Impact of Copper Stabilizer Thickness on SFCL Performance with PV-Based DC Systems Using a Multilayer Thermoelectric Model

Hamoud Alafnan (), Xiaoze Pei, Diaa-Eldin A. Mansour, Moanis Khedr, Wenjuan Song, Ibrahim Alsaleh, Abdullah Albaker, Mansoor Alturki and Xianwu Zeng
Additional contact information
Hamoud Alafnan: Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Ha’il, Ha’il 55476, Saudi Arabia
Xiaoze Pei: Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
Diaa-Eldin A. Mansour: Department of Electrical Power Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology (E-JUST), Alexandria 21934, Egypt
Moanis Khedr: Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
Wenjuan Song: James Watt School of Engineering, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK
Ibrahim Alsaleh: Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Ha’il, Ha’il 55476, Saudi Arabia
Abdullah Albaker: Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Ha’il, Ha’il 55476, Saudi Arabia
Mansoor Alturki: Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Ha’il, Ha’il 55476, Saudi Arabia
Xianwu Zeng: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 9, 1-15

Abstract: Utilizing renewable energy sources (RESs) to their full potential provides an opportunity for lowering carbon emissions and reaching a state of carbon neutrality. DC transmission lines have considerable potential for the integration of RESs. However, faults in DC transmission lines are challenging due to the lack of zero-crossing, large fault current magnitudes and a short rise time. This research proposes using a superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL) for effective current limitation in PV-based DC systems. To properly design an SFCL, the present work investigates the effect of copper stabilizer thickness on SFCL performance by using an accurate multilayer thermoelectric model. In the MATLAB/Simulink platform, the SFCL has been modeled and tested using different copper stabilizer thicknesses to demonstrate the effectiveness of the SFCL model in limiting the fault current and the impact of the copper stabilizer thickness on the SFCL’s performance. In total, four different thicknesses of the copper stabilizer were considered, ranging from 10 μm to 80 μm. The current limitation and voltage profile for each thickness were evaluated and compared with that without an SFCL. The developed resistance and temperature profiles were obtained for various thicknesses to clarify the mechanisms behind the stabilizer-thickness impact. An SFCL with an 80 µm copper stabilizer can reduce the fault current to 5.48 kA, representing 71.16% of the prospective current. In contrast, the fault current was reduced to 27.4% of the prospective current (2.11 kA) when using a 10 µm copper stabilizer.

Keywords: solar farm; DC transmission lines; superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL); copper stabilizer (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/9/7372/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/9/7372/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:9:p:7372-:d:1135814

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().