A novel current limitation principle basedon application of liquid metals

In this paper, a new current limiting principle based on the application of liquid metals is proposed. This principle takes advantage of the arcless commutation of currents to a gradually increasing parallel resistance and makes it possible to realize a current-controlled resistor for very high currents, which can be used to limit the fault currents in power networks. The conditions for the arcless current commutation are investigated theoretically and the optimum profile for the parallel resistor is derived. An experimental setup is constructed to investigate the behavior of the separating contacts under different current amplitudes, different current steepnesses, and different resistance profiles. The experimental results relating to the commutation phase are compared to the theoretical limits