Experimental Tests of Critical Current and AC Loss for a Self-Triggering High Temperature Superconducting Fault Current Limiter (SFCL) With Magneto-Biased Field

Rapidly growing power demands account for an increasing level of short circuit fault current in recent years. It is difficult for the conventional circuit breaker to meet the capacity requirements for fault current limiting. However, a high temperature superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL) can instantaneously protect power grids by using the HTS quench properties. The wide application of SFCL gives a new avenue for power grid protection. Therefore, SFCL have advantages in reducing the capacity of circuit breaker. A novel self-triggering SFCL with magneto-biased field was proposed in this paper. This SFCL has a non-inductive high temperature superconducting module, a reactor with two split symmetrical windings and a circuit breaker. The experimental platforms for test of the transport characteristic of SFCL unit are set up. A high-speed Data Acquisition (DAQ) System based on LABVIEW produced by NI Corporation is applied for experimental tests. The critical current and AC loss characteristics of a SFCL unit have been tested and compared considering the effects of joints. This SFCL has been validated and its technical feasibility in power grids is verified by experimental investigations.