Development of fault current limiters: A review

Fault current limiters (FCLs) have been instrumental on industrial level, with their enhanced power quality with respect to voltage sag mitigation, reduced upgrading of switchgears and prevention of protection system equipment from severe damages. Due to the industrial growth in power system network, there is an essential need for FCL. Recent work on FCL has picked up a quicker pace in the area of fault diagnosis of power system. Traditional methods such as fuse, Circuit Breakers (CBs) and Transformers etc. are used for limiting the fault current in the power network. But then again fuse is a single use device and takes manual replacement, also CBs have limitations of higher ratings. Transformer inrush current is another problem. This paper presents a detailed review of various fault current limiter configurations, control strategies, recent trends and their implementation for particular applications.