Comparative Analysis of Various Superconducting and Non-Superconducting Fault Current Limiting Devices Designed for Operation in a 110kV/100 MW Power Network

AbstractAs it is known one of the most promising fault current limiting (FCL) devices for high-power electric networks can be the so-called transformer type superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL) with the primary winding connected to the load in series and the secondary one shortened by a fast-acting circuit-breaker. These devices when made of conventional materials can be very large and expensive – e.g., for a 100 MW circuit under protection the total mass of copper winding conductors can exceed 15 tons and the heat losses in a normal operating mode can be more than 200kW. Therefore, using of high-temperature superconductors (HTSC) can be a solution which can sufficiently improve the mass, geometrical and operational characteristics of an FCL. Unlike other superconducting AC devices, the magnetic field in SFCL does not exceed 0.1 – 0.2 T what allows using HTSC windings even at a comparatively high level of AC losses existing nowadays. In this paper is performed a comparative analysis of various designs of SCFL with the non-superconducting FCL. It has been shown that the former have a mass by an order of magnitude lower than the latter and the rate of lowering of heat losses in a normal operating mode is the same. The equalization of costs of both designs is expected to be reached within the nearest 3 – 5 five years