In the modern power system, the security and reliability of the distribution network is becoming more and more serious with the increase of the power grid. When a short-circuit fault occurs, the short-circuit current is far greater than the rated current of the circuit, which brings great harm to the operation of the distribution network. In order to limit the short circuit current, a novel structure of the combined device SMES-FCL based on the voltage source converter and the control strategy of the structure were proposed. Among them, superconducting magnetic energy storage system (SMES) has high power density, and usually it is used to stabilize power fluctuation. The fault current limiter (FCL) share the superconducting magnet with SMES, which is used to weaken the short-circuit current in the fault line. The improved particle swarm optimization algorithm is used to attain the optimal initial parameters of the combined device SMES-FCL. The simulation results show that the combined device SMES-FCL presented in this paper can weaken the short-circuit current while smoothing the power fluctuation of another AC system effectively and simplify the traditional control structure. The active protection of distribution network is also realized.