Study and Development of Superconducting Fault Current Limiter With High Speed Reclosing

Using a high temperature superconductor, we have constructed and tested a prototype of superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL). As a requirement for high speed reclosing after interrupting the fault current in the electric power system, when the fault current is interrupted, the back-up breaker is re-closed within 0.3 seconds. Accordingly, the electromagnetic repulsion switch should return to its former state and the conductor must recover its superconducting state before the high speed reclosing. We therefore propose the SFCL that uses an electromagnetic repulsion switch, which employs our new reclosing function. We have also studied the recovery time of the superconductor as heat is generated in the superconductor when being quenches.