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Contract Opportunity

Opportunity:

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), operated by the Lawrence Livermore National Security (LLNS), LLC under contract no. DE-AC52-07NA27344 (Contract 44) with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), is offering the opportunity to enter into a collaboration to further develop and commercialize its HVDC Circuit Breaker with System and Method of Delatching the Locked-On Switch.

Background:

AC electric power has dominated transmission and distribution system in the US for over a century. However, DC offers several benefits over AC:

1. reducing system power losses due to improved electrical conductivity


2. utilizing fewer power cables with


3. higher power carrying capacity.

Wind and solar PV generators, energy storage, electric transportation, and consumer devices all utilize DC power. High Voltage DC (HVDC) is more effective than HVAC at distances >500 km, and it is used for AC grid interconnection and frequency regulation. HVDC circuit breakers become essential hardware protection against HV faults, short circuits, and overloads. LLNL researchers have developed a diffuse discharge circuit breaker that can interrupt fault currents in HVDCs as well as medium voltage circuitsand their delatching methods.

Description:

A thyristor will stay conducting until the current through the device is zero (“current zero”) or perhaps slightly negative. LLNL’s approach is to use the opticondistor (“OTV”) to force this current zero in order to force the device into an “off” state. By combining a light-activated thyristor with an OTV, a noise-immune, high efficiency, high-power switching device can be constructed. The device can be turned on with a small amount of light to render the thyristor conducting, and then turned off using the OTV.

Advantages/Benefits:

• Value Proposition -> Novel HVDC breakers that can provide faster interruption of DC fault pin order to ensure stable and reliable operations of HVDC systems.


• Improved switching performance over conventional thyristors with faster switching speed.

Potential Applications:

• High efficiency power inverters for the grid where HVDC transmission systems are being built to integrate renewable sources of energy


• Ultrafast switches


• Power Electronics

Development Status:

Current stage of technology development: TRL 3

LLNL has filed for patent protection on this invention. LLNL has a huge portfolio of opticondistor patents.

U.S. Patent Application No. 2022/0045232 DIFFUSE DISCHARGE CIRCUIT BREAKER published 2/10/2022

LLNL is seeking industry partners with a demonstrated ability to bring such inventions to the market. Moving critical technology beyond the Laboratory to the commercial world helps our licensees gain a competitive edge in the marketplace. All licensing activities are conducted under policies relating to the strict nondisclosure of company proprietary information.

Please visit the IPO website at https://ipo.llnl.gov/resources for more information on working with LLNL and the industrial partnering and technology transfer process.

Note: THIS IS NOT A PROCUREMENT. Companies interested in commercializing LLNL's HVDC Circuit Breaker with System and Method of Delatching the Locked-On Switch should provide an electronic OR written statement of interest, which includes the following:

1. Company Name and address.


2. The name, address, and telephone number of a point of contact.


3. A description of corporate expertise and/or facilities relevant to commercializing this technology.

Please provide a complete electronic OR written statement to ensure consideration of your interest in LLNL's HVDC Circuit Breaker with System and Method of Delatching the Locked-On Switch.

The subject heading in an email response should include the Notice ID and/or the title of LLNL’s Technology/Business Opportunity and directed to the Primary and Secondary Point of Contacts listed below.

Written responses should be directed to:

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Innovation and Partnerships Office

P.O. Box 808, L-779

Livermore, CA 94551-0808

Attention: IL-13634 and IL-13805

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