Flux distribution of passive fault current limiter based on saturable core and permanent magnet

From the point of view concerned with the development of the information-oriented functions in social activities, recently power consumption has rapidly increased. On the other hand, ability of power supply has not been increased to follow this increasing consumption, because it is difficult to construct new power generation plants. Therefore, reserve capacity of power supply is going to be decreased and power down has become a serious problem. To prevent the serious power down and to maintain a stable power supply, we had already proposed a passive fault current limiter using a permanent magnet with high coercive force, high remanent magnetic flux density and a ferrite core with high permeability, low saturated flux density compared to that of a permanent magnet. In this paper, the flux distribution of the limiter is investigated using the three dimensional finite element method.