Mathematical Modeling and Current Characteristics Investigation of a 35 kV Three-in-One High Temperature Superconducting (HTS) Power Cable

Considering the lack of space resources limits the addition of conventional cables in urban centers, a three-in-one high temperature superconducting (HTS) cable, which has three separate superconducting cables inside a cryogenic pipe, can be used for urban power supply because of its small volume, large transmission power and low electromagnetic pollution. The three-in-one HTS cable gets a lot attention to be used for urban power supply nowadays. However, the uneven distribution of layer current in three-in-one superconducting cable is a challenge that it leads to the damage of superconducting tape, increasing losses and unstable performance. Therefore, applying an improved screening algorithm, a mathematical model is proposed and its calculation process is programmed in MATLAB for optimizing a 35 kV three-in-one superconducting cable to achieve the current sharing in the conducting layer of each phase. The resistance effect on each layer and the phase-to-phase distance influence on the layer current are considered when investigating the current carrying ability based on the numerical analysis model. Finally, a 35 kV/1 kA three-in-one high temperature superconducting cable short sample is constructed, and the current carrying operational performances of one of three-phase super-conducting cable are tested to verify the effectiveness of the optimization procedure.