Brief Review of the Field Test and Application of a Superconducting Fault Current Limiter

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Brief Review of the Field Test and Application of a Superconducting Fault Current Limiter pISSN 1229-3008 eISSN 2287-6251 Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics Vol.19, No.4, (2017), pp.1~11 https://doi.org/10.9714/psac.2017.19.4.001 Brief review of the field test and application of a superconducting fault current limiter Ok-Bae Hyun* SuperGenics, Changwon 51543, Korea (Received 5 December 2017; revised or reviewed 14 December 2017; accepted 15 December 2017) Abstract This article reviews the recent activities of field testing and application of superconducting fault current limiters (SFCL) based on high-temperature superconductors (HTS). The review particularly focuses on the trends in the field tests in terms of the technical aspects and commercial activities of the SFCLs. Stimulated by the discovery of HTS, numerous research and development activities have been conducted worldwide for SFCLs operating from distribution voltages to transmission voltages. Different types of SFCLs have been developed and field-tested. Consequently, more than 20 field tests and applications have been performed on real grids worldwide while supplying electric power to the customers. These field tests have not only provided the track records of the operation experiences including the problems and maintenance during operation, but also proved their current limiting capabilities against real faults, rendering this new technology highly viable. Through these activities, the following trends in the status of field testing and application are observed. Resistive-type SFCLs with HTS-coated conductors were dominantly used in the most recent field tests. This implies that the resistive type is technically more mature than the other types. Bus-bar coupling and transformer feeders were the major application locations. It is of importance that most of the field applications were conducted as R&D projects. A relevant change from the R&D stage to the application stage is shown as recently deployed SFCLs are expected to be under long-term operation and commercial service. Here, we review the installation of these SFCLs by substation. This review also discusses the recent activities for their commercial applications. Keywords: superconducting fault current limiter, SFCL, field test, resistive type, bus-bar coupling, fault current ``` 1. INTRODUCTION tests provided instances of long-term operation as well as successful limitation of the real fault currents upon faults in A superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL) is a the grids. The tests also went through various trouble power machine that limits the fault currents in a power grid. shooting and maintenance, yielding valuable lessons in SFCLs are considered as one of the most promising handling the new machine. Even with the track record of candidates for power application based on high SFCL operation in the last 20 years, they are still not temperature superconductors (HTS). Extensive research considered as fully commercialized till date because the and development on HTS SFCL has been conducted field applications were performed in the research and worldwide [1-8]. Researchers have explored various SFCL development (R&D) environment. However, the recent models and produced more than 20 units operating at activities in the private sector could be an indicator of their medium as well as transmission voltages. Most of them commercial application in the electric utility field. were installed in real grids and field-tested while supplying In this review, we will focus on the field tests of SFCLs, electrical power to customers. For these systems, a field test rather than either researches or technological treatments of involves performing the proposed operation and an SFCL. Consequently, of major interest is the status of commercial service in a real grid for a significant period of more than 20 field test projects and applications of the time. A field test is necessary to validate the feasibility of SFCLs worldwide. Based on those tests, we will briefly an SFCL. It includes installation and operation, trouble discuss the trends in the SFCL types and the technical shooting, and maintenance, and fault current limitation issues inherent to the SFCL technology associated with upon fault in the real grid. general applications. This review is based on public The first successful field test of an SFCL based on HTS documents such as papers, articles, project reports, and was pioneered by ABB in 1996, who developed a 6.6-kV documents available online. SFCL [9, 10]. The SFCL was installed in the auxiliary line of a hydroelectric power plant, and field-tested for one year. Since then more than 20 SFCLs of various models have 2. SUPERCONDUCTING FAULT CURRENT been built and installed at various locations in distribution LIMITER TECHNOLOGY and transmission grids. They were field-tested to prove their feasibility and current limiting capabilities. The field 2.1. SFCL types * Corresponding author: [email protected] Various types of SFCLs have undergone the R&D stage. Brief review of the field test and application of a superconducting fault current limiter hydroelectric power plant in Switzerland [9]. Since then more than 20 field tests have been performed. In this section, we will review the tests by country and chronologically. 3.1. Switzerland • Löntsch, NOK power plant The first of field test of an SFCL based on an HTS was pioneered by ABB in cooperation with the Swiss utility NOK and with financial support from the Swiss Utility Study Fund (PSEL) [9-11]. ABB successfully developed a 6.6-kV magnetic shield type SFCL (1.2 MVA), which utilized stacked Bi2212 bulk tubes. The machine was installed to protect the auxiliary line of an NOK hydroelectric-power plant in Löntsch, Switzerland, for which a one-year endurance test was performed from November 1996. The test was expected to provide insight on the cooling system and possible fatigue aging of the HTS. After six months of testing, no major problems were encountered, and no fault occurred during the test. 3.2. United States of America Four field tests were performed in the USA: two were sponsored by the Department of Energy (DOE), one by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), and one by a manufacturer. Fig. 1. Basic circuits of the SFCL types: (a) Magnetic shield type (shielded core type), (b) bridge type (electronic • General Atomics and Southern California Edison inductive, DC reactor, or rectifier type), (c) saturated The first pre-commercial SFCL in the USA was iron-core type, and (d) resistive type. The grey and blue developed by General Atomics (GA) and the Los Alamos areas denote the SFCL system and superconducting parts, Nation al Laboratory (LANL) with support from the DOE. respectively. The diagrams represent single phase It was a bridge type with a rated voltage and current of 15 structures, although multiple variations exist for each type. kV and 1200 A, respectively [12-14]. The SFCL unit was equipped with three of the largest Bi-2223 coils of the Among them, four types of SFCL structures have been world at that time. This machine was installed in June 1999 successfully developed to be field-tested and applied: (1) at the Center substation of the Southern California Edison magnetic shield type, (2) bridge type, (3) saturated (SCE) grid. During high-voltage testing, each of the three iron-core type, and (4) resistive type. Figure 1 shows the single-phase units experienced a voltage breakdown, one basic circuits of the four types of SFCLs. Multiple externally and two internally [14]. After redesigning the variations of these four types are under research and structure, a high-voltage test as well as load and development. short-circuit tests were performed for the single-phase unit Details of the working principles of these types of SFCLs operating at the LANL 13.7-kV substation. are widely reported in articles. Each of these SFCLs has its own merits and de-merits. We will discuss the technical • Avanti circuit and Shandin substation, SCE issues associated with the application of the different SFCL The second pre-commercial SFCL of the saturated types later in another section of this article. iron-core type was developed by Zenergy Power. The Early successes in the SFCL developments were voltage and current ratings were 15 kV and 1200 A, obtained with the magnetic shield type and bridge type. respectively. The SFCL used one HTS coil for three phases. More successful developments and field tests were It generated a strong magnetic field to saturate the six iron achieved with the saturated iron-core type. However, most cores, each of which carried one AC line coil. The SFCL of the recent trials of SFCL field test have been performed enabled the first successful field test in the USA at Avanti with the resistive-type SFCL. This is indicative of the circuit, Shandin substation of the SCE grid in March 2009 technological advantages of the resistive type over the [15]-[20]. This SFCL experienced multiple fault events in other types in terms of the structure and effectiveness. the grid during operation, and as designed, successfully limited the fault currents. 3. FIELD TESTS AND APPLICATIONS OF SFCL • Knapps Corners substation, Central Hudson Gas & Electric The first field test of an SFCL based on an HTS was The third SFCL field test was performed by Applied conducted in 1996 at the auxiliary power grid of a Materials (AMAT). AMAT developed a resistive type Ok-Bae Hyun SFCL (ratings 13.8 kV and 1000 A), and installed it in its installed at the Hercules substation in the inner city of Silicon Valley corporate grid for a one-year service starting Essen [37-41]. The SFCL was connected in series with the from July 2013 [21]. HTS cable, having the same current and voltage ratings of Next, AMAT built and installed a resistive type SFCL in 10 kV and 2300 A, respectively. Nexans Superconductors the Knapps Corners substation of Central Hudson Gas & was assigned with the task of manufacturing, installing, and Electric grid, Poughkeepsie, NY.
Recommended publications
  • Numerical Study on Transient State of Inductive Fault Current Limiter Based on Field-Circuit Coupling Method
    materials Article Numerical Study on Transient State of Inductive Fault Current Limiter Based on Field-Circuit Coupling Method Wenrong Li 1 , Jie Sheng 1,*, Derong Qiu 1, Junbo Cheng 2, Haosheng Ye 1 and Zhiyong Hong 1 1 School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China 2 Russian Representative Office of State Grid Corporation of China, Moscow 109807, Russian * Correspondence: [email protected] Received: 13 July 2019; Accepted: 28 August 2019; Published: 31 August 2019 Abstract: As the capacity of the power grid continues to expand, high-level fault currents might be caused during a contingency, and the problem of short-circuit current over-limitation is imminent. The high-temperature superconducting (HTS) fault current limiter (FCL) is an effective method to solve this problem. In this paper, a transient numerical model for the process of limiting current in the inductive FCL is proposed. The model is based on the coupling of multiphysics finite element simulation and a circuit model. The voltage source is used as input, which can simulate the macroscopic characteristics in the process of limiting current, such as the voltage and current waveforms, and can also simulate microscopic characteristics, such as temperature, magnetic field, and electrodynamic force distribution. The short-circuit experimental data of an air core inductive superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL) prototype was compared with the simulation results to verify the reliability of the simulation. Keywords: inductive fault current limiter; magnetic flux shielding; multiphysics simulation; transient state; field-circuit coupling method 1. Introduction With the increasing power load and increased short-circuit capacity, the short-circuit current of the grid will continue to rise and will gradually approach the limits of the breaking capacity, which will greatly affect the stability of the power system and equipment.
    [Show full text]
  • PLL with Fault Current Limiter for Fast Protection of Strong Power System 1 2 C
    ISSN 2319-8885 Vol.06,Issue.21 June-2017, Pages: 4008-4012 www.ijsetr.com PLL with Fault Current Limiter for Fast Protection of Strong Power System 1 2 C. J. BHAVANA , P. KISHORE 1PG Scholar, Dept of EEE, Priyadarshini College of Engineering and Technology, Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, India. 2Assistant Professor, Dept of EEE, Priyadarshini College of Engineering and Technology, Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, India. Abstract: The power requirement for large industrial sites is increasing. Often there is also a need to reduce the installation volume of electrical especially in off-shore facilities where every square meter is very expensive. One means of reducing the amount of electrical equipment is to use the generation voltage as the distribution voltage of the site. This often however, results in very high values of short circuit current exceeding both the peak rating and breaking capacity of switchgear. In this project a new method is proposed which can be used to discriminate faults from switching transients. The method is primarily intended for use in systems where fast fault detection and fast fault clearing before the first peak of the fault current are required. An industrial system in which short circuit power is required but where short circuit currents, cannot be tolerated is an example of such a system. A phase locked loop is used to perform the discrimination. Computer simulations have been performed and it has been demonstrated that the output of the PLL is completely different for a fault compared to a switching transients. This difference can be used for discrimination between a fault and a switching transient.
    [Show full text]
  • SUPERCONDUCTING FAULT CURRENT LIMITER for ENERGY STORAGE PROTECTION UNDER GROUNDED FAULTS in a MICRO GRID O.Mahesh1, G
    International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395 -0056 Volume: 02 Issue: 07 | Oct-2015 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072 SUPERCONDUCTING FAULT CURRENT LIMITER FOR ENERGY STORAGE PROTECTION UNDER GROUNDED FAULTS IN A MICRO GRID O.Mahesh1, G. Hari Krishna2 1M.Tech student, Electrical Department, JNTUA College of Engineering, Anantapur, India. 2M.Tech student, Electrical Department, ST.Mark Educational Institution, Anantapur, India. -----------------------------------------------------------------------***------------------------------------------------------------------- Abstract- In this work, super conducting Fault Current enhance the dispatching ability of renewable energy Limiter is proposed to protect the energy storage sources and to provide ancillary services such as reactive system in a micro grid. Distributed Generation (DG) in power support for operations. Renewable energy the form of Renewable Power Generation systems is resources for the 21st century power grid in order to currently preferred for clean power generation. supply electric power which is cleaner, reliable, However there unpredictable nature of generation an effervescent and responsive than conventional power energy storage system is integrated to the grid. Energy systems. Smart grid is based on the principle of storage needs to be used to ensure that the load is met decentralization of the power grid network into smaller at all times. Energy storage systems (ESSs) are grids (Microgrid) having distributed generation enabling technologies
    [Show full text]
  • A Silicon Carbide Based Solid-State Fault Current Limiter for Modern Power Distribution Systems Erik Darnell Johnson University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
    University of Arkansas, Fayetteville ScholarWorks@UARK Theses and Dissertations 12-2012 A Silicon Carbide Based Solid-State Fault Current Limiter for Modern Power Distribution Systems Erik Darnell Johnson University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd Part of the Polymer and Organic Materials Commons, Semiconductor and Optical Materials Commons, and the VLSI and Circuits, Embedded and Hardware Systems Commons Recommended Citation Johnson, Erik Darnell, "A Silicon Carbide Based Solid-State Fault Current Limiter for Modern Power Distribution Systems" (2012). Theses and Dissertations. 585. http://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/585 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. A SILICON CARBIDE BASED SOLID-STATE FAULT CURRENT LIMITER FOR MODERN POWER DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS A SILICON CARBIDE BASED SOLID-STATE FAULT CURRENT LIMITER FOR MODERN POWER DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical Engineering By Erik Darnell Johnson University of Arkansas Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, 2006 December 2012 University of Arkansas ABSTRACT The fault current limiter represents a developing technology which will greatly improve the reliability and stability of the power grid. By reducing the magnitude of fault currents in distribution systems, fault current limiters can alleviate much of the damage imposed by these events. Solid-state fault current limiters in particular offer many improved capabilities in comparison to the power system protection equipment which is currently being used for fault current mitigation.
    [Show full text]
  • Fault Current Limiters in Power Systems: a Comprehensive Review
    energies Review Fault Current Limiters in Power Systems: A Comprehensive Review Md Shafiul Alam ID , Mohammad Ali Yousef Abido * ID and Ibrahim El-Amin Department of Electrical Engineering, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia; shafi[email protected] (M.S.A.); [email protected] (I.E.-A) * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +966-508-757-838 Received: 6 March 2018; Accepted: 17 April 2018; Published: 24 April 2018 Abstract: Power systems are becoming more and more complex in nature due to the integration of several power electronic devices. Protection of such systems and augmentation of reliability as well as stability highly depend on limiting the fault currents. Several fault current limiters (FCLs) have been applied in power systems as they provide rapid and efficient fault current limitation. This paper presents a comprehensive literature review of the application of different types of FCLs in power systems. Applications of superconducting and non-superconducting FCLs are categorized as: (1) application in generation, transmission and distribution networks; (2) application in alternating current (AC)/direct current (DC) systems; (3) application in renewable energy resources integration; (4) application in distributed generation (DG); and (5) application for reliability, stability and fault ride through capability enhancement. Modeling, impact and control strategies of several FCLs in power systems are presented with practical implementation cases in different countries. Recommendations are provided to improve the performance of the FCLs in power systems with modification of its structures, optimal placement and proper control design. This review paper will be a good foundation for researchers working in power system stability issues and for industry to implement the ongoing research advancement in real systems.
    [Show full text]
  • Fault Current Limiters Types, Operations and Its Limitations Rafiq Asghar ABSTRACT: Fault Currents Can Degrade Circuit Breakers and Other Expensive System Components
    International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research Volume 9, Issue 2, February-2018 ISSN 2229-5518 1020 Fault Current Limiters Types, Operations and its limitations Rafiq Asghar ABSTRACT: Fault currents can degrade circuit breakers and other expensive system components. By installing FCLs, many utilities can protect the system from detrimental condition with low cost. Solid state and superconductor based FCL technology are developed and getting greater attention from the market. With the cost reduction in high power switching devices and introduction of HTS wires the FCLs can be utilize for numerous applications at commercial and transmission level. This paper highlights the downsides of FCLs that will be problematic for fault current protection. The downsides can be further improved to amputate the possibility of failure and enhance reliability of systems. Keywords: Grid Fault, Fault current limiter, Superconductor FCL, Solid State FCL. ————————— ————————— 1. INTRODUCTION enhancing the stability of electrical power systems. Fault current is the accidental or abnormal One solution is the used of fault current limiter (FCL). connection between phases or phase to earth. In Fault current limiter recognizes and limits the short electrical fault the impedance of system becomes very circuit level during substation fault without low at effected point as a result of 5 to 15 times of disconnecting wind turbine. The FCL is the series rated current flow through the system. When this protection device which shows low impedance large fault current passes through the components, during normal operation. When the fault occurs on create excessive heat which can be damage or burn the system, the impedance increases to a the equipment.
    [Show full text]
  • Fault Current Limiter Using Transformer and Modular Device of YBCO Coated Conductor Carlos A
    5603804 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON APPLIED SUPERCONDUCTIVITY, VOL. 23, NO. 3, JUNE 2013 Fault Current Limiter Using Transformer and Modular Device of YBCO Coated Conductor Carlos A. Baldan, Jérika S. Lamas, André A. Bernardes, Carlos Y. Shigue, and Ernesto Ruppert Abstract—In this work, we report on the evaluation of a su- to insertion of the short-circuited transformer, low impedance perconducting fault current limiter (SFCL). It is consisted of a units were designed and constructed with toroidal and series modular superconducting device combined with a short-circuited configurations for comparative analysis. Under normal opera- transformer with a primary copper winding connected in series to the power line and the secondary side short-circuited by the super- tion the short-circuited transformer presents a low voltage drop conducting device. The basic idea is adding a magnetic component in the range of 5% to 10% that is possible to compensate using to contribute to the current limitation by the impedance reflected a voltage regulator unit. They also generate low magnetic fields to the line after transition of the superconducting device. The from 2% to 5% of the value for full load condition, resulting in evaluation tests were performed with a prospective current up to very low losses. 2 kA, with the short-circuited transformer of 2.5 kVA, 220 V/ 660 V connected to a test facility of 100 kVA power capacity. The The superconducting device was designed considering the resistive SFCL using a modular superconducting device was tested maximum allowed electrical field, E =50V/m in the YBCO without degradation for a prospective fault current of 1.8 kA, coated conductor (CC) tape [1]–[3].
    [Show full text]
  • Effects of Magnetic Fields on Quench Characteristics of Superconducting Tape for Superconducting Fault Current Limiter
    applied sciences Article Effects of Magnetic Fields on Quench Characteristics of Superconducting Tape for Superconducting Fault Current Limiter Bin Xiang *, Lei Gao, Muhammad Junaid , Zhiyuan Liu, Yingsan Geng, Jianhua Wang and Satoru Yanabu State Key Laboratory of Electrical Insulation and Power Equipment, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China; [email protected] (L.G.); [email protected] (M.J.); [email protected] (Z.L.); [email protected] (Y.G.); [email protected] (J.W.); [email protected] (S.Y.) * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +86-029-8266-8597 Received: 31 January 2019; Accepted: 2 April 2019; Published: 8 April 2019 Abstract: In DC systems, DC resistive type superconducting fault current limiters (R-SFCLs) can respond within a few hundred milliseconds and limit the fault current to a very low level to protect the power equipment in DC systems. The main part of R-SFCLs are superconducting tapes. When short-circuit faults occur in the system, the superconducting tapes will quench and become a large quenched resistor to limit the fault current. The surrounding magnetic fields and the magnetic fields caused by the superconducting tapes itself influence the quench characteristics of the superconducting tapes of R-SFCLs. Thus, the current limiting characteristics of R-SFCLs will also be affected. Until present, very few studies have investigated the effects of magnetic fields on quench characteristics of superconducting tapes for DC R-SFCL. The objective of this paper is to obtain the effects of magnetic fields on quench characteristics of superconducting tapes for DC R-SFCL.
    [Show full text]
  • Series Resonance Based Fault Current Limiter with Controlling The
    Series Resonance Based Fault Current Limiter with Controlling The Point of Common Coupling Voltage Hamid Radmanesh1 Amir Heidary2 Seyed Hamid Fathi3 G.B. Gharehpetian4 1 Assistant Professor, Electrical Engineering Department, Shahid Sattari Aeronautical University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran [email protected] 2 B.Sc., Electrical Engineering Department, Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), Tehran, Iran [email protected] 3 Professor, Electrical Engineering Department, Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), Tehran, Iran [email protected] 4 Professor, Electrical Engineering Department, Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), Tehran, Iran [email protected] Abstract: This paper proposes a novel Fault Current Limiter (FCL) for the application on distribution networks to control voltage sags at the Point of Common Coupling (PCC) during faults. This new FCL is based on series resonance including resonance transformer and series capacitor. So, by proper design of the series resonance LC tank, the fault current is limited to an acceptable level. The FCL operation is simulated using MATLAB software. In order to confirm the simulation results, a prototype structure is built and its measurement results are in agreement with the simulation results. The simulated and experimental results show that it is feasible to develop the FCL with low cost and high reliability. Downloaded from jiaeee.com at 13:20 +0330 on Saturday October 2nd 2021 Key words: Fault Current Limiter (FCL),
    [Show full text]
  • A Compound Current Limiter and Circuit Breaker
    electronics Article A Compound Current Limiter and Circuit Breaker Amir Heidary 1, Hamid Radmanesh 2, Ali Bakhshi 1, Kumars Rouzbehi 3 and Edris Pouresmaeil 4,* 1 Electrical Engineering Department, Amirkabir University of Technology, 15914 Tehran, Iran; [email protected] (A.H.); [email protected] (A.B.) 2 Electrical Engineering Department, Shahid Sattari Aeronautical University of Science and Technology, 15914 Tehran, Iran; [email protected] 3 Department of System Engineering and Automatic Control, University of Seville, 41004 Seville, Spain; [email protected] 4 Department of Electrical Engineering and Automation, Aalto University, 02150 Espoo, Finland * Correspondence: edris.pouresmaeil@aalto.fi Received: 18 April 2019; Accepted: 7 May 2019; Published: 16 May 2019 Abstract: The protection of sensitive loads against voltage drop is a concern for the power system. A fast fault current limiter and circuit breaker can be a solution for rapid voltage recovery of sensitive loads. This paper proposes a compound type of current limiter and circuit breaker (CLCB) which can limit fault current and fast break to adjust voltage sags at the protected buses. In addition, it can act as a circuit breaker to open the faulty line. The proposed CLCB is based on a series L-C resonance, which contains a resonant transformer and a series capacitor bank. Moreover, the CLCB includes two anti-parallel power electronic switches (a diode and an IGBT) connected in series with bus couplers. In order to perform an analysis of CLCB performance, the proposed structure was simulated using MATLAB. In addition, an experimental prototype was built, tested, and the experimental results were reported.
    [Show full text]
  • A Survey on Configurations of Current-Limiting Circuit Breakers (CL-CB)
    A Survey on Configurations of Current-Limiting Circuit Breakers (CL-CB) Chunyang Gu1, Pat Wheeler1, Alberto Castellazzi1, Alan J. Waston1, Francis Effah2 1The University of Nottingham 2The University of Mines and Technology Tower Building, University Park, Dept. Electrical & Electronic Engineering, Nottingham, UK, NG7 2RD P. O. Box 237, Tarkwa, Ghana E-Mail: [email protected] E-Mail: [email protected] Keywords «Current limiter», «Protection device», «Hybrid circuit breakers», «Solid-state circuit breakers» Abstract This paper presents a survey of topology configurations of current-limiting circuit breakers. Twelve different current-limiting topologies within four categories are detailed discussed and compared. It is concluded that active CL-CB may be a good choice for AC for its controllable reactive power capability to increase stability and multi-function protection. Introduction For power distribution systems, the most important responsibility is to protect equipments against overloads and short circuits. Circuit breakers are the effective measures of these protections. As the interrupting current rating becomes higher and higher, the fault current of AC distribution systems must be interrupted before it has reached the maximum value, or the terminal equipments and the destitution cable might to destroyed [1]. In a simple low-voltage system having a main power circuit breaker and several molded-case circuit breakers (MCCB), the main circuit breaker must be able to close and latch into a fault with limited current value until the MCCB clear the downstream fault, and the MCCB may be allowed to trip very rapidly to minimize the damage [2]. It is obvious that, from both technical and economical points of view, a device that reduces the short- circuit currents is needed [3].
    [Show full text]
  • Superconducting Fault Current Limiter-A Review
    International Journal of Applied Engineering Research ISSN 0973-4562 Volume 14, Number 2, 2019 (Special Issue) © Research India Publications. http://www.ripublication.com Superconducting Fault Current Limiter-A Review Shilpi Yadav1, Kamlesh Bharati2, Vijay Tewari3 Rajkiya Engineering College Kannauj UP India Abstract system. Thus to suppress the fault current magnitude in smart grid having DC and AC microgrid, SFCL The electricity demand is increasing at a very high could be utilize which has not only a faster response rate. Introduction of Distributed Energy Sources time to reduce the magnitude of fault current by its (DES) is the highest change happening to the quenching properties of a superconductor compared distribution network. This paper describes different to conventional protection techniques but also types of current limiting methods which reduce the increases the transient stability of power systems [3]. magnitude of the fault current. The interconnected In resistive type SFCL, no adverse effects when the distributed energy sources to the conventional grid grid will working normally, but in the case of fault, improves the power generation capacity of the power the alteration from the state of superconducting into system but also increases the magnitude of fault normal conducting state provide optimal resistance to current which cannot tolerate by the short-circuit power networks immediate, which reduces the ratings of the circuit breaker, relays, isolator etc. current more effective and fast [4], [5]. Research and Many conventional methods for the protection development of SFCL are being conduct by several against excessive fault current installed in power electrical manufacturers, and utility for electric systems, mainly at the power stations are the transmission lines.
    [Show full text]