ABSTRACT
The advent of high-temperature superconducting (HTS) materials has renewed interest in the possibilities for superconducting power apparatus offering real economic benefit, within power ratings typical of present system practice. Unlike low-temperature superconductors materials, HTS superconducting ceramics have highly anisotropic electronic structure, which causes critical current and critical field to have different values on two perpendicular planes. The superconducting windings have small thermal mass and are cryogenically stable over only a small range of temperature rise. A suggested scenario is therefore to replace one of the conventional transformers with a HTS “equivalent.” High-temperature superconductivity has great potential in electric power applications, generators, motors, fault current limiters, transformers, flywheels, and cables, as losses and sizes of devices are significantly reduced. The HTS design has very little capability to recover from a through fault without disconnection, in contrast to a conventional transformer.
