The European project ECCOFLOW aims at a versatile resistive-type superconducting fault current limiter. For the first time, such a device will be tested at two different sites. The project partners have developed a superconducting fault current limiter design based on REBCO tapes with respect to the specifications provided by two hosting utilities. The limiter will operate at 1 kA at a rated voltage of 24 kV, and will be tested in both a busbar and a transformer feeder application. The design started with extensive investigations on the superconductor tape properties, especially with respect to the limitation behavior in all possible scenarios, and subsequent wide-range modeling of its in-grid behavior. The general integrated layout provides a limitation time of up to 1 s. The limiter is cooled using Gifford-McMahon cryocoolers to recondense the evaporated nitrogen. The present status of production and testing will be presented as well.
Pierluigi Bruzzone, Kamil Sedlák, Nikolay Bykovskiy, Ortensia Dicuonzo
Rainer Wesche, Roberto Guarino, Frédéric Michel