Analytical and Experimental Studies on the Hybrid Fault Current Limiter Employing Asymmetric Non-Inductive Coil and Fast Switch

This paper deals with design and operating test of a novel hybrid FCL. The FCL system consists of a coil, a fast switch and a resistor for bypassing the fault current. The switch is driven by novel non-inductive coil suggested in this paper but an extra driving coil is required for fast switch in existing hybrid FCL. We used two kinds of HTS wire for the coil. The impedance of the coil was negligible in normal operation. But different quench characteristics of HTS wires caused asymmetric current distribution which induced effective magnetic flux in the coil during faults. The switch was opened by repulsive force from this magnetic flux in fast response to the fault. Then, all current were flew through the normal conductive bypass resistor connected in parallel to both the coil and the switch. Electromagnetic analysis of the coil based on finite element method was performed. Also, a small-scale asymmetric non-inductive coil was designed, fabricated and tested. The proposed hybrid FCL system showed fast and efficient current limiting characteristic.