Topology and Performance Optimization of a Novel Hybrid Material-Based Direct Current Fault Current Limiter.

A novel direct current system fault current limiter (DCSFCL) based on the principle of nonlinear magnetization was proposed to limit fast rising fault current of the dc system. Different materials were also tested to find the iron core material. However, the existing material is not able to obtain both two necessary indexes, namely, a large saturation point and fast demagnetization speed. Hence, the performance is not satisfactory using a single material. In order to obtain the best performance for the DCSFCL, mixed materials were applied to combine the advantages of different soft magnetic materials. Furthermore, magnetic valves were also added to the original DCSFCL topology, which is an effective method to optimize the clipping performance and reduce the usage of materials. The 2-D models were built and finite-element analyses were carried out to verify these assumptions. Compared with a traditional smoothing reactor, the proposed new model not only limits the fault current by 55.4%, but also reduces the usage of both magnetic material and permanent magnets by over 20%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]