Cross tied array of electro-statically actuated micro-electromechanical switches for AC circuit breaking applications

Abstract

This paper presents, a cross tied array of electrostatically actuated Micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) switches for AC circuit breaking applications. Conventional electromagnetic circuit breakers and power electronics circuit breakers are studied and simulated to understand their performance characteristics. Energy density of Electrostatic MEMS switch and electromagnetic MEMS switch are analyzed to achieve miniaturization in size. Cross tied m×n MEMS switch array has been proposed. 230V AC system is considered for simulation and comparison study. The simulated result of proposed MEMS switch array configuration has been compared with conventional switches. The comparative study shows that the proposed switch array gives better performance in terms of voltage drop, leakage current and power loss.