R&D of HTS power cable and fault current limiter in Super-ACE project

Abstract

Super-ACE (superconducting AC equipment) project started as a national project in 2000 fiscal year. This project is R&D of the basic technologies of high temperature superconducting (HTS) cable, HTS fault current limiter (FCL), HTS magnet for reactor and transformer. Main subjects are to study HTS cable, HTS fault current limiter (FCL), HTS AC magnet, and the analysis of HTS power system integrated these AC equipment. This paper describes the background, the target, the experimental results from 2000 till now and the future activities from 2002 to 2004. The major items are design philosophy, manufacturing method, and testing method of 500 m HTS cable with single core, 3 kA HTS conductor for power cable, 6.6 kV FCL using super–normal transition, and 66 kV FCL using reactor and thyristor bridge circuit. This paper describes the power system analysis and introducing effects of urban area network to introduce HTS Cable and FCL. We concluded that HTS cable and FCL are expected as supreme technology to innovate future power transmission system if these basic technologies are established, and it takes at least 10 years to realize these commercial stage.