• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.28-31
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• 2012

The study on the dielectric characteristics of gaseous insulation medium is important for designing current leads of superconducting machines using a sub-cooled liquid nitrogen ($LN_2$) cooling method. In a sub-cooled $LN_2$ cooling system, the temperature of gaseous insulation medium surrounding current leads varies from the temperature of coolant to 300 K according to the displacement between the electrode system and the surface of sub-cooled $LN_2$. In this paper, AC withstand voltage experiments on gaseous nitrogen according to temperature are conducted. Also, AC withstand voltage experiments on gaseous nitrogen according to pressure, size of electrode, and gap length between two electrodes are performed. It is found that there is a functional relation between the electrical breakdown voltage and the field utilization factor (${\xi}$). As a result, the empirical formula for estimating an electrical breakdown voltage is deduced by adopting the concept of field utilization factors. It is expected that the experimental results presented in this paper are helpful to design current leads for a high voltage superconducting apparatus such as a superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL) using a sub-cooled $LN_2$ cooling system.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.29-32
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• 2006

An advanced superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL) using $high-T_c$ superconducting (HTS) wire has been developed. The SFCL has a non-inductively wound magnet for reducing loss in normal state. Two types of non-inductively wound magnets, the solenoid type and the pancake type, were designed and manufactured by using Bi-2223 wire in this research. Short-circuit tests of the magnets were performed in sub-cooled $LN_2$ cooling system of 65 K. The magnets are thermally more stable and have a higher critical current in 65 K sub-cooled $LN_2$ cooling system than in 77 K saturated one. Because the resistivity of matrix at 65 K is lower than the resistivity at 77 K, the magnets generate a small resistance to reduce the fault current when the quench occurs. The magnets could limit the fault current to low current level with such a small resistance. The current limiting characteristic of the magnets was analyzed from the test result. The solenoid type was wound in parallel to make it non-inductive. The pancake type was also connected in parallel to be compared with the solenoid type in the same condition. The solenoid type was found to have a good thermal stability compared with the pancake type. It also had as large resistance as the pancake type to limit the fault current in sub-cooled $LN_2$ cooling system.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.133-135
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• 2003

Cryogenic systems are requirement for the operation of HTS power cables. In general, HTS power cables require temperature below 77K, a temperature that can be achieved from the liquid nitrogen at latm or sub-cooled LN2 above latm. HTS power cable needs sufficient refrigeration to overcome its low temperature heat loading. This loading typically cones in two forms : (1) heat leaks from the surroundings and (2) internal heat generation. This paper explains the cooling test system of 10m HTS power cable. This system is composed of storage dewar, auto fill system, core cryostat and cold-box. Storage dewar is a LN2 storage tank and auto fill system is a LN2 supply device to the sub-cooler, Core cryostat is a LN2 flow line. Cold box is a control unit of temperature and flow rate. It is composed of control valve, flow meter, sub-cooler and circulation pump, etc..

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.81-86
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• 2006

High temperature superconducting (HTS) power cable requires forced sub-cooled LN2 flow cooling. Liquid nitrogen is circulated by a pump and cooled back by cooling system. Typical operating temperature range is expected to be between 65 K and 77 K. The HTS power cable needs sufficient cooling to overcome its low temperature heat load. For successful cooling, the hydraulic characteristics of the HTS power cable must be well investigated to design the cables. Especially, the pressure drop in the cable is an important design parameter, because the pressure drop decides the length of the cable, size of the coolant circulation pump and circulation pressure, etc. This paper describes measurement and investigation of the pressure drop of the cooling system. In order to reduce the total pressure drop of the cooling system, the flow rate of liquid nitrogen must be controlled by rotational speed of the circulation pump.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.27-30
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• 2011

A sub-cooled liquid nitrogen cooling system is known as a most promising method to develop large scale superconducting apparatuses such as superconducting fault current limiters and superconducting cables [1]. Gaseous helium (GHe), gaseous nitrogen ($GN_2$) and sulfur hexafluoride ($SF_6$) are commonly used for designing an high voltage applied superconducting device as an injection gaseous medium [2, 3]. In this paper, the analysis on the dielectric characteristics of GHe, $GN_2$ and $SF_6$ are conducted by designing and manufacturing sphere-to-plane electrode systems. The AC withstand voltage experiments on the various gaseous insulation media are carried out and the results are analyzed by using finite element method (FEM) considering field utilization factors (${\xi}$). It is found that the electric field intensity at sparkover ($E_{MAX}$) of insulation media exponentially decreases according to ${\xi}$ increases. Also, the empirical expressions of the functional relations between $E_{MAX}$ and ${\xi}$ of insulation media are deduced by dielectric experiments and computational analyses. It is expected that the electrical insulation design of applied superconducting devices could be performed by using the deduced empirical formulae without dielectric experiments.

• KEPCO Journal on Electric Power and Energy
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.141-144
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• 2015

The superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL) is an electric power device that limits the fault current immediately in a power grid. Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) has been developing a 154 kV, 2 kA SFCL since 2011 to protect power grids from increasing fault current and improve the stability and quality of electric power. This SFCL adopts 2G YBCO wires and operates at 71 K and 5 bars. In this paper, a cooling system for the 154 kV SFCL and its cooling test results are reported. This cooling system uses a Stirling-type cooler to make sub-cooled liquid nitrogen ($LN_2$), which cools the superconductor modules of the SFCL. The $LN_2$ is circulated between the cooler and the cryostat that contains superconductor modules. The $LN_2$ also plays the role of a high voltage insulator between the modules and the cryostat, so the pressure was maintained at 5 bars for high insulation performance. After installation in a test site, the cooling characteristics of the system were tested. In this operation test, some important data were measured such as temperature distribution in $LN_2$, pressure change, performance of the heat exchanger, and cooling capacity of the total system. Consequently, the results indicate that the cooling system operates well as designed.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.66-70
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• 2014

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.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2006.07b
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• pp.711-712
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• 2006

For the application of superconducting fault current limiters(SFCLs) to the protection system, quench recovery characteristics of Au/YBCO thin film were investigated. The Au/YBCO thin film was designed as a SFCL element with a bi-spiral pattern. The SFCL element limited the fault current successfully. For the analysis of the recovery to superconducting state, we measured resistance variation of the SFCL element after the quench. In addition, in order to investigate the dependence of quench characteristics of SFCL on the $LN_2$ cooling condition, we measured the recovery time under a pressure of 1, 2 and 3 atm. As the results, the recovery time increased in proportion to the duration of the fault currents. In the sub-cooled condition, while the quench development was exactly the same, the recovery time was shortened as the pressure increased.