Improved control methods of PCS to reduce AC Loss of SMES

A number of control techniques of superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) system have been developed. Most of them focus on power control of the power conditioning system (PCS) and ignore the control of magnet current. However many researches have shown that AC loss is closely related to the transport current. This paper studies the relationship between the AC loss and the current ripple of the magnet and presents improved control methods of the PCS to reduce the current loss. Simulation and experiments on a SMES device have proved the effectiveness of this method. It can be used in future SMES designs.