Resistive-Type Superconducting Fault Current Limiters: Concepts, Materials, and Numerical Modeling

In recent years, major industrialized countries have begun to be concerned about the need for developing strategies on the integration and protection of the growing power capacity of renewable source energies, attracting back their interest on the development and understanding of superconducting fault current limiters (SFCLs). The reasons for this are simple: An SFCL may offer a rapid, reliable, and effective current limitation, with zero impedance during normal operation, and an automatic recovery after the fault. Nowadays, most of the R&D projects have turned toward the study of resistive-type SFCLs due to their potential to be small and the likely decrease in price of 2G coated conductors. Thus, in this paper, we provide an updated review on the state of the art of resistive-type SFCLs, emphasizing on the different approaches for the numerical modeling of their local physical properties, as well as on the already-tested experimental concepts. Comparison between the properties and characteristics of different resistive-type SFCLs using different superconducting materials is presented.