System Studies of DC Reactor Type Fault Current Limiter in Distribution Grid

Abstract. A DC reactor type fault current limiter (FCL) in series with a downstream circuit breaker can be a solution to control fault current levels in electrical distribution systems. In order to integrate the DC reactor type FCL in to power grid, the performance of the DC reactor FCL should be studied. In this paper, short circuit analysis, based on the electromagnetic transient program (EMTP), has been used to investigate the behavior of the DC reactor type FCL installed in an electrical distribution grid. System studies show that the DC reactor type FCL can not only limit the fault current to an acceptable value, but also can mitigate the voltage sag. The Transient Recovery Voltage (TRV) could be damped in the presence of the DC reactor type FCL during fault clearing period, too. Key word