Design and characterisation of the high‐current DC breaker driven by explosive

Abstract

Abstract The development of a high‐current DC breaker is very important for the protection of the expensive superconducting magnet. A kind of an economic switch called pyrobreaker, which is driven by explosive detonation waves, has been used as the backup quench protection due to its inherent reliability and fast response. A prototype pyrobreaker with a special structure that can withstand and break 100 kA is discussed. The numerical material model is taken to calculate the fracture demand of contact and the mass demand of explosive. Then, the detonation wave and contact breaking process are simulated by the ANSYS software. The performance of the design and characterisation during dynamic breaking are compared with simulation and no‐load experiment test. At the end, the temperature rise test and the breaking test under 100 kA are completed successfully. These results demonstrate that the design of 100 kA pyrobreaker is reliable.