Study of Resistive-Type Superconducting Fault Current Limiters for a Hybrid High Voltage Direct Current System

In this paper, a hybrid high voltage direct current transmission system containing a line commutated converter and a voltage source converter is developed. To enhance the robustness of the hybrid transmission system against direct current short-circuit faults, resistive-type superconducting fault current limiters are applied, and the effectiveness of this approach is assessed. Related mathematical models are built, and the theoretical functions of the proposed approach are expounded. According to the transient simulations in MATLAB software, the results demonstrate that: (i) The superconducting fault current limiter at the voltage source converter station enables to very efficiently mitigate the fault transients, and owns an enhanced current-limiting ability for handling the short-line faults. (ii) The superconducting fault current limiter at the line commutated converter station is able to mildly limit the fault current and alleviate the voltage drop, and its working performance has a low sensitivity to the fault location. At the end of the study, a brief scheme design of the resistive-type superconducting fault current limiters is achieved. In conclusion, the application feasibility of the proposed approach is well confirmed.