Preliminary studies on characteristics of series-connected resistive type superconducting fault current limiter for system design

One element of superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL) has relative lo w rated voltage and current compared with power grid voltage and current. I t means up to hundreds superconducting limiter elements have to be connecte d in series. To simplify the analysis, we assumed that the superconducting limiter element is expressed with parallel connection of switch and resista nce - this condition means severe situation to all elements operation. The current and voltage waveforms are described and the results reveal relation ships between SFCL transition current level, the target value to reduce, th e normal resistance of the elements, maximum terminal voltage, and the numb er of elements in series. These relations yield guideline on the system des ign of series-connected SFCL. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights res erved.