Quench propagation in coated conductors for fault current limiters

A fundamental understanding of the quench phenomenon is crucial in the future design and operation of high temperature superconductors based fault current limiters. The key parameter that quantifies the quenching process in superconductors is the normal zone propagation (NZP) velocity, which is defined as the speed at which the normal zone expands into the superconducting volume. In the present paper, we used numerical models developed in our group recently to investigate the quench propagation in coated conductors. With Our models, we have shown that the NZP in these tapes depends strongly on the substrate properties. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.