Material and design requirements for a magnetic passive current limiter

Papers by the authors have demonstrated the potential for providing rate-of-current-change (dl/dt) and current limiting protection for voltage source fed circuits through the use of a composite magnetic device. The application of such a device is hampered by the limited choice of commercially available permanent magnet and low saturation flux density materials with square B/H loops. This paper examines the operation of the passive dl/dt or current limiter with a view toward specifying the desired geometric device profile and material characteristics. A voltage source inverter design example is used to illustrate the method by which the design parameters for the device would be specified