Characteristic Tests of GdBCO Superconducting Transformer With Different Iron Core Structures

This paper focuses on the comparison of the characteristics among three different types of high temperature superconducting (HTS) transformers. The iron core structures of the three types of HTS transformers are air core, partial core, and full core. The iron cores are made of oriented silicon steel sheets. The primary windings are four layers connected in series, and the secondary windings are nine double pancake coils connected in parallel. Fundamental tests, such as critical test, no-load test and load test, are performed in the environment of liquid nitrogen. The current nonuniformity of HTS partial core and full core transformers in secondary windings are also confirmed by the load test. Finally, we also investigate the characteristic of fault current limiting by sudden short-circuit tests. The experiment results show that the structure of the iron core have significant effects on the characteristics of HTS transformers. The results of this paper could support with useful data for the design and selection of HTS transformers.