Magneto-Thermal Coupling Design and Performance Investigation of a Novel Hybrid Superconducting Fault Current Limiter (SFCL) With Bias Magnetic Field Based on MATLAB/SIMULINK

Energy demand is growing rapidly worldwide, and sustainable solutions are required to improve the energy supply. The new devices like high-temperature superconducting fault current limiters (SFCLs) are popular in recent years. They use the electrical properties of high-temperature superconductivity to instantaneously protect power grids against short circuits and thereby prevent costly outages. They can not only reduce the capacity of the circuit breaker but also lower the cost of line construction. They have become much promising for application in a high-voltage transmission line. A novel hybrid SFCL with a bias magnetic field is proposed by combining a reactor with double-split symmetrical windings and a non-inductive high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnet, which is in series to one branch of the reactor. An electro-magnetic model of the reactor and a magneto-thermal coupling model of the non-inductive HTS element have been built, and the simulation model of this SFCL is developed in MATLAB/SIMULINK. Its performance is investigated through the simulation considering a serious short-circuit fault and is compared to the performance without SFCL. The results validated the effectiveness of this kind of hybrid SFCL.