  A superconducting fault current limiter of the transformer type (inductive
FCL) based on magnetic coupling between a superconducting element and a
protected circuit has been investigated by many authors for various parameters
and performances of a superconducting element. Another design of the device
preventing high short-circuit currents is a self-limiting transformer combining
the functions of a usual power transformer with the functions of a current
limiter. In the presented work we compare the parameters, operation and
application of these two devices. The operation of the devices is investigated
experimentally on small models fabricated using the same superconducting
element. The parameters of the full-scale devices are evaluated. It is shown
that the requirements to superconducting elements are practically the same for
both devices.
