Conceptual Design of the Termination Part for a Transmission Superconducting Fault Current Limiter

• Published in: Journal of electrical engineering & technology 2022, 17(1), , pp.503-512
• Main Authors: Kang, Hyoungku, Bella, Eliana, Ratri, Dewimaruto, O, Seunghee, Park, Younghun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Electrical Engineering; Electrical Machines and Networks; Electronics and Microelectronics; Engineering; Instrumentation; Original Article; Power Electronics; 전기공학
• ISSN: 1975-0102; 2093-7423
• DOI: 10.1007/s42835-021-00876-5

One of the critical components for high-voltage superconducting apparatuses, such as superconducting fault current limiters (SFCLs), superconducting cables, and superconducting transformers, is the termination part. The termination part supplies power to superconducting coils without insulating difficulties, and it is designed considering several conditions, such as temperature and pressure. Generally, the termination part for a high-voltage SFCL is divided by a spacer into SF 6 and gaseous nitrogen (GN 2 ) parts. To design an electrically reliable termination part, dielectric experiments on the sparkover and creepage discharge along the surface of a solid material in GN 2 are performed, and the dielectric characteristics of the electric field intensity at the sparkover of GN 2 and creepage discharge along the surface of a solid material in GN 2 are expressed as an empirical formulae in terms of the field utilization factor ( ξ ). As a result, the electrical and mechanical design of the termination part including a spacer with respect to the material and shape is conducted. Finally, a conceptual design of the termination part for a 220 kV high voltage SFCL is proposed. The experimental results and design method proposed in this paper were applied to the design of the world’s largest commercial 220 kV/300MVA SFCL installed and operating in Moscow.