The AC Interruption Characteristics of a Superconducting Fuse

Ships' integrated power systems have developed very quickly in the 21st century. Superconducting equipment and electric fuse both play important roles in ships' integrated power systems. A superconducting fuse comprised of YBa2Cu3O7-δ, yttrium barium copper oxide (YBCO) stripes with stainless steel layers is proposed, and it has a restricted zone similar to current limiting fuses. The superconducting fuse combines the advantages of superconducting equipment and electric fuses. In a superconducting fuse, the restricted zone is the key part that will decide the interrupting abilities. However, there are no studies on how the restricted zone influences the interruption characteristics. The objective of this article is to experimentally determine how the prospective current and the restricted zone geometry of superconducting fuse influences the ac interruption characteristics. The experiment studied three parameters: the prospective current, the length (L
₁
) of the restricted zone, and the width (W
₁
) of restricted zone. Experimental results show that: the whole interruption time and the current limiting factor are shorter when prospective current is increased, L
₁
or W
₁
are decreased. The arc voltage peak value and the overvoltage times is smaller when the prospective current is decreased, L
₁
or W
₁
are increased.