Application study of a high‐temperature superconducting fault current limiter for electric power system

Using high-temperature superconductors, a superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL) was fabricated and tested. The superconductor and a vacuum interrupter serving as a commutation switch were connected in parallel with a bypass coil. When a fault occurs and excessive current flows, the superconductor is first quenched and the current is transferred to the bypass coil because of the voltage drop of the superconductor. At the same time, since a magnetic field is generated by the current flowing in the bypass coil, the commutation switch is immediately driven by an electromagnetic repulsion plate connected to the driving rod of the vacuum interrupter (VI), and the superconductor is separated from this circuit. Using the test model, we were able to separate the superconductor from the circuit by the movement of the VI within a half current cycle and to transfer all current to the bypass coil. Since the operation of the commutation switch is included in the current limiting operation of this test model, it will be a useful circuit in the development of SFCL in the future. Moreover, since it can make the energy consumption of the superconductor small during the fault state due to the realization of a high-speed switch with simple composition, the burden on the superconductor is reduced compared with the conventional resistive type of SFCL and it is considered that the flexibility of SFCL design is increased. Cooperation with a circuit breaker was also considered; trial calculations of the parameters and energy of operation were conducted and a discussion of the installation of the SFCL in an electric power system is presented. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 155(4): 20–29, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/eej.20265