Method to design saturated iron‐core fault current limiters

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Fault current limiter (FCL) is a kind of device with current‐dependent impedance that has low impedance in normal state of power system, and high impedance during fault condition. Among all classes of FCLs, the saturated iron‐core FCL (SICFCL) is practically the most favourable one nowadays. In this study, a numerical method for design and cost optimisation of SICFCLs is presented. It uses a set of constraints to ensure the desirable operation of the SICFCL based on its electrical and magnetic characteristics. For numerical calculations and optimisations, GAMS software has been used. Suitability of the method is approved by design, simulation and test of a 3500 VA prototype. Magnetic field distributions are simulated using COMSOL Multiphysics and performance of the designed SICFCL is evaluated in a power system hardware model. Simulation and experimental results show the satisfying agreement with predicted results by the proposed numerical method.