2026-05-03 Latest Published
By Tirtha Sankar Daphadar
Tapan Santra
Amalendu Bikash Choudhury
Progress In Electromagnetics Research C, Vol. 170, 1-14, 2026
Abstract
This paper presents a useful design optimization methodology for a permanent-magnet-biased fault current limiter (PMFCL), aiming to achieve good fault current limiting performance with small magnetic materials and their losses. A physics-based magnetic circuit modelling approach is developed to update the nonlinear core saturation and permanent magnet biasing, enabling fast and reliable analysis of candidate designs. Additionally, a weighted multi-objective formulation is adopted to balance fault current mitigation, material volume, and loss minimization. The resulting optimization problem is solved by means of a deterministic pattern search approach, which enables efficient design space exploration without access to gradient information. The optimized configurations are validated using the finite-element simulations, and the robustness of the configurations under practical operating conditions is analyzed. The obtained results show a significant reduction of the magnetic material volume with the optimized PMFCL without compromising and, in certain cases, with an improvement of the function of fault current limiting against a baseline design. The research identifies technical configurations of design that are practical for real-world deployment. The combination of reduced material usage, passive operation, and better energy efficiency means the proposed PMFCL represents a reliable and sustainable solution for better protection of modern power systems, especially in areas where power systems are cost-sensitive and infrastructure-limited.
