Characteristics of the Fault Current and the Protection for Superconducting and Normal Conducting Limiter combined with a Transformer

With increasing demand of power, the equipment of power system is enlarging and the absolute capacity is going up. As a result, when a fault occurs, the fault current is consistently increasing. Therefore, I suggested some solution for limiting the fault current more efficiently. This study shows the characteristics of superconducting limiting elements and normal conducting elements combined with a transformer. We performed a short-circuit test about the fault current by using SCR switching control system operated from a CT. When short circuit accidents happened in the secondary side of a transformer, fault currents flowed and a SCR switching control system was operated. It resulted in a decrease of the fault current in the limited elements of third winding connected in parallel. For this test, we used YBCO thin films and normal conducting elements as the limited elements. Within a cycle, a superconducting fault current limiter with YBCO thin films reduced more than 90% of fault current because the resistance of superconducting elements sustainedly grew. On the other hand, the limiter with normal conductors limited as much as a set value because its resistance characteristic was linear. Consequently, in case of the limiter with superconductor, limiting range of the circuit was wide but the range of protective detection was undefined. In contrast, as for the limiter with normal conductors, limiting range and protection duty were appropriate.