Fast Recovery Studies on Thermal Window based Dielectric for HTS Cable

Abstract

High Temperature Superconducting (HTS) cables have remarkable electric power transmission characteristics compared to conventional power cables. Thus, HTS cables are suitable for the sustainable electrical grids of the future. Electric faults of various origins and durations are inevitable in a commercial electric power transmission network. The integration of HTS cables to these networks requires reliable cable operation under fault conditions. However, it was found that HTS cables require a long recovery interval after the fault and subsequent quench. It is primarily attributed to the high thermal resistance of the cable dielectric layer. An innovative dielectric design is proposed in this article to improve the thermal performance of HTS cables and the results are compared with that of a conventional HTS cable. Transient thermal analysis was carried out to determine the recovery interval and the electric insulation characteristics were studied using an electrostatic analysis. Both studies were performed using Finite Element Analysis (FEA). It was found that a reduction in the recovery interval is possible without deterioration in the electric insulation level.