the state of the art of this important research area.

Session Chair:

Z. John Shen received BS from Tsinghua University, China, in 1987, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, in 1991 and 1994, respectively. He is currently Grainger Endowed Chair Professor in Electrical and Power Engineering at Illinois Institute of Technology. Between 1994 and 1999, he held a variety of positions with Motorola Inc. He was on faculty of the University of Michigan-Dearborn between 1999 and 2004, and the University of Central Florida between 2004 and 2012. During 2002-2012 he was also a co-founder and board member of Great Wall Semiconductor (now a division of Renesas), responsible for developing MHz-frequency lateral power MOSFET technologies. His research interests include power electronics, power semiconductor devices and ICs, automotive electronics, and renewable and alternative energy systems. He has published over 200 journal and conference articles, and holds 18 issued and several pending U.S. patents in these areas, including a dozen publications on the topic of DC circuit breakers. Dr. Shen is a recipient of the 2012 IEEE Region 3 Outstanding Engineer Award, the 2003 NSF CAREER Award, the 2006 IEEE Transaction Paper Award from IEEE Society of Power Electronics, the 2003 IEEE Best Automotive Electronics Paper Award from IEEE Society of Vehicular Technology, and the 1996 Motorola Science and Technology Award. He has been an active volunteer in the IEEE Power Electronics Society (PELS), and has served as VP of Products 2009-2012, Associate Editor and Guest Editor in Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, General Chair of several major IEEE conferences including ECCE2016 and ISPSD2018. He is a Fellow of IEEE and the National Academy of Inventors.

Speakers:

Isik Kizilyalli, ARPA-E

Andrew Rockhill, Eaton Corporation

John Shen, Illinois Institute of Technology

Helen Li, Florida State University

Lisa Qi, ABB

Ryan Kennedy, Atom Power

Fang Peng, Florida State University

Georgios Tsolaridis and Biela Jürgen, ETH