Integration of superconducting fault current limiter with solid-state DC circuit breaker. (February 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Xi, Jiawen; Pei, Xiaoze; Song, Wenjuan; Niu, Liyong; Liu, Yuhan; Zeng, Xianwu
• Is Part Of: International journal of electrical power & energy systems. Volume 145(2023)
• Publication Date: 2023-02
• Subjects: Circuit breaker testing -- DC circuit breaker -- Electric aircraft -- SFCL -- Solid-state circuit breaker; Electrical engineering -- Periodicals; Electric power systems -- Periodicals; Électrotechnique -- Périodiques; Réseaux électriques (Énergie) -- Périodiques; Electric power systems; Electrical engineering; Periodicals; 621.3
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijepes.2022.108630
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0142-0615

Abstract

Highlights: Comparison of current limitation between the high inductance and low inductance superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL) Comparison of interruption of the DC solid-state circuit breaker (SSCB) with the high inductance and low inductance SFCL. DC network protection using SFCL to limit the fault current and DC SSCB to interrupt the fault current for electric aircraft. Coordination between SFCL and SSCB using overcurrent detection. Effective current limitation by SFCL leading to lower current interruption capability requirement for DC SSCB. Abstract: The onboard direct current (DC) system in electric aircraft could face a severe fault current, which is tens of times the nominal current in a short-circuit fault. It is critical to limit the fault current and clear the fault within a few milliseconds to prevent any damage to the DC system. A protection method using a resistive superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL) with a solid-state DC circuit breaker (SSCB) to manage the DC short-circuit fault is proposed and experimentally verified. A bifilar SFCL coil prototype with two types of connection to achieve low and high inductance is designed and tested, which reduces the fault current considerably from 2000 A to below 1000 A. The performance when integrating the low and high inductance SFCL with a solid-state DC circuit breaker are investigated. It is found that when integrating the SFCL with the SSCB, a high voltage is induced across the high inductance SFCL during current interruption tests. In terms of reliability and durability, the low inductance SFCL is preferred to integrate with the SSCB. The experimental results show that the low inductance SFCL can be an effective solution to protect the DC system from severe fault currents and then SSCB can rapidly and reliably interrupt the fault current at 1000 A. © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.