Integration of Superconducting Fault Current Limiter and DC Circuit Breaker for Electric Aircraft DC Network

Large-scale electric aircraft are a promising technology that could revolutionise air travel to reduce the environmental impact. Fault current limitation and interruption technology is crucial to realise the safety and reliability of the electric aircraft, in particular for large-scale electric aircraft using a DC distribution network. This article proposes to integrate a resistive superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL) with a cryogenic DC solid-state circuit breaker (SSCB) so that the SFCL limits the fault current to acceptable levels in DC networks allowing the SSCB to operate quickly and reliably. A sub-cooled liquid nitrogen cryostat, which can be controlled from 65 K to 77 K, is designed and built for the integration of SFCL and DC SSCB. An SFCL and SSCB prototype is designed and experimentally tested at cryogenic temperatures, which successfully demonstrates the ability to limit and interrupt currents at cryogenic environment.