An Analysis and Short Circuit Test of Various Types of Bi-2223 Bifilar Winding Fault Current Limiting Module

This paper deals with feasibility of fault current limiter (FCL) by using Bi-2223 high temperature superconducting (HTS) wire. The FCL using HTS wire has some advantages of stability, flexibility of structure and cost compared with existing superconducting FCLs using bulk or thin film. Even if the FCL using HTS wire has zero resistance in normal state, it needs to be wound as a bifilar winding for non inductance. In this paper, four types of FCL module with bifilar winding were suggested, manufactured and experimented with short circuit tests in 77 K. The FCL modules have different fault current limiting characteristic and stability respectively. These types of module are solenoid, pancake, solenoid impregnated with epoxy resin and pancake impregnated with epoxy resin. The FCL module was applied by controllable AC bias during fault duration, 0.1 s, from 0.5 V to 22 V. A process of fault occurrence in this test is very similar to a fault occurrence in real system. In results of tests, the pancake type was more effective to limit a fault current than the solenoid type. Also modules impregnated with epoxy resin showed more efficient current limiting characteristics than nonimpregnated modules. The solenoid type has better characteristic of stability. The feasibility of the FCL by using HTS wire was verified by this paper