Studies of characteristics and design of superconducting fault current limiter with adjustable trigger current level in current limiting operation

Superconducting fault current limiters (SCFCLs) are expected to improve not only reliability but also stability of power systems. To introduce an SCFCL in a power system, various specifications such as trigger current level, impedance in current limiting operation, recovery time, and so on are necessary. Fault analyses point out that accuracy of the trigger current level is necessary. Therefore, an SCFCL of a transformer type with adjustable trigger current level was proposed and manufactured. Using the trial SCFCL, adjustability of the trigger current level was confirmed. It is found that the SCFCL has good limiting and recovery characteristics. In this paper, characteristics of the SCFCL are considered from a design point of view. Most of the specifications necessary for design depend on the characteristics in current limiting operation. Therefore, the characteristics of the SCFCL in current limiting operation are discussed. It is shown that this kind of SCFCL has good property for easy design, and its design principle is summarized. (C) 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.