842

IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, Vol. 11, No. 2, April 1996

Principle and Characteristics of a Fault Current Limiter with Series Compensation

S. Sugimoto

H. Arita, C. Fukui",

J. Kida,

Electric Power Research & Development Center

Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc.
Ohdaka-cho, Midori-ku, Nagoya, 459, Japan
Abstract - A fault current limiter with series compensation,
which is composed of a compensation capacitor and a limiting
reactor in series, is proposed. A solid-state switch connected in
parallel with the capacitor controls either the ordinal series
compensation or fault current limitation. A feasibility study of
the current limiter by simulation analysis is presented and the
effectiveness of the current limiter is evaluated from the
viewpoints of transient stability improvement and device
capacity. The current limiter is a useful protection device for
large, high power transmission systems.
Keywords: Current Limiter, Series Compensation, Thyristor
Control, Fault Protection, System Stability.

1. INTRODUCTION

Increasing power demands are leading to power

transmission systems which cover larger distances and carry
higher power at high stability. One way of developing system
stability is series compensation, to which thyristor control is
applied [1],[2]. On the other hand, quick system protection
from a short circuit fault is very important in maintaining
stable transmission. To clear a fault, mechanical circuit
breakers usually interrupt the short circuit current, but this
takes two or more cycles, including the relay operation.
However, faster operating current limiting devices used
together with circuit breakers can shorten fault protection
time. Therefore, the authors have studied a fault current
limiter (FCL) with series compensation as a new protecting
system for extra high voltage (EHV) power systems [3].
The FCL with series compensation usually compensates
series inductive reactance of a transmission system by series
capacitors and increases power transmission capacity. When a
system fault occurs, the FCL quickly restrains the short circuit
current with the limiting reactor by bypassing the series
capacitor. A solid-state switch controls either the series
compensation or fault current limitation to damp the transient
power disturbance of the power system. A parallel resonant
type current limiter, which restrains the fault current using a
high impedance of a series capacitor and its parallel reactor,
has been studied as a current limiter using series
compensation [4]. This method has problems with
overvoltage of the series capacitor or resonant current caused

T. Yamagiwa""

Member Senior Member Member

Member
Power & Industrial Systems R & D Division, Hitachi, Ltd.
Hitachi-shi, Ibaraki-ken, 3 19-12, Japan
* Hitachi Research Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd.
** Kokubu Works, Hitachi, Ltd.
by the capacitor capacitance and the system reactance during
fault protection. The FCL can prevent such problems. In this
paper, the fundamental circuit arrangement, control method
and operating characteristics of the FCL are presented. The
effectiveness of the FCL is judged from transient stability
improvement as demonstrated by simulation analysis.

2. SYSTEM CONCEPT
2.1 Operating Principle
The FCL with series compensation increases power
transmission capacity by series compensation and restrains
the fault current quickly to protect the power system. The
following describeb the operating principle of the FCL giving
an example in which double circuit transmission becomes
single circuit transmission due to a line fault and subsequent
protection.
Figure 1 shows power-angle curves with FCL protection.
Series compensation with the FCL can enlarge transmission
capacities of both double and single circuits. The power
system operates at the generator output power PI and internal
phase angle 61 in the steady state. When a short circuit fault
occurs, the generator power drops to P2 and the phase angle
starts unrolling to Fz. However, quick current limitation with
the FCL can restore the power to P3. Consequently, the
accelerating energy until fault clearing is smaller than that of
circuit breaker protection. When the generator output power
restores to p4 after fault clearing, decelerating energy of the
rotor is larger than that of circuit breaker protection because
of the series compensation. The FCL can prevent the initial
generator acceleration and provide additional decelerating
energy at the time of fault protection.
2.2 Circuit Arrangement
The FCL with series compensation is achieved with a
series compensating capacitor having a quick operating
bypass switch in parallel and a current limiting reactor
connected in series to the capacitor. Figure 2 shows the circuit

9 5 SM 458-0 PWRD

A paper recommended and approved

by the IEEE Switchgear Committee of the IEEE Power
Engineering Society for presentation at the 1995
IEEE/PES Summer Meeting, July 23-27, 1995, Portland,
OR.
Manuscript submitted July 28, 1994; made
available for printing April 15, 1995.

P4

2
Q

I-'

P1
0

I-'

P3

W
al

PZ

Fad

dear

Current limit

Fig. 1. Power-angle curves with the FCL protection.

0885-8977/96/$05.00 0 1995 EEE

843

arrangement. As the synthetic reactance of the capacitor CI

and the reactor Li is capacitive, the FCL can compensate the
series reactance of a transmission line. The parallel switch
SWi of the capacitor Ci is a solid-state switch composed of
thyristors. The switch SWi is usually in the off state, so that
the FCL works as a series compensator. When a fault occurs,
the switch SWI quickly tums on and bypasses the capacitor
Ci; therefore, the reactor Li will restrain the fault current. The
low impedance Zi limits the inrush current flowing through
the switch SWi. The overvoltage protecting device ZnO and
the bypass switch BPS, which backs up the switch SWI, are
also connected in parallel to the capacitor CI. When BPS
closes, the low impedance 2 2 restrains the inrush current and
discharges the remaining electric charge in the capacitor Ci.
Constructing the protecting system using several modules, of
which the unit module is shown in Fig. 2, can also control
power flow by regulating the series capacitors and the
limiting reactors by the solid-state switches. The modules are
arranged on insulated platforms, which are about 6 m high for
EHV systems [2].

xc

xc

Fig. 3. Reactance arrangementin-a power system.

the system short circuit current If and the limited current ZL,
or the back reactance X and the limiting reactance X L as
follows:

a=--If -ZL -If

XL

X+XL

A larger a can restrain more fault current by the FCL. The

limiting reactance X L is given by solving (1).
XL=-

ax

(2)

1-a

The compensation degree k is described as follows. Total

capacitive reactance Xco of the FCLs is described by the line
reactance X L m e and the compensation degree k ,
XCO= --kXLine.
(3)
As the FCLs are set on both ends of the transmission line, the
capacitive reactance per FCL is Xco / 2. As the capacitive
reactance of the FCL is synthetic reactance of the capacitor
and the reactor, equation (4) is obtained.

xco

Fig. 2. Circuit arrangement of the FCL.

2.3 Features
The FCL with series compensation has the following
distinctive characteristics which conventional current limiters
do not have.
a) Quick current limiting by the solid-state switch control.
The solid-state switch provides not only faster protection
than mechanical switches, but it also provides faster restarting
of series compensation.
b) No power loss in the solid-state switch.
Power system devices using semiconductor devices
experience power loss in the semiconductors; however, the
FCL does not pass a load current through the solid-state
switch so no power loss arises under normal operation.
c) Simultaneous current limiting and capacitor protection.
Bypassing the series capacitor for current limiting can also
mitigate the overvoltage of the capacitor.
d) Improved device use rate by series compensation.
A conventional current limiter provides only fault current
limiting and does not work, except on fault occurrence. The
FCL provides series compensation under normal operation.
e) Improved transmission capacity and svstem stability.
A current limiting device which only restrains the fault
current can not increase the power transmission capacity to
more than that of the system steady-state stability. The FCL
can enhance the stability region by series compensation.
2.4 Limiting Rate and Compensution Degree

The FCL with series compensation has two circuit

parameters, i. e. the limiting rate a of the fault current and
the compensation degree k of the power system series
reactance. Figure 3 shows the reactance arrangement in a
transmission system where the FCLs are set on both ends of
the line. The limiting rate a: (0.0 2 a < 1.0) is defined using

-=XC+XL

(4)

L.

Substituting [2) and (3) into (4), the capacitive reactance Xc

of each FCL is obtained.
(5)

Fault occurrence

844
The protection sequence with the FCLs is shown in Fig.
4@). As the FCLs can not interrupt the current by themselves,
circuit breakers CBs on both ends of the fault line also work.
The FCLs restrain short circuit currents faster than CB
interruption does. The FCLs use a traveling-wave relay,
which can detect a fault occurrence within 4 ms to 8 ms [6];
therefore, operating time of the FCLs in this case is 5 ms,
which is the time from the fault occurrence to the start of
current limitation. The CBs trip two cycles (33.3 ms) after the
fault occurrence and interrupt the currents to clear the fault.
3.1.2 Simulation results
Figure 5 shows the simulation results. Figure. 5(a) is the
fault current of 23 kArms without the FCLs and Fig. 5(b) is
the limited fault current with the FCLs, which restrict the
fault currents to 10 kArms. The rising current waveforms in

-601

20

40

60

20

40

60

a0

Time [ms]

-401
-60

Fig. 5@) differ form those in Fig. 5(a) because of the FCLs
impedance. As the series capacitors are bypassed by the solidstate switches and are eliminated from the transmission lines,
the limited currents do not cause series resonance. Figure 5(c)
shows the capacitor voltages. The voltage rises due to fault
current flowing through the capacitors; however, the
overvoltage protecting devices suppress the voltage rise and
then the solid-state switches close to reduce the capacitor
voltages. The voltages do not rise after closing the switches.
The switches allow the currents shown in Fig. 5(d) to flow.
The peak currents immediately after closing the switches are
mainly discharging currents from the series capacitors. The
subsequent currents are the limited fault currents.
3.1.3 Short time overload of the current limiter
During current limiting, each component of the FCL has to
withstand an overvoltage and an overcurrent which are
several times severer than usual as shown in Fig. 5. This short
time overload is a primary factor to specify the device ratings.
Series capacitor voltages in Fig. 5(c) do not rise to a high
level within a few milliseconds after the fault, but increase
suddenly due to operating time delay so that the ZnO
suppresses the overvoltage until the capacitor is bypassed.
Figure 6 shows the peak values of the solid-state switch
currents, which increase due to the operating time. As the
capacitor voltages reach the maximum value at 5 ms, the
solid-state switch currents also reach the maximum value.
The variation in the maximum current in each phase at 10 ms
is caused by the differences in capacitor voltages at the time
of the switch closing.
The overvoltage protecting device ZnO restricts the
capacitor overvoltage, which decides the maximum current of
the solid-state switches, but the ZnO has to experience an
enormous load. Therefore, quick capacitor bypassing is
important to reduce the load on the components of the FCL.
The FCLs need the ultra high speed protective relay scheme.

(b)

a0

l i m e [ms]

+J

6 80L

60-

r
U

40-

a,
U

20-

:Phase C

EOr
S
I

<I

,I

- _

4
6
8
Operation time [ms]

10

Fig. 6. Maximum current of solid-state switch at fault protection.

3.2 Transient Stability

The stability improvement of power transmission systems
by the FCL with series compensation is estimated by transient
stability analysis [71.

-40t

-80;

20

40

60

(d)
Fig. 5 . Simulation results.
(a) Fault current of 23 kArms without the FCLs.
(b) Limited fault current of 10 kArms.
(c) Voltage of series capacitors.
(d) Current of solid-state switches.

80
Time [ms]

3.2.1 Analysis conditions

The model power system for the analysis is the multimachine system shown in Fig. 7. Rated voltage is 500 kVrms
(=1.0 pu). There are fourteen power stations having a total
power generating capacity of 37.6 GW. The FCLs are
introduced in the power line, which has a double circuit of
250 km. The line transmits the power from generator G to the
entire multi-machine system. Figure 8(a) shows the
arrangement of the FCLs. A three-phase short circuit fault is
assumed to occur in one line at the end close to generator G.
Figure 8(b) shows the protection sequence. The solid-state

845

switches SWs bypass the series capacitors Xc to limit the

fault current at 5 ms after the fault occurrence. The circuit
breakers labeled CB 1 interrupt the fault current and clear the
fault at 50 ms. The solid-state switch control can discontinue
capacitor bypassing at 100 ms to restart series compensation
by reinserting the capacitors. The analysis parameters are the
limiting rate a and the compensation degree k . The system
stability is determined by the maximum transmission
capacity, which the generator G can transmit without getting
out of phase due to the power disturbance.
G
FCJ@
L",-$

..

Fig. 9. Power swing with circuit breaker protection.

Power flow is 3600MW.
(a) Bus line-to-line voltage.
(b) Generator output power.

introduced

,Fault and current limit

0:
Generator

0.4

0.0

3 :Load

Fig.?. Model power system.

0.8

Capacitor bypass
; : : i r i t o r -nier

2 0.0i;.

' .

' .
0.4

'

"

0.8

"

1.6

1.2

(a)

"

(b)

"

1.2

1.6

2.0

Time [SI

' .

'

2.0

Time [SI

Fig. 10. Power swing with FCL protection.

Power flow is 6200MW.
(a) Bus line-to-line voltage.
(b) Generator output power.
FaultBypass

CI ar

Fault occurrence

Reinsert

Capacitor
bypass
_ - ,
Currentlimit,
Capacitor
Currentlimit
Fault line
Circuit breaker CBl trip

I /

I
I

I 1
I

'

1
50

0 5

t
I
I

becomes stable. These results show that the FCL can improve
system stability by quick current limiting at the beginning of a
fault and series compensation after fault clearing.

4. DISCUSSION

*
/

100 TimeTms]

(b)

Fig.8. Arrangement and protection sequence of the FCLs

with series compensation.
(a) Arrangement of the FCLs.
(b) Protection sequence.

3.2.2 Analysis results

Figure 9 shows the power swing with only mechanical
circuit breaker protection at 3600 MW transmission. The bus
voltage and generator power drop at fault occurrence. When
the fault is cleared, the voltage and the power are recovered,
however, the generator becomes out of phase at 1.15 s.
Consequently the 3500 MW transmission is the stability limit
of this power system with CB normal protection.
The results with the FCL protection are shown in Fig. 10,
where the transmission power is 6200 MW and the FCLs
have a 0.2 limiting rate and 50 % compensation degree. As
the FCLs start to suppress the fault current immediately after
the fault, the bus voltage remains at 0.25 pu and the generator
can output power during the fault. Right after the fault
clearing, the generator power is about 60 % of that before the
fault due to single circuit transmission without series
compensation. Although the series compensation is restarted
by reinserting the capacitors, the generator power recovers to
more than 90 % of its value before the fault and the system

4.1 Device Capacity

The device capacity of the FCL with series compensation
is larger than that of an ordinary series compensator because
the FCL has the limiting reactor and an additional series
capacitor for compensating the reactor. Therefore it is
important to restrict increases in the device capacity while
developing the transmission capacity.
4.1.1 Limiting reactor
The limited short circuit current I L is expressed by the
limiting rate a and system voltage V .
V
IL = (1 - a)(6)
X
The limited current I t and the limiting reactance X L vs. the
limiting rate a are shown in Fig. 11. The limited current IL
decreases in proportion to the current limitation, although the
limiting reactance X L increases exponentially according to
the limiting rate a .
On the other hand, the limiting reactor capacity P X L ,
which is expressed by the limiting reactance X L and the
limited current I L , is obtained from (2) and (6) as follows,
PXL

= XdL2 =

a(1- a ) V 2

(7)

where the capacity PXL is decided by the limited current I L

because the limited current I L is several times more than the
load current. Figure 12 shows the limiting reactor capacity
PXL vs. the limiting rate a , where the capacity is normalized

846

by 'thqystem back power capacity P = V 2 / X .The PXL

becomes a maximum at the limiting rate a=0.5.
Consequently, it is very important to find the parameters
which give the limiting r a t e q l e s s than 0.5, where the FCL
application can effectively improve power system stability.
5.0

4.0

3.0 4
0

2.0

1.0

5
.-

0.0

0.2

04

0.6

Limiting rate

0.8

l.Oo'o'

CY

Fig. 11. Limited current and limiting reactance vs. limiting rate.
Limited current 1.0 pu is equal to the short circuit current of transmission system.
Limiting reactance 1.0 pu is equal to the reactance at 0.5 limiting rate.
3

"'a

S Q
um mv

0.1

t!

Limiting rate

and also prevent overcurrent on the sound lines, the series

capacitors on the sound line will not need overvoltage
protection during the fault. It is assumed in this case that 2.5
pu is a permissible overvoltage magnification of the
capacitors. If the capacitors voltage is less than 2.5 pu, the
bypass protection would not be needed for capacitors on the
sound lines and the compensation can continue during the
fauIt .
The transmission capacity when all series capacitors are
protected can increase by 300 MW at 10 % series
Compensation, by 1100 MW at 30 % compensation and by
2400 MW at 50 % compensation. These values are larger than
that of only quick current limitation regardless of the reactor
reactance. In order to omit bypass protection of the capacitor
on sound lines, the higher compensation degree needs a larger
reactance to restrain the overcurrent sufficiently. The lowest
reactance necessary is only 0.01 pu for 10 % series
compensation, but 0.04 pu at 50 % compensation. When the
reactance is 0.04 pu, transmission capacity can increase by
400 Mw at 10 % series compensation, by 1900 MW at 30 %
compensation and by 3800 MW at 50 % compensation. The
protecting method without bypass protection of the capacitor
on sound lines can stabilize the system more than that with
the bypass; therefore, the FCL can provide effective system
protection.

CY

0.0 0.1
8000

Fig. 12. Limiting reactor capacity vs. limiting rate.

Limiting reactance of 1.0 pu is equal to the back capacity of system.

0.2

Limitina rate CY
0.30.4

r-l

4.1.2 Series capacitor

,
The series capacitor reactance vs. the limiting rate a is
shown in Fig. 13, which is obtained from (5). The impedance
is the same as shown in Fig. 4. The capacitive reactance 1.0
pu of the capacitor is the reactance when the limiting rate is
0.0 and the compensation degree is 50 %. The compensation
degree k is the parameter of each curve. The capacitor
reactance increases due to the limiting rate because of an
exponential increment of the reactor reactance. This
increment is steeper. than that of the compensation degree.
Considering the reactor capacity shown in Fig. 12, the
limiting rate a must be lower than 0.5. For example, when
the limiting rate a is 0.25, the increment of the capacitor is
about 0.4 pu at the 50 % compensation degree.
4.2 Improvement of System Stability
Figure 14 shows the improvement of the transmission
capacity by the FCL with series compensation. The
conditions of the series compensation are without
compensation, and with 10 %, 30 % and 50 % compensation
degrees. If the FCLs on the fault line restrain the fault current

40
.,

G 40

Q
3

a,

3.0 8

30

m
w

+2

2.0

E 20

x2

a,

1 .OE
m

6 10

80

0.0

0.2

04

0.6
Limiting rate

0.8
CY

Fig. 13. Capacitive reactance vs. limiting rate.

Capacitive reactance 1.0 pu is equal to the reactance
at 50 % compensationdegree and 0.0 limiting rate.

0.08

1.0

$ 7000

2
A

6000
m
c

52

5000

4000

t-

30004
0.00

0.02

1
a

0.04

0.06

0.08

'

'

0.10

Limiting reactance [pu]

Fig. 14. Improvement of transmission capacity by the FCL.

Limiting reactance 1.0 pu is equal to 2500

4.3 Loss Estimation of the Current Limiter

Loss estimation is an important consideration when
installing current limiters in a power system. Current limiters
with solid-state switch control generally experience power
loss in the semiconductors if a load current flows, but the
FCL with series compensation does not pass a load current
through the switch, thus eliminating the power loss. There is a
steady power loss in the FCL caused by the load current
passing through the series capacitor and the limiting reactor.
Figure 15 shows the three phase steady power loss of the
FCL, ordinary series compensator and the solid-state switch
composed of series-connected GTO elements. The losses of
the FCL and the compensator are assumed as 0.5 % of the
resistive loss of the limiting reactor and 0.3 % of the resistive
loss of the series capacitor, respectively. The GTO elements
are used for a current limiter: they serve as the current
interrupting portion to commutate the current to the parallel
limiting impedance [8]. If such a current limiting method is
applied to EHV systems, it has to get a load current flowing
through the switch. The solid-state switch needs more than

847

three hundred 6 kV class GTO elements in series and the

voltage drop of the GTOs causes a power loss. The FCL loss
is proportional to the square of the transmission capacity and
is higher than that of ordinary series capacitors, however, it is
sufficiently lower than that of the solid-state switch. The FCL
is more efficient than the current limiter with the current
interrupting portion of the solid-state switch, for example, the
loss of a = 0.27, k = 0.5 is 0.27 % of the transmission
capacity 6500 WM.
30.0

[ 6 ] S . Sugimoto et al., "A Study of a ultra high speed

protevtive relay scheme for a Currnet Limiter with Series
Compensation", 1994 National Convention Record. IEE of
Japan, No. 1541
[7] M. Goto, "Analytical Method of Power System Transient
Stability Including the Effects of Dynamic Characteristics of
Load", Trans. of IEE of Japan, Vol. 52 - B85, 1977
[8] R. K. Smith et al., "Solid-state Distribution Current
Limiter and Circuit Breaker: Application requirements and
control strategies", IEEE Trans. of Power Delivery, Vol. 8,
No. 3, p. 1155, 1993

po.0

BIOGRAPHY

ln

5 10.0
0.0

2000
4000
6000
Transmission capacity [MW]

8000

Fig. 15. Steady power loss in three phase current limiters

for 500 kV systems.
5. CONCLUSION
This paper presented simulation results of the fault current
limiter (FCL) with series compensation and clarified the
effects of current limiting and stability improvement. As the
FCL simultaneously starts system fault protection and
overvoltage protection of the series capacitor, the protection it
provides is suitable for series compensated transmission
systems. The FCL is effective for improving transient
stability of power systems because the current limitation can
restrain the generator rotor from accelerating immediately
after a fault occurrence and the series compensation can
decelerate the accelerated rotor. These e f f e k will allow
power transmission capacity to be increased. Furthermore the
fault current limitation can prevent overvoltage of the series
capacitor on sound lines during fault protection and provide
continuous series compensation to stabilize power systems.
The FCL is easily introduced to transmission systems with
existing series compensators.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Shigeyuki Sugimoto was born in Gifu Prefecture,

Japan on December 26, 1958. He received the B. S .
and M. S . degrees in electrical engineering from
Gifu University, Gifu, Japan in 1981 and 1983,
respectively.
In 1983 he joined Nagoya Works, Mitsubishi
Electric Co. Ltd., Japan. Since 1991, he has been
with the Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc., Nagoya,
Japan. He has been engaged in development of
substation equipment and power conditioning
systems.
Mr. Sugimoto is a member of the Institute of
Electrical Engineers of Japan.
Junzo Kida (M93) was born in Kyoto Prefecture,
Japan on September 20,1966. He received the B. S .
and M. S . degrees in electrical engineering from
Doshisha University, Kyoto, Japan in 1989 and
1991, respectively.
In 1991 he joined Hitachi Research Laboratory,
Hitachi, Ltd. Since then he has been engaged in the
study of power system apparatus using solid-state
switches. In March 1995, he was transferred to the
Power & Industrial Systems R & D Division,
Hitachi, Ltd.
Mr, Kida IS a member of the Institute of
Electrical Engineers of Japan, and the Japan Solar Energy Society.

_-

Hiroshi Arita (M'90, SM'94) was born in Osaka

Prefecture, Japan on March 21, 1956. He received
the M. S . and Ph. D. degrees in electrical
engineering from Doshisha University, Kyoto, Japan
in 1981 and 1992, respectively.
In 1981 he joined Hitachi Research Laboratory,
Hitachi, Ltd. Since then he has been engaged in the
study of circuit breakers and plasma X-ray sources.
In March 1995, he was transferred to the Power &
Industrial Systems R & D Division, Hitachi, Ltd.
Dr. Anta is a member of the Institute of
Electrical Engineers of Japan, the Japan Society of

ADDlied Physics.

The authors would like to acknowledge the many valuable

comments and encouragement of Mr. M. Morita, Mr. S . Ne0
(Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc.), Mr. K. Natsui, Mr. Y.
Kurosawa and Mr. K. Hirasawa (Hitachi, Ltd.). Gratitude is
also expressed to Mr. Y. Kitazumi and Mr. S . Morihata
(Hitachi, Ltd.) for helpful comments on this investigation.
REFERENCES
[ 11 Power Technologies, Inc., "Flexible ac Transmission
Systems (FACTS): Scoping Study, Volume 1, Part 1:
Analytical Studies", EPRI EL-6943, Vol. 1, Part 1, 1990
[2] N. G. Hingorani, "Flexible ac transmission", IEEE
SPECTRUM, April, p. 40,1993
[37 S. Sugimoto et al., "Conception of Fault Current Limiter
Applying Series Capacitor", Proc. of Power di Energy
Society.IEE of Japan, No. 348,1993
[4] G. G. Karady, "Principle of fault current limitation by a
resonant LC circuit", IEE Proc. C , Vol. 139, No. 1, p.1, 1992
[5] The Leuven EMTP Center, "Alternative Transients
Program Rule Book', 1987

Chihiro Fukui (M'85) was born in Tottori

Prefecture, Japan on August 15, 1957. He received
the B. S . degree in electrical engineering from the
University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan in 1980.
In 1980, he joined Hitachi Research Laboratory,
Hitachi, Ltd., where he has worked on the
development of AI applications for power systems
and power system analysis. From 1987 to 1988 he
was a visiting researcher at the Carnegie-Mellon
University, Pittsburgh, PA.
Mr. Fukui is a mcmber of the American
Association of Artificial Intelligence, the Institute of
Electrical Engineers of Japan.
Tokio Yamagiwa (M'87) was born in Nagano
Prefecture, Japan on February 12, 1949. He received
the B. S . and Ph. D. degrees in electrical engineering
from Science University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan in
1971 and 1991, respectively.
In 1971 he joined Hitachi Research Laboratory of
Hitachi, Ltd., where he was engaged in research on
high voltage insulation of gas insulated switch gears.
From 1987 he has been engaged in development of
gas insulated switch gears and insulation diagnosis
systems in Kokubu Works.
Dr. Yamagiwa is a member of the Institute of
Electrical Engineers of 'Japan.

'