Exploration of a Novel HTS Thin-Film Device Combined With Roles of Transformer and Overcurrent Limiter

A novel high-temperature superconducting (HTS) thin-film device based on double-sided YBa
₂
Cu
₃
O
_7-
x
(YBCO) thin film, combined with roles of transformer and overcurrent limiter, is proposed and tested in this article. Due to the effective improvement on the power density, operating frequency, repeatability, functional integration, and low profile of the high-frequency converters, thin-film transformer (TFT) has been widely employed in power conversion fields. In contrast to the normal conductive materials, the surface resistance of the HTS materials is much smaller. Thus, the TFT fabricated by HTS thin film has lower Joule losses and higher power conversion efficiency. We designed the double-sided YBCO thin-film-based HTS-TFT and measured its parameters at liquid nitrogen (LN
₂
). As a comparison, we also developed the copper (Cu) based TFT and measured the same parameters at LN
₂
and room temperature. Besides, we also tested the overcurrent limiting performance of the HTS-TFT, which is based on the state change from superconductivity to normal state. It can be found from the contrastive experiments that the HTS-TFT has better operating parameters than the Cu-TFT; meanwhile, the overcurrent can be limited by the HTS winding effectively.