Performance of a power conversion system for superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES)

This paper presents the results of laboratory tests of a power conversion system (PCS) for superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) applications. The PCS uses a two-quadrant chopper and a voltage-source power converter. Operating modes of the chopper are discussed. Operation of SMES to provide independent control of real and reactive power, operation as a static VAr compensator, low frequency modulation of the real power and speed of response are demonstrated. A circuit is presented for testing an SMES PCS that does not require a superconducting coil.