Fault Current Limiters for VSC-HVDC systems

Fault Current Limiters (FCL) limit fault current levels to a more manageable level, this way it becomes possible to increase the transmission ratings of an electrical system, without changing the equipment. Thus, the existing equipment is able to handle the new currents and protect properly the system. In the paper, different types of FCLs are deeply identified, covering their characteristics, advantages and disadvantages as well as opportunities, stressing on the most suitable ones for VSC-HVDC applications in order to achieve a better performance against faults in the DC circuit.