Under a contract awarded by the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) Defense Innovation Unit (DIU). Menlo Microsystems Inc. will develop a first of its kind, high-current advanced circuit breaker for power distribution for the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program’s Advanced Technology Innovation Pipeline (ATIP) Program. Menlo Micro was selected from a field of companies competing for the contract through DIU’s rigorous vendor selection process.
Throughout the project, Menlo Micro will provide building blocks to be converted into a hybrid Ideal Switch architecture to switch up to 1 kV DC/10 kA DC for U.S. Navy electrical systems. Upon project completion, 100 A power building blocks will be assembled and tested for future integration into advanced circuit breakers for the DoD.
This breakthrough circuit breaker solution will feature more reliable state-of-the-art performance in a much
The MM9200 Ideal Switch. Source: Menlo Microsystems Inc. smaller form factor, compared to traditional circuit breakers. This new circuit breaker solution uses Menlo Micro’s high-power MM9200 SMT Ideal Switch, combined with a solid-state switch. It will enable high efficiency hot-switch solutions with size, weight and power that is up to times smaller, four times lighter and with less complicated external cooling and heatsinking solutions than the old generation solutions based on mechanical switches.
This novel circuit breaker also provides fast dI/dT switching for better reliability, lower maintenance and five times lower surge current. Because of the ultra-low resistivity contacts, the Ideal Switch offers substantial efficiency advantages when compared to other semiconductor solutions and electro-mechanical relays. Through its unique design, the advanced circuit breaker can interrupt a circuit more than 10 times faster than a mechanical breaker.
