Evaluation of Distribution Reliability with Superconducting Fault Current Limiter

Abstract

Recently big fault currents flow in a network. The fault current will exceed capacity of circuit breakers soon and all the various rational solutions to solve this problem are taken into account. Under these circumstances, superconducting fault current limiter(SFCL) is a new alternative in the viewpoint of technical and economic aspects. This study presents operation processes for a resistive-type of SFCL, and it proposes reliability model for the SFCL. When a SFCL is installed into a network, the contribution of decreased fault currents to failure for distribution equipments can be quantified. As a result, it is expected that a SFCL makes the reliability of adjacent equipments on existing network improve and these changes are analyzed. We propose a methodology to evaluate the reliability in the distribution network where a SFCL is installed considering a reliability model for SFCL and reliability changes for adjacent equipments which are proposed in this paper.