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Fault Current Limiting (FCL) Distribution Cable
Navy SBIR 2016.1 - Topic N161-026 NAVSEA - Mr. Dean Putnam - [email protected] Opens: January 11, 2016 - Closes: February 17, 2016 N161-026 TITLE: Fault Current Limiting (FCL) Distribution Cable TECHNOLOGY AREA(S): Ground/Sea Vehicles ACQUISITION PROGRAM: PMS 320, Electric Ships Office The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), 22 CFR Parts 120-130, which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services, including export of sensitive technical data, or the Export Administration Regulation (EAR), 15 CFR Parts 730-774, which controls dual use items. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals (FNs), their country(ies) of origin, the type of visa or work permit possessed, and the statement of work (SOW) tasks intended for accomplishment by the FN(s) in accordance with section 5.4.c.(8) of the solicitation. Offerors are advised foreign nationals proposed to perform on this topic may be restricted due to the technical data under US Export Control Laws. OBJECTIVE: Develop an innovative inherently fault current limiting cable topology for DC or AC distribution systems that immediately reacts to fault conditions and is suitable for shipboard use. DESCRIPTION: Future ship classes are expected to continue to trend toward a fully Integrated Power System (IPS), which will optimize and leverage installed electrical generation to meet the high power demand of future loads. The anticipated propulsion load is expected to fall within the range of 20-80 MW and will be driven by installed electrical power generation ranging from 10-40 MW per generator set. Other future high power loads will include rail guns, lasers, and high power radars. The ability to distribute this amount of power in an IPS requires increased distribution power densities across all components of the power system including fault protection systems as well as the conductor carrying the electrical power. Limiting fault currents and clearing or isolating fault sources is required in an IPS to quickly recover to an operational state. High temperature superconductors (HTS) are an ideal candidate technology area to increase volumetric and gravimetric power distribution densities in the conductor while having the ability to provide fault current limiting capability. Currently, there is only one HTS FCL cable installed in the US at the ConEd Utility in NYC. Any offerors of a solution to this topic will not be expected to build off of ConEd Utilitys work. HTS power cables are a mature technology and verified through many land based demonstrations including multiple in-grid installations. A few of these demonstrations have included fault current limiting capabilities within the HTS cable design. Land based HTS power cables do not have the degree of size, weight, safety, and energy efficiency demanded by naval applications and they require large cryogenic cooling solutions and cable terminations. All land-based demonstrations have used liquid nitrogen as the cryogen, which provided key dielectric properties as well as a large thermal mass useful in stabilizing HTS conductor temperatures. Due to safety and logistic requirements, the use of liquid nitrogen in naval superconducting systems has not been considered a viable option for shipboard HTS applications. Prior work in using HTS in a Navy degaussing application has used gaseous helium (GHe) as the cryogen which eliminates asphyxiation concerns in the event of a catastrophic cable breach and enables complete cryogen containment when warmed up to room temperature. Similar considerations are required for a fault current limiting HTS (FCL-HTS) cable. The challenges of using GHe in power cables are further exacerbated by including the FCL characteristics, which may force the use of a liquid cryogen. If this path is taken, logistic and safety concerns must be addressed including proper cryogen containment or proper venting off board the ship. Developing a FCL cable for the Navy that is scalable from 20-100m requires novel solutions. Proposed solutions should consider the ability to limit fault currents instantaneously in either an AC or DC cable configuration as well as manage the logistical and safety challenges associated with cryogen containment specific to the Navy�s use of the technology. The FCL cable should have an instantaneous recovery time once the fault has been isolated or cleared. Deviations from the instantaneous limiting and clearing characteristics of the cables shall be clearly identified in the proposal. Scalable solutions are desired with anticipated full scale FCL cables having a nominal rating on the order of 1-8 kA with voltages levels on the order of 1-18 kV. The Navy will work with the company to test and certify the FCL cables for Navy use. A future DC distribution system having a cable that can also function to protect itself will enable a more affordable system that increases performance over existing distribution systems and can limit the amount of equipment onboard ships. Production cost of the cable should be approximately $3-6K per meter of HTS FCL wire for the highest capacity. The cost of the terminations, cryogenic system, containment, and ventilation will result in additional cost that is not strongly correlated to the per meter cost. Since this is an advanced technology that has not yet been fielded, cost may vary widely with design and conductor choice. The inherent fault current limiting capability of this cable reduces the burden placed on power conversion equipment to handle excessive currents allowing the conversion equipment to be smaller and cost less. This will lead to a distribution system potentially lighter and more affordable over the life of a ship. PHASE I: The company will develop a concept and demonstrate the feasibility of a novel fault current limiting cable design that meets the needs of the Navy as defined in the description. The company will identify the technical feasibility of the proposed concept and demonstrate the concept through modeling, analysis, and bench top experimentation where appropriate. The Phase I final report shall capture the technical feasibility and estimated production costs for the proposed concept that can be matured further if awarded a Phase II. The Phase I Option, if awarded, should include a layout of the initial design and list of capabilities. PHASE II: The company will develop and fabricate a prototype fault current limiting cable based on the Phase I work and Phase II Statement of Work (SOW) for demonstration and characterization of key parameters and objectives. The FCL prototype shall be designed for rated voltage and tested demonstrating the current limiting characteristics at a reduced scale voltage. Dielectric integrity of the FCL cable must be demonstrated in a normal operation state as well as in the current limiting state by appropriate means. The Phase II prototype FCL cable shall be delivered to the Navy for further performance testing. Based on lessons learned in Phase II through the prototype demonstration, a substantially complete design of a FCL cable system will be completed with updated drawings that would be expected to pass Navy qualification testing. PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: The company will be expected to support the Navy in transitioning the technology for Navy use. This includes market research, analysis, and integration with appropriate industry partners to stand up production level manufacturing capabilities and to provide a fully qualified FCL cable. The FCL is expected to transition to the Electric Ship Office for incorporation into shipboard power systems. The company shall develop manufacturing plans to facilitate transition to the Navy. HTS power cables have wide spread application in land based electric grid applications. Electric utilities are currently assessing the technology as a means to increase distribution capacity in fixed volume infrastructure. Additionally, high power computing applications such as data centers have interest in the current density that HTS cables can provide. All of these applications require fault current limiting capabilities. REFERENCES: 1. C. M. Rey, R. C. Duckworth, J. A. Demko, A. Ellis, D. R. James, M. J. Gouge, et al., "Test Results for a 25 Meter Prototype Fault Current Limiting HTS Cable for Project Hydra," AIP Conference Proceedings, vol. 1218, p. 453, 2010. Retrieved 12 Februar 2. M. Stemmle, F. Merschel, M. Noe, and A. Hobl, "Ampacity project: Worldwide first superconducting cable and fault current limiter installation in a German city center," 22nd International Conference on Electricity Distribution (CIRED), 2013, pp. 1-4. Retrieved 12 February 2015 3. Naval Power Systems Technology Development Roadmap (NPS TDR) PMS320 Electric Ships Office, Retrieved 10 March 2015. http://www.defenseinnovationmarketplace.mil/resources/NavalPowerSystemsTechnologyRoadmap.pdf ; http://www.amazon.com/Systems-Technology- KEYWORDS: HTS cable; fault current limiting; high temperature superconducting; cryogenic cooling solutions; gravimetric power distribution; superconducting TPOC-1: Jacob Kephart Phone: 215-897-8484 Email: [email protected] TPOC-2: Mark Uva Phone: 215-897-8962 Email: [email protected] Questions may also be submitted through DoD SBIR/STTR SITIS website.
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