Characteristics of a 190 kVA Superconducting Fault current Limiting Element

We are developing a 22.9 kV/25 MVA superconducting fault current limiting(SFCL) system for a power distribution network. A Bi-2212 bulk SFCL element, which has the merits of large current capacity and high allowable electric field during fault of the power network, was selected as a candidate for our SFCL system. In this work, we experimentally investigated important characteristics of the 190 kVA Bi-2212 SFCL element in its application to the power grid e.g. DC voltage-current characteristic, AC loss, current limiting characteristic during fault, and so on. Some experimental data related to thermal and electromagnetic behaviors were also compared with the calculated ones based on numerical method. The results show that the total AC loss at rated current of the 22.9 kV/25 MVA SFCL system, consisting of one hundred thirty five 190 kVA SFCL elements, becomes likely 763 W, which is excessively large for commercialization. Numerically calculated temperature of the SFCL element in some sections is in good agreement with the measured one during fault. Local temperature distribution in the190 kVA SFCL element is greatly influenced by non-uniform critical current along the Bi-2212 bulk SFCL element, even if its non-uniformity becomes a few percentages.