Thermal studies of a superconducting current limiter using Monte-Carlo method

Considering the increase of the fault current lever in electrical network, the current limiters become very interesting. The superconducting limiters are based on the quasi-instantaneous intrinsic transition from superconduct ing state to normal resistive one. Without detection of default or given or der, they reduce the constraints supported by electrical installations abov e the fault. To avoid the destruction of the superconducting coil, the temp erature must not exceed a certain value. Therefore the design of a supercon ducting coil needs the simultaneous resolution of an electrical equation an d a thermal one. This papers deals with a resolution of this coupled proble m by the method of Monte-Carlo. This method allows us to calculate the evol ution of the resistance of the coil as well as the current of limitation. E xperimental results are compared with theoretical ones.