Experiments on a tokamak device with force‐balanced coils

High field is very favorable for magnetically confined fusion devices such as a tokamak, but the electromagnetic force derived from the field becomes a fatal problem. In particular, the largest in‐plane centering force hinders toroidal field coils from operating at higher fields. Although variable‐pitch multihelical coils, which we term force‐balanced coils (FBCs), by which this force is drastically reduced, were proposed for the coil system of tokamaks, there had been no actual tokamak device with FBCs. Therefore, Todoroki‐1, a small tokamak device with FBCs has been manufactured and experiments started. In this paper, the structure of Todoroki‐1 is indicated, and the stray magnetic field and centering force on FBCs are investigated. The plasmas have been generated in the device, and attempts at better plasmas are beginning. © 1999 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 130(3): 19–29, 2000     

Experiment of force‐balanced coil for magnetic energy storage

Higher magnetic field is of great advantage to superconducting magnetic energy storage because it promises a compact device. However, it does not affect the serious problem of huge electromagnetic forces caused by high magnetic fields and large coil current. Electromagnetic stresses, reaching as much as several hundred bars, thus become a major factor in determining whether a large‐size strong magnetic field system can be established. In order to solve this problem, we have proposed the force‐balanced coil (FBC) concept that reduces the huge centering electromagnetic forces by balancing them with the hoop forces caused by the toroidal current. Then we designed and fabricated a small‐size superconducting FBC system to demonstrate the FBC concept. It was successfully excited up to near rated current. It is shown that the FBC system has the potential for simplifying the supporting structures and making the facility compact. © 1999 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 128(3): 82–91, 1999     

Design guidelines of a flux‐lock superconducting fault current limiter with ac magnetic field coil for a 6.6‐kV distribution system

We have proposed a new type of fault current limiter, which consists of a flux‐lock reactor with high‐Tc superconducting (HTS) elements and an ac magnetic field coil (Flux‐Lock‐Type Fault Current Limiter: FLT‐FCL). The FLT‐FCL can increase both the current capacity and the limiting impedance by means of a transformer action and an ac magnetic field application mechanism. This paper reports the conceptual design of an FLT‐FCL for application to a 6.6‐kV/200‐A distribution system. Theoretical expressions for the current limiting behavior are derived and the new concept of “quench power” is proposed in order to estimate the required number of HTS elements for two types of FLT‐FCL and for a basic FCL type consisting only of HTS elements. Design guidelines for the FLT‐FCL are derived from the calculation results. © 2001 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 135(4): 17–25, 2001     

Design of a coil geometry for generating magnetic field to evaluate biological effects at 85 kHz

In recent years, the use of induction‐heating systems has increased and wireless power transmission (WPT) systems have been discussed. These applications are installed close to a human body. Therefore, it is important to discuss the effects of alternating magnetic fields and to evaluate electromagnetic interference. This paper discusses the design procedure of a magnetic field generator to evaluate the electromagnetic interference at 85 kHz that is being studied in WPT systems for EV and HEV. The magnetic field generator presented in this paper consists of a single‐phase inverter circuit that uses SiC‐MOSFETs and an air–core inductor that is used as the coil for generating a magnetic field. In particular, this paper shows that the coil used for generating magnetic field needs to reduce the winding voltage to generate higher magnetic flux. In addition, this paper presents the design procedure of the proposed coil structure that can satisfy some limited conditions. The experimental results of the proposed system rated at 82 kHz and 100 A are presented.     

Feedback position control apparatus of tokamak plasma horizontal position with a digital drive

A plasma horizontal position feedback control system (PHPFCS) and a digital current drive (DCD) for controlling vertical magnetic field are made on an experimental base, and the horizontal position of a plasma in a small tokamak (HAMANA‐T) is controlled by PID operations from the initial phase of plasma generation. The DCD consists of constant‐current discharge units for multiple condensers and drives a digital current analogous as a whole to the control signal of PHPFCS in the range of ±90 A. The maximum value of the digital current increases in proportion to the number of units. This PHPFCS elongates plasma duration from 1.3 ms to 2.1 ms, smooths the waveform of plasma current, and reduces the plasma loop voltage from 25 V to 20 V. Furthermore, PHPFCS reduces the range of variation in plasma horizontal displacement from 3.5 cm to within 0.5 cm and makes it possible to set accurately the horizontal position from the initial phase in the inner region of a vacuum chamber. © 2000 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 130(4): 26–34, 2000     

Consideration of multi‐coil type magnetization system for magnetic particle testing of omnidirectional crack in all surfaces of 3D shape test object

Mechanical parts, plants, and cross‐linkages inspected with magnetic‐particle testing (MT) are typically complex 3D shapes. In complex 3D shape portions, because a magnetizer often cannot be configured to inspection portions and the test object cannot be appropriately magnetized, there is a possibility of overlooking a crack in such an instance. Thus, MT system development that was successfully able to detect omnidirectional cracks in 3D shape portions was considered in this study's trials. Two multi‐coil type magnetizers were hence arranged face‐to‐face, and the magnetization of omnidirectional scenarios for all surfaces of 3D shape test object was evaluated.     

Design and optimization of a 3‐coil resonance‐based wireless power transfer system for biomedical implants

This paper presents a resonance‐based wireless power transfer system using a single layer of inductor coil windings, in a pancake configuration, in order to obtain a compact system for implantable electronic applications. We theoretically analyzed the system and characterized it by measuring its inductance, self‐resonant frequency, and quality factor Q. In our resonance‐based wireless power transfer prototype, we proposed a 3‐coil system, using two 15‐mm radius implantable coils, with a resonance frequency of 6.76 MHz. This system can effectively transfer power for a distance of up to 50 mm. Moreover, our proposed 3‐coil system can achieve a high Q‐factor and has a comparable power transfer efficiency (PTE) to previously reported works about 3‐coil and 4‐coil systems. The experimental PTE can achieve 82.4% at a separation distance of 20 mm and more than 10% PTE at a distance of 40 mm. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fundamental experiments on an air‐cushion‐based force‐sensing device for soft physical human–robot interaction

Physical human–robot interaction (PHRI) is an essential concept for human‐cooperative robots (HCRs). Because the force control for PHRI is based on the contact force between a human and an HCR, it is very important to collect the force data accurately. Furthermore, soft contact during force sensing is also necessary for PHRI for safety and security. As a challenge in force sensing for PHRI using a soft material, we aim to develop in this study a novel force‐sensing device based on an air cushion. First, the physical model of the air cushion is represented by an air cylinder with a piston, which is subject to constraint by nonlinear elasticity. Second, the elastic properties of the air cushion are examined under the assumption that it can be formulated as a function of pneumatic pressure and the contact area with a human. The force applied to the air cushion is estimated on the basis of the physical model and compared to the actual force data in the fundamental experiments. Force is successfully estimated using the proposed physical model, and the advantages of the air‐cushion‐based force‐sensing device (ACFSD) are verified through these fundamental experiments. © 2013 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Development of a low‐noise IGBT module

High‐frequency leakage current that may cause serious conducted EMI problems flows through an inverter system. The paths of the leakage current are stray capacitances that are formed inside of motors, cables, and IGBT modules. This paper proposes a new IGBT module that realizes low conducted emission noise by flipping the IGBT chip of the lower‐voltage side to decrease its stray capacitance. The leakage current flowing through the low‐noise IGBT module becomes small, since the stray capacitance is a main path of the current. Through an experiment, it is clarified that the conducted emission level is reduced by 13 dB at a maximum when the low‐noise IGBT module is applied to a resonant‐type inverter. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 171(4): 45–52, 2010; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20971     

Phase Correction for High Precision Measurement of Iron Loss Using H‐coil Method

The accurate magnetic properties of electrical steel sheets are important for the development of high‐efficiency electromagnetic devices. In particular, the H‐coil method is a useful technique for accurately measuring magnetic field strength in a single sheet tester. Therefore, we developed a tester for magnetic field properties using the H‐coil method, referred to as the stress load type single sheet tester (S‐SST), and a problem was found in iron loss measurement at a high flux density of 1.6 T or more. In this paper, it is shown that the cause of this problem is the phase difference between the induced voltage in the H‐coil and the B‐coil. Because the phase difference makes the B–H loop slightly twisted near the tip point, the iron losses are evaluated low. Thus, we propose a method of determining the phase correction values. These values are measured in the absence of a specimen in the S‐SST measurement system, and the phase correction method for induced voltage in a coil is investigated. Finally, ideal results for the correction of iron loss in nonoriented electrical steel sheets are shown. The proposed method is effective for the calibration of a single sheet tester using the H‐coil method.     

A force‐reflecting friction‐free bilateral system based on a twin drive control system with torsional vibration suppression

This paper proposes a new friction‐free bilateral system based on twin drive control system considering resonant frequency for bilateral systems. The twin drive system consists of two motors which are coupled by the differential gear. The output torque becomes a different torque of both motors. The nonlinear friction torque of the twin drive system can be easily compensated. However, the resonant frequency and the antiresonant frequency caused by the tensional vibration exist. This paper proposes a new two‐mass model of twin drive system that supresses torsional vibration by state feedback. The proposed control method is applied to the bilateral robot, and the effectiveness of the control method is confirmed by the experimental results. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 159(1): 72–79, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20355     

Merging formation and current amplification of field‐reversed configuration

The merging formation of the field‐reversed configuration (FRC) has been developed in the TS‐3 merging experiment, leading us to a new scenario of FRC slow formation, heating and current amplification. Two force‐free spheromaks with opposing toroidal fields were merged together in the axial direction to form a high‐β FRC with higher efficiency than the conventional field‐reversed theta‐pinch method. This unique relaxation from the force‐free (β ∼ 0.05 − 0.1) spheromaks to the high‐β (β ∼ 0.7 − 1) FRC is attributed to the conversion of toroidal magnetic energy into ion thermal energy through the reconnection outflow. A central ohmic heating (OH) coil worked successfully to amplify the FRC plasma current by a factor of 2. Toroidal mode analysis of magnetic structure indicated that the tilting stability of the oblate FRC was provided by an ion kinetic effect. This oblate FRC is also useful as an initial equilibrium to produce a high‐β_p spherical tokamak (ST) with diamagnetic toroidal magnetic field, suggesting the close relationship between FRCs and high‐β_p STs in the second stable region of the ballooning mode. © 2007 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Distribution on localized two‐dimensional magnetic properties of three‐phase induction motor core

Improving material characteristics and optimizing technical designs have been studied from the standpoint of efficiency improvement of electrical machinery and apparatus. Unfortunately, the local magnetic properties in actual cores are still not understood fully. On the other hand, there is understanding of the two‐dimensional magnetic property, that is, the relationship between the magnetic field strength vector H and the magnetic flux density vector B , which are not usually parallel but have a phase angle. Therefore, local magnetic properties in an actual constructed core should be measured as a vector relation. This paper presents the local magnetic properties in a three‐phase induction motor model core, which are measured with a two‐dimensional measurement sensor. © 2000 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 133(4): 34–40, 2000     

Study of the Counterclockwise/Clockwise (CCW/CW) Rotational Losses Measured with a Two‐dimensional Vector Magnetic Property Measurement System

In the development of high‐efficiency actuators, high‐magnetic flux density conditions are applied to achieve higher torque, lower weight and smaller size. It is therefore very important to understand the magnetic properties under high‐magnetic flux conditions in the electrical steel sheets. However, it is very difficult to measure the two‐dimensional vector magnetic properties under high‐flux density conditions due to nonlinearity and anisotropy of the magnetic materials. The measured magnetic power loss under clockwise rotating fields differs from that of the counter‐clockwise direction, and the value in counter‐clockwise rotating fields sometimes becomes negative. It can be considered that angle errors of H‐coils and B‐coils are the main causes of the measurement errors. In this paper, the angle errors of the double B‐coil (search coils) and the double H‐coil (cross‐type H‐coil) are evaluated with a projector‐type magnifying scope and a calibration device. We have compensated the measured magnetic field vector components caused by the angle errors and made clear their influence on the two‐dimensional vector magnetic property measurements. Furthermore, we proposed a method to cancel out small angle errors that remained in the saturated region. Copyright © 2008 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

凝聚器流场中扰流柱径向受力计算

双极荷电-湍流凝聚器可有效控制燃煤电厂细颗粒物排放,是国内外研究的热点技术。通过商用CFD软件,利用LES模型模拟湍流流场,计算凝聚器扰流柱所受曳力、升力。结果显示:扰流柱受力具有明显的周期性,扰流柱所受曳力大于升力;第1排扰流柱受力波动幅度明显小于第2排;将每排4个扰流柱用槽钢连在一起统一固定,其设计最大径向力载荷约为第1排扰流柱所受最大径向合力的8.6倍,为第2排扰流柱所受最大径向合力的9.1倍。     

Development of a high‐pressure air‐insulated 72/84‐kV disconnecting switch corresponding to bus‐transfer current switching

SF₆ gas has excellent dielectric strength and current interruption performance. For these reasons, it has been widely used for gas‐insulated switchgear (GIS). Today, such global environmental problems as global warming are important issues of concern. SF₆ gas is known as a greenhouse gas with a long atmospheric lifetime, and has global warming potential of 23,900. SF₆‐free 72‐kV GIS was recently developed by using high‐pressure air and a gas/solid hybrid structure. But an alternating current disconnecting switch (DS) has yet to be developed thus making this type of SF₆‐free 72‐kV GIS unsuitable for double bus‐bar application. Consequently, the development of a high‐pressure air‐insulated DS corresponding to bus‐transfer current switching has been expected. The bus‐transfer current is the highest among all current interruption requirements for the DS. To develop an alternating current DS, efforts must be made to reduce arcing damage to the electrode. This paper describes the fundamental characteristics of current interruption in the plain break type and the magnetic field driven type. Then, average arcing time of the magnetic field driven type was estimated by magnetic flux density. Finally, two types of DS, which were a high‐speed plain break and a low‐speed magnetic field driven, were confirmed to comply with bus‐transfer current switching requirements on JEC standard. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 167(2): 48–55, 2009; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20595     

Design and analysis of low‐speed,high‐torque permanent magnet motors

This paper presents design and analysis of low‐speed, high‐torque permanent magnet motors. The motor has 16‐pole, 18‐coil construction, and a unique winding arrangement to produce high torque. The simplified torque analysis is proposed considering the line of magnetic induction distribution in the motor. The validity of the proposed analysis has been proved by both linear and nonlinear FEM analyses. The 500‐Nm, 200‐rpm test motor has been designed and constructed and the motor shows the expected characteristics. © 2000 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 132(3): 48–56, 2000     

Improvement of levitation characteristics in a magnetic bearing system using HTSC‐permanent magnet hybrid structure

Magnetic bearing using pinning force of a permanent magnet and a high‐temperature superconductor has been developed. Additional permanent magnet is introduced to increase the levitation force of the magnetic bearing. In this hybrid magnetic bearing system, levitation force is mainly given by the repulsive force of the permanent magnets, and stability for the lateral direction is given by pinning force of the superconductor. The experimental device is developed. A ring‐type superconductor and a bulk one are examined. Levitation characteristics of the hybrid magnetic bearing are measured. The bulk superconductor shows better characteristics of both levitation and lateral stability than the ring one. Levitation force of the hybrid system becomes about twice as large as that of the nonhybrid one. Although, the repulsive force of the permanent magnet decreases the lateral stability of the system, its influence becomes small by choosing an adequate position of the permanent magnets and the superconductor. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 150(1): 71–77, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.10350     

Basic study of high‐frequency carrier‐type magnetic field sensor using shape anisotropy

We tried to control the magnetic anisotropy of a high‐frequency carrier‐type magnetic field sensor by the shape of the magnetic film instead of induced anisotropy. We confirmed that the impedance of the sensor could be changed by applying a magnetic field. In addition, we tried to control the magnetic anisotropy with magnetostatic energy. We show that the properties of the sensor can be controlled by designing the shape of the magnetic film. © 2007 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

调频串联谐振装置在XLPE绝缘电缆试验中的应用

介绍一种调频串联谐振装置的原理及工作过程,并在高压交联聚乙烯(XLPE)绝缘电缆交流耐压试验中应用.