I-Corps: Market Analysis and Customer Needs Identification for the Commercialization of a High-Speed Disconnect Switch

配电网使我们能够方便可靠地获得电力，以满足我们的日常需求。 电力用于照明、HVAC、通信、运输、医疗、制造、国防和许多其他重要应用。美国要保持竞争力，就必须有一个安全、可靠和适应性强的电网。老化的系统、硬件故障和服务中断对我们的经济和生活质量产生了直接和严重的影响。 正是由于这些原因，社区推动改善这些老化的系统，并为社会提供下一代配电网。 然而，要使这一点切实可行，就必须开发新的使能技术，以便建立这些系统。在任何电力系统中，一个关键的设计问题是如何处理系统内部的电气故障，这些故障来自内部故障或外部环境原因，例如树木倒在电力线上。由于正在开发的下一代电力系统的要求，传统的方法和技术，如传统的断路器，是不够的，不适合未来的高度适应性和灵活的电网的需求，因为他们目前的设想。该团队开发的高速隔离开关有可能满足这一需求，并为这些下一代配电系统提供基础技术。一种新型的超快速低损耗开关，该建议旨在进行商业化研究，已经开发出来，以应对目前在陆地家用配电系统设计中发生的范式转变。超快速低损耗开关被视为这些动态和高度灵活系统的关键支持技术。该团队发明的超快速隔离开关为电网设计中越来越重要的问题提供了一种新颖、紧凑、优雅的解决方案。凭借其新颖的设计，该交换机能够满足成为可行解决方案所需的几个关键要求。由于采用了智能材料选择和热效率设计，该开关能够在闭合时以极低的损耗承载数百安培的负载电流。凭借其独特的集成压电致动器的使用，开关能够在几百微秒内打开和电气隔离。真空技术的使用使其能够在打开后不到一毫秒的时间内承受配电级系统电压，而不会中断电流（电流中断由下一代系统中的电力电子转换器完成）。在与供应电力公用事业市场的主要行业参与者进行初步讨论时，这种新颖的设计引起了人们的兴趣。通过参与I-Corps计划，该团队希望了解如何最好地从一级市场对这一利益采取行动，并确定是否有二级市场可以探索和服务。

The electric power distribution grid enables us to have a convenient and reliable access to electrical power for our daily needs. Electric power is used for lighting, HVAC, communication, transportation, medicine, manufacturing, defense, and many other vital applications. For the United States to remain competitive, there must be a secure, reliable, and adaptable electrical power grid. Aging systems, hardware failures, and interruptions in service have immediate and severe impacts on our economy and quality of life. It is for these reasons among others that there is a push from the community to improve these aging systems and provide the society with next generation electrical power distribution grids. However, for this to be viable, it is imperative that new enabling technologies, on which these systems can be built, are developed. A critical design problem in any power system is how to handle electrical faults within the system that come from internal failures or external environmental causes, e.g. trees falling on power lines. Due to requirements in the next-gen power systems being developed, the conventional methods and technologies, such as conventional circuit breakers, are insufficient and poorly suited to the demands of future highly adaptable and flexible power grids as they are currently envisioned. The high speed disconnect switch that this team has developed has the potential to fill this need and provide a foundational technology on which these next-gen electric power distribution systems can be built.A novel ultra-fast low-loss switch, for which this proposal seeks to perform commercialization research, has been developed in response to the paradigm shift currently occurring in how terrestrial domestic distribution power systems are designed. Ultra-fast low-loss switches are seen as a key enabling technology for these dynamic and highly flexible systems. The ultra-fast disconnect switch invented by the team presents a novel, compact, and elegant solution for a problem that is fast becoming more and more relevant in power grid design. With its novel design, the switch is able to accomplish the several key requirements necessary for it to be a viable solution. Due to smart material selection and a thermally efficient design, the switch is able to carry load currents of several hundred amps with very low losses while closed. With its unique use of integrated piezoelectric actuators the switch is able to open and electrically isolate within several hundred microseconds. The use of vacuum technologies gives it the ability to withstand distribution level system voltages less than a millisecond after opening without interrupting current (current interruption is done by the power electronic converters in the next-gen systems). In preliminary discussions with major industry players who supply the electric utility market, the novel design was met with interest. By participating in the I-Corps program, the team hopes to understand how to best act upon this interest from the primary market and to also determine if there are secondary markets that can be explored and served.