A Design Methodology for the Optimization of Three-Phase SFCL of Saturated Cores Type

Superconducting fault current limiters (SFCL) have already demonstrated their viability in electric power grids. The growth in distributed generation sources and an increased interconnection of networks tend to increase the complexity of electric power grids, rising the number of failures, especially short circuits. To disseminate these technologies, the development of straightforward design tools is required. These tools must consider the properties of the available constitutive elements of the devices. A design methodology that allows modeling and optimizing saturated cores SFCL is presented in this paper. This methodology considers the characteristics of each constitutive element of the limiter while addressing utility requirements and power grid characteristics. Genetic algorithms are used both to optimize the constitutive elements of the limiter and its performance in the power grid. In order to validate this methodology, a three-phase SFCL is designed, optimized, and simulated.