Magnetic Fault Current Limiter Operation Analysis Using 3-Dimentional Finite Element Method

Daily increasing number of consumers and power network expansion leads to an increase in short circuit current, which makes the need of short circuit current limiter to be of great importance. One type of fault current limiters is passive magnetic which consists of iron core (magnetic shield) and magnet that is used in low voltage distribution networks. Their major features are high speed, consecutive operation capability and not meeting the need of fault diagnosis circuit and command circuit for limitation, simultaneous start of current limitation and fault occurrence. In this paper, magnetic fault current limiter is simulated using the Finite Element Method with COMSOL software in a 3-dimantional environment and simulation results are compared with laboratorial results of 2kVA passive FCL in Kanazawa University.