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CURRENT LIMITATION IN HIGH TEMPERATURE SUPERCONDUCTING

TRANSFORMERS AND IMPACT ON THE GRID

E. Serres (*), M. Lakner S. Fleshler

C. Levillain J. Rhyner A. Otto
F.X.Camescasse M. Chen R. Diehl
J.-F. Picard W. Paul C. Christopherson
FRANCE H. Zueger R.Mason
SWITZERLAND K. de Moranville
J. Backes J. Daniel
D. Bonmann USA
GERMANY

ABSTRACT: KEY WORDS:

After the manufacturing, short-circuit and dielectric
tests and one year operation of a 630 kVA -
18720 V/ 420 V High Temperature Superconducting
Transformer in Geneva (Switzerland), new perspectives
were opened for the development of transformers with
new functionalities. Current limitation appears to be
one of the most promising advantages for future
networks.
The first part of this document describes the capability
of a High Temperature Superconductor (HTS) wire to
limit high prospective fault currents to very low values.
Simulations and measurements prove this new
functionality under various conditions. The wire is a
bismuth, strontium, calcium, copper oxide power-in-
tube wire, with a critical temperature of around 110 K.
Moreover, right after the fault current limiting event, if
the critical temperature is not exceeded, the wire is able
to recover its superconducting characteristics even if
the rated current is flowing. This « operational
recovery » offers good opportunities for network
operation. A series connected device may be considered
as a low impedance during normal operation, high
resistance during short-circuit and low impedance some
periods after the fault, without disconnection.
The second part of this document deals with the added
value of such a capability on transformers, taking full
advantage of the reduced peak and r.m.s. values of the
short-circuit current. Different application examples are
given, from step-up transformers to HV/MV
transformers leading to different benefits for the system,
such as reduced stresses on downstream devices,
reduced load losses, more compact transformers,
increased voltage stability, reduced generator ratings…
Superconductivity, transformer, current-limitation,
system benefits.
1. CURRENT LIMITATION : THEORY
The successful manufacturing, testing and one year
operation of a 630 kVA - 18720 V/ 420 V High
Temperature Superconducting (HTS) transformer in
Geneva had demonstrated the feasibility of integrating
such a transformer into an existing network in principle
[1].
While for this demonstrator the major potential
advantages were low load losses, the elimination of oil
and compactness, it was recognised that these features
do not take full advantage of the specific properties of
superconductors. Especially the exploitation of the
transition from the superconducting to the normal-
conducting, resistive state for the limitation of fault
currents, would add a very promising new functionality
to a mature product like a transformer.
1.1. System requirements for a fault current limiting
transformer
The network environment of the transformer includes
the protection system, which shall detect, locate and
interrupt fault currents as fast as possible in order to
avoid or limit damage caused by the energy released. On
the other hand the protection system, together with an
intelligent network layout, shall ensure a minimum of
voltage fluctuations and interruptions seen by the
customers.
It is believed that the economic breakeven of HTS
power transformers will be in excess of several tens of
MVA, such that in most cases the insertion of a current
limiting HTS transformer would impact several voltage
and protection levels. Even in simple schemes like the

(*) EDF – Division Recherche & Développement –1 Avenue du général de Gaulle – 92141 Clamart Cedex
 -2-
one shown in Fig. 1, the time needed to detect, localise
and interrupt selectively the faulty feeder adds up to at
least 250 ms for conventional protection equipment. In
case of a main breaker failure, the delay and breaker
opening time of the next higher voltage level result in a
total fault duration that easily exceeds 1 s. In overhead
line networks it is common practice to apply automatic
reclosure patterns. For short “open” periods the time
integral of the “closed” periods represents a good
approximation of the thermal load on the equipment.
Normal transients, like the starting of large electric
motors, may reach amplitudes of an order of 2 p.u. Such
transients are not allowed to trip the protection system.
IEC 354 allows emergency overload periods of up to
150% rated load for large power transformers, at the
expense of accelerated thermal ageing of the electrical
insulation.
Ideally a fault current limiting device should have zero
impedance for currents up to about 2 p.u. Higher
prospective currents should be limited to 5 p.u. for
periods up to 2 s. After the fault current is cut, the
device should immediately and automatically recover its
full loadability. Preferably such a device should work
without the need for an active control in order to be fail-
safe.
1.2. Impact of network requirements on HTS
conductor design
In the resistive current limiting state, heat is dissipated at
a very high rate into the current limiting device. The
challenge is to limit the temperature increase, to provide
sufficient cooling for automatic recovery and to release
the dissipated fault energy in a controlled manner.
In an electrical grid, where the feeding voltage is
constant to a good approximation, the maximum fault
current flowing in the conductor is determined by the I-
V-curve of the HTS material. In parallel to the HTS
material a bypass conductor in good electrical contact is
needed to spread out the effect of local inhomogeneities
in the HTS material, as to avoid hot spots. The parallel
resistances of HTS material and electrical bypass
determine the rate and power density at which heat is
generated.
Fig. 1 gives an example of typical Current - Voltage
(I-V) curves of an HTS conductor for different
temperatures. HTS conductors exhibit a rather wide flux
flow regime extending significantly above the critical
current Ic, where superconductivity noticeably enhances
the conductivity.
log (current)
T1
log (voltage)
N=2 T2>T1
T3>T2
T4>T3
Ic2
Ic3
Ic4 Ic1
Fig. 1: Typical I-V-curves of a BSCCO HTS conductor
with High Resistive Sheath for 4 different temperatures
For the first few cycles of a fault, one can assume
adiabatic heating of the conductor, since heat diffusion
over the metallic and HTS cross section is dominating.
This heating reduces the critical current of the HTS
material, which leads to a further increase of resistance.
At later stages of the fault and during recovery of the
superconducting state after clearing the fault, the heat
transfer to the coolant, either in direct contact with
metallic surfaces or through electrical insulation,
becomes effective.
For an HTS conductor in good thermal and electrical
contact to a continuous metallic bypass, the two
conditions to be met for fast recovery can be
approximated as: The temperature of the HTS material
may not exceed the critical temperature at the end of the
fault.
C p ⋅ density ⋅ (Tc − Top ) ⋅ ρ el / V 2 > t fault (1)
where
tfault duration of the fault
Cp average specific heat of HTS material and
metallic bypass in contact with it.
density average density of HTS material and metallic
bypass
Tc critical temperature of the HTS at rated current
and the related magnetic field
Top rated operating temperature of the HTS
V voltage gradient along the conductor
ρel current dependent, overall combined resistivity
of HTS conductor and electrical bypass,
averaged over the fault duration.
The second condition for recovery under rated current is
that the heat flux at the surface of conductor and bypass
be smaller than the steady state heat transfer available at
that instant.
jop ⋅ ρ el ⋅ d < h ⋅ (Tc − Top ) ⋅ (α + 1) / α
2 *
(2)
 -3-
where
jop is the rated operating current density, averaged
over HTS conductor and bypass
ρel*
is the current dependent average resistivity of
the conductor with its electrical bypass at the
end of the fault current limiting event, averaged
over time
h is the effective heat transfer coefficient
α is the aspect ratio width/thickness d of the
conductor cross section
d is the overall thickness of the conductor
It is essential to note that due to the wide flux flow
region, in HTS conductors ρel assumes very small
instantaneous values during the off-peak moments of the
ac cycle, resulting in the low average resistivity allowing
fast recovery.
1.3. Accessibility by conductor design and physical
limits
The amplitude of the first fault current peak is
dominated by the flux flow resistance of the HTS
material. As the conductor heats up, the resistance of the
bypass determines the short circuit current. Common
alloys have resistivities of up to 100 µΩ.cm. The heat
capacity effective during the short term current limiting
event is limited by the low thermal conductivity of high
resistivity materials. Handling and manufacturing
constraints put a lower limit on the thickness of BSCCO
HTS conductors. Therefore the specific surface area for
heat exchange cannot be increased infinitely. There is no
physical lower limit to overall operational r.m.s. current
density; however economic considerations suggests a
target of 10 A/mm2 or higher. The thermal conductivity
of electrical insulation will limit the available cooling.
Reducing the voltage gradient (electric field) can reduce
the energy deposition per unit mass, however mass and
cost of the transformer will increase inversely with
gradient.
No refrigeration machine will be able to remove heat at
the rate it is generated during a fault. Therefore an
interim heat sink in the form of solid material or liquid
coolant being heated or evaporated has to be provided.
2. SELF LIMITING WIRE
2.1. Proof of the self limiting effect
We designed an HTS conductor, capable of limiting a
fault current to about 10 times critical current in the first
peak and to return to the superconducting state while
carrying a current of Ic after fault durations of several
100 ms. To achieve basic current limiting capability,
silver was alloyed with a base metal to increase the
matrix resistivity of the BSCCO tape to the order of
several µΩ.cm. To achieve operational recovery
capability, this modified HTS tape was then soldered
between two metallic tapes of about ten times the
superconductor thickness.
Time (s)
200
0 0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8 1 1,2
25
150
20
100
critical current 16-18 A DC
imposed current : 20 A peak
15
50
10
0
Current (A)
Voltage (V)
-50 current 5
-100
0
-150 voltage
-5
-200
-10
-250
-300 -15
Fig. 2: Current and voltage traces of a 1 m section of
composite conductor during and after a fault of 150 ms
Fig. 2 shows current and voltage traces of a 1 m section
of this composite conductor during and after a fault of
150 ms. The critical current of this sample was 16 – 18
A. The conductor was insulated with about 0.2 mm thick
polymer. The peak voltage gradient during the fault was
0.15 V/cm. It is recognised that the voltage decreases
slowly after the fault, under more than critical current.
Once the current drops back to its operational level
(after the fault clears), the voltage is significantly
reduced and is observed to decay slowly with time. This
behaviour confirms the possibility of fast operational
recovery. The behaviour is consistent with numerical
simulations using the IV curves of Fig. 1 which imply a
temperature rise in the wire remaining below the
superconducting critical temperature. The time until
complete restoration of superconductivity at the
operational temperature, i.e. the ability to take overloads
without going normal-conducting, was about two
seconds. Measurements on improved samples of up to
60 meters in length have since confirmed the feasibility
of fast operational recovery.
2.2. Input to the transformer design
When designing a current limiting device, one first
selects the desired operating current and the desired
max. fault current. Assuming no electrical bypass the I-
V-curve yields the maximum voltage gradient along the
conductor. For a given operating voltage this determines
the conductor length. In order to maintain a good current
limitation and long fault holding times one selects an
electrical bypass with high heat capacity and resistivity;
equ. 1 can be used as a coarse check whether the desired
fault holding time can be reached with the materials to
be used. Since the heat transfer is usually limited, equ. 2
can be used to adjust the overall operating current
density and the thickness of the conductor.
 -4-

3. IMPACT ON THE GRID current will be stopped (fault at Q).

3.1. Study of a HV/MV design
Once the design is made, one of the most important
tasks is to check whether the transformer is or may be
compatible with the existing protection scheme, in
particular in case of short circuit. From the above
chapters it appeared clearly that current limitation
induces temperature increase in the wires.
Operational constraints, especially for HV/MV
transformers derive from network configuration (Fig. 3).
Condition 2: The transformer must withstand a
short duration short-circuit but after the clearing of the
fault, it must be able to cool down although current from
the non faulty feeders still flows. (fault at R).
It appears from our study that the second condition
seems the most difficult to fulfill.
The thermal behaviour of the transformer in case of
short-circuit was studied using a dedicated simulation
tool. The calculations proved that in order to “recover”
its superconducting properties, the temperatures of the
wires must not exceed the critical temperature (Tc
approx. = 110 K). This appears to be the criterion to
fulfil condition 2. Results of the simulations on a 10
MVA, uSC = 7,2 % (short circuit impedance) are given
in Fig. 5.

HV line
HV/M V

Circuit
Breaker Q
Q

CB R R
Feeders
Fig. 3: Standard HV/MV configuration

Two types of fault can be considered: busbar faults, i.e.

faults between Circuit-Breaker Q and Circuit-Breakers
R (cleared by CB Q) and feeder faults, that is faults
downstream CB R (cleared by CB R). According to the
state-of-the-art protection philosophy, CB Q is also
designed as the back-up protection for CB R. Currents
flowing in the transformer therefore are very different as
shown in Fig. 4:

I (A)

Short-circuit current
Fault atQ

Rated current Fault atR Fig. 5: Short circuit currents and temperature in the
windings
0
The main result from these calculations is that the first
peak is reduced to less than 9 p.u. and then 2.5 p.u. r.m.s
Fault 2 cleared Fault 1 cleared Time after 700 ms. A conventional transformer with uSC = 7.2
by CB 2 by CB 1
% would lead to a 13.9 p.u. r.m.s. short-circuit current
Fig. 4: Main and back-up protection principles
and to 34.8 p.u. (full asymmetry factor = 2.5) for the
first peak, to be compared to 9 p.u. Fault current
As a consequence, two conditions are necessary:
limitation is instantaneously efficient and leads to
Condition 1: The transformer must thermally reduced stresses on downstream devices during faults.
withstand a long duration short-circuit after which the
 -5-
It was then found that the critical temperature (ca. 110
K) is reached in 580 ms. CB R must clear a fault in less
than 580 ms (condition 2). Condition 1 is reached if the
short-circuit is cleared by CB Q in about 1s.
These maximum short-circuit durations are compatible
with some protection scheme, but may appear as too
short for other applications or other designs. These
durations are very design sensitive and may vary
significantly, but our goal is to optimise the transformer
design to match the operational constraints. However,
technical progress toward numerical protection and
increased communication between circuit-breakers are
likely to make it possible to reduce the time needed for
protection to clear a fault. Moreover, Power Quality is
becoming a very strong requirement from customers and
utilities and reducing fault duration is a part of the
answer to that problem.
From a utility point of view, this current limitation
capability is one of the main interests for High
Temperature Superconducting Transformer technology
because of the potential savings on downstream devices,
lines, cables... Other benefits are:
• Intrinsic characteristics of superconductivity:
environmentally friendly (no oil leak or fire
hazard), more compact design.
• Reduced load losses.
• System benefits such as those described in § 3.2.
3.2. System benefits
HTS fault current limiting transformers seem very
attractive from a utility point of view, in addition to the
above mentioned advantages.
A first study was performed for a real 110 kV
subtransmission network. It is given by a 110 kV loop
fed by 4 transformers from the interconnected EHV
grid. Due to increased load demand in the network,
additional transformer power has to be installed.
However even in the present system configuration, the
short-circuit fault currents are close to the substation
ratings. A study was made, replacing one out of four
conventional transformers (uSC = 12-20 %, short circuit
impedance) with a HTS fault current limiting
transformer (uSC = 6 %) of the same rating. As a result,
an additional gain of 10-30 % in short circuit power
(under normal load current) is achieved, without
exceeding the admissible short-circuit current ratings,
thanks to the resistive limitation. If all of the four
transformers are replaced, a 50% short-circuit power
increase is expected in this loop and the short-circuit
current will be dramatically reduced (25 to 35 % at each
node). As a conclusion of this study, it appeared that
HTS fault current limiting transformers can be used to
increase the short circuit power in a loop without
increasing the short-circuit current. This is of interest for
heavily loaded areas.
The second example deals with a generation application.
The first part of this study showed the advantage in
terms of voltage stability for HTS FCL step-up
transformers (uSC = 6 %) compared to conventional ones
(uSC = 14 %). Simulations were made in order to see the
influence of the step-up transformer. Three faults were
simulated: Case 1.1 and 1.2 close to the generator and
case 2 a little bit further away, as shown in Fig. 6.
case 2
Step-up
transformer
case 1.1 case 1.2
~
110 kV
Fig. 6: Fault location
The basic idea of the simulations is to determine the
critical fault clearing time, that is the maximum allowed
fault clearing time before the generator must be
disconnected from the network before losing stability.
The mechanical and electrical data of the machines as
well as the generator control have been set according to
real data. The course of the simulation is as follows: The
machine initially operates at its rated power. At the
beginning of the simulation T0, a short circuit on the
lines considered in each case is assumed, leading to a
voltage collapse close to the generator. After T1, the
circuit breaker of the line is triggered, so that the fault is
removed. Critical clearing times are shown in table I.
Table I. Critical clearing times for the different faults
(ms) case 1.1 case 1.2 case 2
Conventional 230 280 570
transformer
HTS transformer 940 (∞) (∞)
The main observation is that the resistive behaviour of
the HTS step up transformer allows active power to be
absorbed by the transformer during faults, thus
stabilizing the generator. The fault current limitation
function in a step up transformer improves the transient
stability of the network.
 -6-

4. CONCLUSION
G ~ Current limitation in High Temperature
Generator step-up transformer load Superconducting Transformers appears to be achievable,
120 MVA
using a self limiting and recovering HTS conductor.
Xd
RT
XT
Experimental proof of this effect was achieved on
several lengths. This capability is fully used in a
~ E U
Q
U
L
R L
X
L transformer and will lead to numerous advantages,
especially if protections are quick enough to clear faults
Fig. 7: Model network for step-up transformer study rapidly, avoiding overheating of the transformer.
Numerical protection and increased communication
An extra added value to the step-up HTS transformer between circuit-breakers will improve this situation very
application is related to power generation savings. The soon.
data of the generator are taken from an existing
generator and the network is described in Fig.7. The This paper illustrates examples of system benefits
impedance values during normal operation for the step- derived from this technology, such as reduced stresses
up transformers are : conventional [0.5% + j⋅14%], HTS on downstream devices, reduced load losses, more
[0.02% + j⋅6.0%]. The values assumed for normal compact transformers, increased voltage stability,
operation refer to all HTS transformer types with HRS reduced generator ratings … These benefits are already
wire and therefore reduced impedance in normal of common interests for both utilities and transformer
operation. manufacturers.

The comparison is based on the (conventional) rated 5. REFERENCES

operation point of generator for the conventional
[1]
transformer, that is a rated power of 120 MVA at a
power factor cosϕ of 0.8 (inductive). The values for the
active and reactive power behind the transformer for
both types are given in table II:
P.G. Thérond, C.Levillain, J.-F. Picard, B. Bugnon, H.
Zueger, S. Hörnfeldt, T. Fogelberg, G. Papst, D.
Bonmann, High Temperature 630 kVA Superconducting
Transformer, CIGRE 1998, Paris, session paper 12-302

Table II. Active and reactive power for both

transformers at generator and load locations
Conventional HTS
transformer transformer
location generator load generator load
Sr 120 111.2 115.5 111.2
(MVA)
Cos ϕ 0.80 0.86 0.83 0.86
P 96 95.5 95.5 95.5
(MW)
Q 72 57 65 57
(MVAR)

These results show, for the same power injection at the

PCC (Point of Common Coupling), a rated generator
(apparent) power of only 96.25 %. Alternatively, more
active power can be drawn from a given generator.
When operating the generator with the same (maximum)
voltage in both cases, this reduces the stator current by
the same percentage. This means a reduction of the
stator losses of 7.4 %. Alternatively, the reduced stator
currents can also be used for reduced cross-sections, but
the saved investments will be in the same order of
magnitude as the saved losses.

These two examples show the benefits for transmission

as well as generation applications of intrinsic current
limiting function of High Temperature Superconducting
transformers.