Effect of various pulse wave forms for pulse-type magnetic flux pump

The excitation current of magnetic pole windings in magnetic flux pump needs to be generated by a control system. In this paper, the control system of pulse-type high temperature superconducting magnetic flux pump is discussed in detail. The control system consists of a control circuit and a drive circuit. A direct current power supply is the unique power supply of the drive circuit. The control circuit is powered by a computer through a USB interface of the computer. The control circuit receives commands from the computer and controls the drive circuit to generate different pulse waves. Each pulse wave generates a unique pulse-type traveling magnetic field and will pump magnetic flux into the superconducting loop. Experiments have been performed to examine the pumping effect of different pulse waves on both MgB₂ and Bi-2223 superconducting loops using the proposed control system, and the best pulse wave has been found. The experimental results show that the magnetic flux pump can compensate current decay up to 32.5 A for MgB₂ loop and 129 A for Bi-2223 loop. It indicates that the control system of the pulse-type magnetic flux pump is effective and feasible.     

Design and thermal behavior of vapor cooled current leads for the detector and IR magnets in BEPC II

A superconducting detector magnet and two sets of interaction region (IR) magnets are adopted in the upgrade project of Beijing Electron and Positron Collider (BEPC II). The operating currents of these magnets differ from 3.6 kA to 24 A. Totally 13 pairs of vapor cooled current leads (VCCL) were designed and fabricated for these magnets. After the successful test experiments, all the VCCL have been installed to BEPC II system and operate properly. This paper presents the detail of the design and the experimental behavior of these VCCL.     

Fabrication of a working Bi-2223 superconducting magnet cooled by liquid nitrogen

A practical Bi-2223 superconducting magnet, working in liquid nitrogen (L.N₂), was designed and fabricated. Bi-2223 tape with a critical current of 147 A was prepared by a controlled overpressure (CT-OP) process at 77.3 K in self-field. Ten double-pancake coils were resistively connected by copper terminals. The bore diameter was 54 mm?, the magnet outer diameter was 122 mm?, the height of the magnet was 124 mm, and the weight of the magnet was about 3 kg. The maximum magnetic field at the center of the bore was 0.48 T with an operating current of 50 A. The experimental results agree well with design predictions calculated by finite element method. AC operation was also performed, and no distortion of the voltage waveform was observed. Therefore, this Bi-2223 superconducting magnet is a suitable replacement for copper magnets designed for applications in science and technology.     

Normal zone propagation characteristics of the HTS wires by heat energy applied

With the successful commercialization of Bi-2223 powder-in-tube wire, various attempts in the R&D of the high-T_c superconducting (HTS) magnets for high magnetic field applications are being implemented actively. Operating temperature of HTS magnet has to be maintained at the designed level but the magnetic energy and mechanical disturbance can cause unstable operational temperature of HTS magnet. Especially, the generated heat energy of inner HTS winding is apt to be accumulated, so the normal region appears in HTS winding. This paper deals with the quenching characteristics of three kinds of selected Bi-2223 wires: the high current density wire (HC-A) and the high strength wire (HS-A) made by AMSC and HTS wire (HW-I) made by Innost. The Innost wire has the highest minimum quench energy (MQE). The high current density wire has the highest normal zone propagation velocity (NZPV).     

Cryogenic heat pipe for cooling high temperature superconductors

The research in this paper investigates a consumable-free method of operating a high temperature superconducting (HTS) coil in space. The HTS wire resides inside a cryogenic heat pipe which is used for isothermalization. This paper presents the design, implementation, and testing of a cryogenic heat pipe for cooling high temperature superconductors. As a proof-of-concept, an 86 cm long straight heat pipe was constructed and enclosed two straight lengths of HTS wire. The working fluid, at saturation condition, maintains a constant temperature below the HTS wire critical temperature. Testing of the heat pipe in a vacuum chamber was conducted to verify the drop in HTS resistance correlating to the wire operating in a superconducting state.     

Detecting and describing the inhomogeneity of critical current in practical long HTS tapes using contact-free method

The nondestructive and contact-free apparatus for measuring local critical current of long high temperature superconducting (HTS) tapes is presented. The local critical current of tape is acquired by using Hall probe array sensor to measure the remanent field after exposed to dc external magnetic field since the critical current is proportional to remanent field based on Bean critical state model. A detailed experiment on multifilamentary Bi2223/Ag tape is made to validate reproducibility, reliability, resolution, nondestructiveness and usefulness for manufacturer and user of tapes. The parameter COV (coefficient of critical current variation) is suggested for quantitatively describing the inhomogeneity and quality of practical long HTS tape based on Gaussian statistical analysis. The developed apparatus can detect HTS tape at velocity of 100 m/h with resolution smaller than 3 mm in liquid nitrogen.     

Development of a cryogenic test bed for high amperage critical current measurement on high temperature superconductor wire

Many areas of research have benefited from the application of conduction-cooled superconducting magnet technology. The middle and small-scale magnets immersed in the liquid helium will be replaced by the easy-operating conduction-cooled superconducting magnet due to convenient operation, lower operating cost and easy for user. For the goal of superconducting magnet applications in the advanced testing for high temperature superconducting (HTS) wire and sample coils, a wide bore conduction-cooled superconducting magnet with available warm bore of ?186 mm and center field of 5-6 T for background magnetic field applications was designed, fabricated and tested. The system allows measurements to be performed in a repeatable and reliable fashion. In order to support the high stress in magnet, the detailed finite element (FE) analysis with electro-plastic model is proposed. The sample cryostat is designed with cryofree. It includes two GM cryocoolers. The detailed design, fabrication and thermal analysis are presented in the paper.     

A “permanent” high-temperature superconducting magnet operated in thermal communication with a mass of solid nitrogen

A new design for a portable “permanent” superconducting magnet system is explored. The design involves a persistent-mode high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnet that is cooled by a solid heat capacitor. The system is an alternative to permanent low-temperature superconducting (LTS) magnet systems where the magnet is cooled by a bath of liquid helium.An apparatus was constructed to demonstrate stable operation of a permanent magnet wound with Bi2223/Ag conductor while in thermal communication with a mass of solid nitrogen. The apparatus includes a room-temperature bore and can function while it stands alone, detached from its cooling source, power supply, and vacuum pump. The magnet is operated in the 20–40 K temperature range. This apparatus is the first to demonstrate the operation of a superconducting magnet with a permissible temperature variation exceeding a few degrees kelvin. Models are developed to predict the experimental system's warming trend and magnetic field decay. The models are validated with a good agreement between simulations based on these models and experimental results. The results indicate that present HTS conductor critical current and index are not yet sufficient to provide field strengths and field decay time constants that are required for typical persistent-mode applications.     

Wide Variety of Experiments Using a Cryogen-Free 27.5 T Hybrid Magnet and a Cryogen-Free 18.1 T Superconducting Magnet

A cryogen-free hybrid magnet without liquid helium for operation, generating 27.5 T in a 32 mm room temperature bore of an 8 MW water-cooled resistive insert magnet in an 8.5 T background field of a cryogen-free superconducting outsert magnet, is being operated for basic research at low temperatures down to 17 mK in combination with a dilution refrigerator. In addition, we are developing functional materials using a differential thermal analysis DTA at high temperatures up to 1473 K in high fields up to 27 T. This cryogen-free hybrid magnet will be upgraded to generate 29 T by improving the outer superconducting magnet. A cryogen-free 18.1 T superconducting magnet with a 52 mm room temperature experimental bore, consisting of a Bi₂Sr₂Ca₂Cu₃O₁₀ (Bi2223) insert coil, has been developed using a GM-JT cryocooler. Recently, bronze-tape-laminated Bi2223 has revealed excellent irreversible stress tolerance of 250 MPa at 77 K. In addition, the critical current properties for recent Bi2223 tapes are largely improved from 200 to 400 A/cm-width at 77 K in a self-field. Therefore, the stainless steel reinforcement tape incorporated for the previous Bi2223 insert coil is no longer needed for a new Bi2223 one. A new Bi2223 insert coil with almost the same size as the existing insert coil can generate two times higher fields at the elevated operation current from 162 to 191 A. An upgraded cryogen-free superconducting magnet can offer a long-term experiment at the constant magnetic field of 20 T for an in-field heat-treatment investigation.     

Design, development and experiment of a 1.5 T MgB2 superconducting test magnet

Superconducting magnets using MgB₂ tapes are potentially applicable in many areas, such as medical magnetic resonance imaging and fault current limiting. Under conduction cooling environments, the magnets can work at 15-20 K. In this work, a solenoid structured magnet with ∅ 100 mm bore is designed, built and tested. The maximum field at its center is up to 1.5 T. The field homogeneity, the thermal stability and the quench characteristics in the magnet are also investigated.     

Electromagnetic optimization design of a HTS magnet using the improved hybrid genetic algorithm

The genetic algorithm (GA) is an efficient method in the optimization of superconducting magnets, but there are some limitations of the GA applied to practice design of superconducting magnet, such as poor local search ability, premature convergence, etc. An improved hybrid genetic algorithm is developed by combination of the sequential quadratic programming (SQP). A high temperature superconducting (HTS) magnet by Bi-2223/Ag tape is designed through the improved hybrid GA. A new configuration of the HTS magnet which can reduce the winding volume and become more convenient to construct is suggested with consideration of the constraints, such as central magnetic filed, critical current characteristic, storage energy, and so on.     

Numerical optimization of conduction cooled current leads for low current applications

The basic design principles of current leads for superconducting magnets are well established but HTS materials and conduction cooled systems call for new numerical methods. In this paper the design of current leads was formulated as an optimization problem. Both time integration and finite differencing were examined as possible ways to compute the temperature distribution inside the leads. Three examples about optimization of conduction cooled as well as gas cooled systems are presented. First, the design of tubular normal conducting gas cooled current leads was studied. Second, normal conducting leads cooled with a two-stage cryocooler were examined. Third, the optimization was applied to current leads consisting of HTS tapes at the low temperature end of a normal conducting bar. The study took into account the magnetic field and temperature dependent voltage-current characteristics of the anisotropic Bi-2223 material. The results are compared with traditional analytical ones and the numerical optimization is shown to be an efficient design tool for both normal conducting and HTS current leads.     

Development of 3kA conduction cooled HTS current lead system

The research and development of superconducting magnet energy storage (SMES) system, a national project, began in 1999. One of the purposes of this project is investigation concerning the application of high-temperature superconducting (HTS) SMES. As a part of this project, the 3 kA class HTS small model coil was manufactured in order to verify the possibility of realizing conduction cooled HTS SMES. Therefore, it is important to develop the conduction cooled current lead system for applying this coil. We developed a kA class conduction cooled HTS current lead system. This current lead system consists of the copper current lead and the YBaCuO (YBCO) HTS current lead. The YBCO bulk manufactured by Nippon Steel Corporation was applied to the HTS current lead. The YBCO bulk keeps high critical current density (J_c > 10,000 A/cm²) in the magnetic field (1 T) at 77 K compared with Bi2223 superconductor. The experiment of this HTS current lead system was carried out, and rated current of 3000 A was achieved successfully.     

Design analysis of a solid nitrogen cooled “permanent” high-temperature superconducting magnet system

Potential performance advantages of a solid nitrogen cooled “permanent” high-temperature superconducting (SN2/HTS) magnet system over a liquid helium cooled low-temperature superconducting (LHe/LTS) system are explored. The SN2/HTS system design includes a second solid heat capacitor that cools a radiation shield. Recooling of the heat capacitors is performed with a demountable cryocooler. The SN2/HTS system offers both enhanced stability and improved portability over a LHe/LTS system.Design codes are constructed to compare the SN2/HTS system design with a LHe/LTS design for a general permanent superconducting magnet system employing a room temperature bore. The codes predict the system volume and mass that should be expected for a given set of design requirements, i.e. field strength and bore size, and a given set of conductor properties. The results indicate that present HTS conductor critical current and index are not yet sufficient for producing SN2/HTS systems of a size that is comparable with that expected for a LHe/LTS system; however, the conductor properties of Bi2223/Ag have been consistently improving, and new HTS conductors are expected to be developed in the near future. The codes are used to determine the minimum Bi2223/Ag conductor performance required for a SN2/HTS system to be competitive with a LHe/LTS system.     

HTS magnets: stability; protection; cryogenics; economics; current stability/protection activities at FBML

The unique features that distinguish a high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnet from a low-temperature superconducting (LTS) magnet are: (1) operating temperature and (2) temperature span over which the magnet remains superconducting. Thus, for two magnets, one HTS and the other LTS, both satisfying the same set of field specifications, the operating temperature and the operating range of temperature of the HTS magnet are generally an order of magnitude greater than that of the LTS magnet. In this CHATS 2002 Workshop, four issues, i.e., stability, protection, cryogenics, and economic issues will be examined as they are impacted by the two unique features, first as a general introduction to this presentation, between HTS and LTS magnets. This is followed by discussion of economics of large-scale HTS devices, specifically of fusion; electric power devices; high-energy physics; research-purpose NMR; and high-B DC magnets. The paper concludes with a presentation of preliminary results of stability/protection research presently being performed at the FBML.     

Cold storage characteristics of mobile HTS magnet

A cold storage system specialized in mobile high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets (e.g. for magnetically levitated (maglev) vehicles) has been proposed. In this system, a cooling source is detachable and a HTS coil is capable of maintaining superconducting state with its heat capacity. This system allows a considerably lightweight HTS magnet.An apparatus was constructed to evaluate the possibility of using cold storage systems in maglev vehicles. The thermal characteristic of this apparatus was based on a magnet for previous maglev test vehicles [1]. The operational temperature range of the magnet was assumed from 20 K to 50 K. Some experiments indicated that heat conduction by residual gas was not negligible. Especially over 30 K, gas conduction took a large part of heat input. This phenomenon is attributable to reduction of cryopumping effect. However, activated carbon in the apparatus compensates cryopumping effect. A unique heat capacitor was also used to enhance the cold storage effect. Water ice was chosen as a heat capacitor because water ice has a higher heat capacity than metallic materials at cryogenic temperatures. A small amount of water ice also prolonged cryogenic temperature condition. These results indicate 1 day of cold storage is probable in a magnet for maglev vehicles.     

35 kJ高温超导磁储能(SMES)的热输运实验研究

研制了中国首台高温超导磁储能直接冷却系统,该系统不使用低温液体(液氦、液氮).在10-3Pa的真空度下,高温超导磁体线圈由1台单级GM制冷机从室温293 K冷却到19 K,Bi2223电流引线由另一台制冷机冷却到77 K以下.整个系统在通140 A直流电流的时候产生了4.5 T的磁场.系统连续运行480 h(20 d),磁体和低温系统各参数动态特性良好.实验研究表明,控制系统的漏热,优化磁体内部导冷结构,有效减少热传导部件的接触界面热阻是制冷机直接冷却高温超导磁体的关键技术.     

Design and performance of compensator for decremental persistent current in HTS magnets using linear type magnetic flux pump

This paper has described the characteristics of a stationary linear type magnetic flux pump newly developed this time. The linear type flux pump aims to compensate a little decremental persistent current of the HTS magnet in NMR and MRI systems. The flux pump mainly consists of DC bias coil, 3-phase AC coil and Nb foil. Analytical results by the FEM are proved to nearly agree with experimental ones. In the experiment, it has been investigated that the flux pump can effectively charge the current in the load coil of 1.3 mH for various frequencies in 150 s under two following conditions: (1) DC bias of 10 A and AC of 4 A_rms, (2) DC bias of 10 A and AC of 5 A_rms. The maximum magnitudes of initial increasing rate of pumping current and load magnet voltage are: (1) 0.2 A/s and 25 mV and (2) 0.22 A/s and 34 mV, respectively.     

Electrical parameter evaluation of a 1 MW HTS motor via analysis and experiments

A 1 MW class HTS (high-temperature superconducting) synchronous motor has been developed. Design concerns of the developed motor are focused on smaller machine size and higher efficiency than conventional motors or generators with the same rating simultaneously reducing expensive Bi-2223 HTS wire which is used for superconducting field coil carrying the operating current around 30 K (−243 °C). Influence of an important parameter, synchronous reactance, has been analyzed on the machine performances such as voltage variation and output power during motor and generator operation. The developed motor was also analyzed by three-dimensional electromagnetic FEM (finite element method) to get magnetic field distribution, inductance, electromagnetic stress and so forth.This motor is aimed to be utilized for industrial application such as large motors operating in large plants. The HTS field coil of the developed motor is cooled by way of Neon thermosiphon mechanism and the stator (armature) coil is cooled by water through hollow copper conductor. This paper also describes evaluation of some electrical parameters from performance test results which were obtained at steady state in generator and motor mode of our HTS machine.     

The effects of the air gap between pancake windings on the central magnetic field in a high temperature superconducting magnet

In an HTS magnet consisting of pancake windings, an air gap between the pancake windings can be used to increase the central magnetic field because the air gap increases the critical current of pancake windings. The effects of an air gap on the central magnetic field of an HTS magnet are discussed in this paper according to the various number of turns and also to the number of pancake windings. Results of calculation show the air gap could increase the central magnetic field and the field uniformity simultaneously. The optimum air gap which maximized the central magnetic field was about 4 mm at eight pancake windings and 50 turns per pancake winding. The central magnetic field increased 6.2% from 0.225 T (no air gap) to 0.239 T (4 mm air gap) at that case.