Novel high performance DC reactor type fault current limiter

This paper presents a novel structure for DC reactor type fault current limiter (DRFCL), which can suppress the fault current in distribution networks. The proposed DRFCL is composed of a DC reactor, a bridge rectifier, and anti-paralleled IGBTs power electronic (PE) switch. The DC reactor contains main and supplementary windings. The main winding has a high inductance and acts as a DC reactor. The supplementary winding is used as a control means for fast FCL operation. The fast response allows the cost, weight and volume of the DC reactor to be reduced. The proposed DRFCL reduces the overvoltages on the devices and it has lower number of components, therefore, it can be economic. Analytical solutions, to describe the performance of the proposed DRFCL are presented and the proposed model is simulated via MATLAB software. Finally, a one-phase prototype structure is built and experimental results are studied to show the capability of the proposed DRFCL.