Investigation of the performances of a permanent magnet biased fault current limiting reactor with a steel core

There is an increasing need in power system applications for fault current limiter, to limit the fault current in semiconductor devices and switchgear. These fault current limiters must be reliable, compact and inexpensive. This paper reports the result of an investigation of the characteristics of a fault current limiter (FCL) consisting of a steel core and permanent magnet. Design criteria are presented. The FCL characteristics are simulated using a Tableau approach and the simulation results have been compared with experimental results.