Experimental and Numerical Analysis of Electrothermal and Mechanical Phenomena in HTS Tube of Inductive SFCL

The superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL) can be successfully used to limit the short-circuit current level in electrical networks to 5 (or less) times of rated current level. The inductive SFCL works like transformer with shorted secondary winding in a shape of HTS tube. The SFCL 625-A consists of superconducting Bi-2223 tube (critical current=625 A at 77 K), iron core and copper primary winding. The numerical model using the thermal physical domain of CAD package FLUX2D has been used to analyze of temperature distribution in HTS tube during the fault. The numerical model using the magnetodynamic physical domain of FLUX2D package was used to analyze the mechanical force in HTS tube during fault. We attempt to provide explanation why HTS tubes quite often break during current limitation