Cooling performance test of the superconducting fault current limiter

The superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL) is an electrical power system device that detects the fault current automatically and limits the magnitude of the current below a certain safety level. The SFCL module does not have any electrical resistance below the critical temperature, which facilitates lossless power transmission in the electric power system. Once given the fault current, however, the superconducting conductor exhibits extremely high electrical resistance, and the magnitude of the current is accordingly limited to a low value. Therefore, SFCL should be maintained at a temperature below the critical temperature, which justifies the cryogenic cooling system as a mandatory component. This report is a study which reported on the cooling system for the 154 kV-class hybrid SFCL owned by Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO). Using the cryocooler, the temperature of liquid nitrogen (LN2) was lowered to 71 K. The cryostat was pressurized to 5 bars to improve the dielectric strength of nitrogen and suppress nitrogen bubble foaming during operation of SFCL. The SFCL module was immersed in the liquid nitrogen of the cryostat to maintain the superconducting state. The performance test results of the key components such as cryocooler, LN2 circulation pump, cold box, and pressure builder are shown in this paper.