Comparison of the four configurations of the inductive Fault Current Limiter

Abstract

Fault current limiters (FCLs) are expected to play an important role in the protection of the future power networks, since the increase of loads and expansion of the power networks lead to much higher short-circuit power. This paper presents the comparison of four different configurations of inductive FCL, with respect to the FCL weight (magnetic core and winding material) and losses during both the nominal and the fault state of operation. Two main challenges in the inductive FCL design are reduction of the material weight and reduction of the induced dc winding over-voltage during the fault period. So far, solutions (core configurations) proposed in the literature are: decoupling of the dc and the ac magnetic circuits to avoid high voltages across the dc winding during a fault and the so-called open- core configuration. The presented results reveal the merits and drawbacks of each of the configurations and compare them to the conventional inductive FCL design characteristics. The results are obtained through the simulations in SaberDesinger and by experiments.