Abstract
We fabricated a resistive type superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL) of 3-phase $6.6 kV_{rms}$ / rating, based on YBCO thin films grown on sapphire substrates with a diameter off inch. Each element of the SFCL was designed to have the rated voltage of $600 V_{rms}$ $/35A_{rms}$. The elements produced a single phase with 8${\times}$6 components connected in series and parallel. In addition, a NiCr shunt resistor of 23 $\Omega$ was connected in parallel to each of them for simultaneous quenches between the elements. Prior to investigating the performance of the 3 phase SFCL, we examined the quench characteristics for 8 elements connected in series. For all elements, simultaneous quenches and equal voltage distribution within 10% deviation from the average were obtained. Based on these results, performance of the SFCL for single line-to-ground faults was investigated. The SFCL successfully limited the fault current of $10 kA_{ rms}$ below 816 $A_{peak}$ within 0.12 msec right after the fault occurred. During the quench process, average temperature of all components did not exceed 250 K, and the SFCL was totally safe during the whole operation.
