Bruker Corp. (BRKR) announced that AREVA's Transmission and Distribution division and Bruker Energy & Supercon Technologies have successfully designed, built and tested a single module of a 13 MVA single-phase, shielded-type inductive superconducting fault current limiter at the AREVA T&D Technology Centre in Stafford, UK.
As a result of the tests, it was concluded that the superconducting fault current limiter module limited a prospective 68.5 kApeak fault to 9 kApeak in five milliseconds. Fault current after five cycles, before circuit breaker opening, was reduced by a factor of 10. The tests also showed that the SFCL exhibits fast recovery after a short circuit fault and is expected to withstand a large number of limitation sequences.
Gerhard Seyrling, Innovation & Performance Improvement Senior Vice President of AREVA T&D, said, "We intend to work with Bruker Energy & Supercon Technologies to create an industrialized product which will make our customers' grids smarter and further enable integration of distributed generation. This breakthrough technology is set to play an increasingly important role in the future development of smart grids."
Burkhard Prause, President and CEO of Bruker Energy & Supercon Technologies, said, "Based on these excellent test results, the feasibility of operation for our shielded, inductive superconducting fault current limiter has been demonstrated, paving the way for future commercialization".
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