Superconducting and non-superconducting fault current limiters: the developmental journey and upcoming prospects

Abstract

The energy hunger society drives for more electrical power consumption to raise the human conveniences have put tremendous pressure on the existing power system (PS) to function uninterruptedly. The continuous addition of non-linear loads brings a heavy inrush of fault current leading to transient instability in PS. To protect the PS and its precious elements, fault current limiters (FCLs) are generally installed with a view to limit those FCs before inviting severe damage and also quickly restore the PS to its original state. Furthermore, since faults are inevitable, efforts can only be made to minimise those damages by improving the FCLs. Herein, a brief history of FCLs, concepts, working principles, developmental stages, and experimental data, along with theoretical predictions, have been systematically presented. Finally, this article elaborates on the current challenges of FCLs, future perspectives, and, most importantly, their market potential. ©, Engineers Australia.