Study on cross section of high temperature superconducting coil

It is in particular of importance for HTS coils to secure a larger central magnetic field and/or a large stored energy with shorter length of HTS tapes. The critical current of an HTS tape depends on both the flux density and the flux angle against tapes. From this point, the performance improvement of HTS coils is taken into account with an analytical model. The minimum volume coil derived from the Fabry Factor constant curve is taken concerning the original coil shape, which is often employed in low temperature superconducting coils. The coil critical current was analyzed in consideration of the anisotropic properties of the tape.The electric field of HTS tapes in the coil was calculated at the coil critical current and the high electric field portion were cut out. The optimal coil cross section is obtained by iterating this calculation process. As a result, the critical current and the stored energy density of the coil were improved. The stored energy density increased about 17% and the central magnetic field was almost kept constant regardless of 19% reduction of HTS tapes, as compared with the original coil with the rectangular cross section.     

Characteristics of critical current of superconducting solenoid wound with the stacked tape

The high-T_c superconducting (HTS) magnet is an important element for developing HTS power equipments such as the dc reactor of the inductive type superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL). In order to use the HTS magnet for the large-scale power system, its critical current needs to be high enough. Generally, the double pancake HTS magnet has the severe decrease in the critical current because of magnetic field perpendicular to the tape surface. To fabricate a high critical current magnet, we wound a solenoid with the stacked tape. In this paper, the characteristics of the critical current of the HTS solenoid wound with the stacked tape were investigated. The results of this research can be used as the background data for the design of the large-scale HTS magnet.     

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.     

Reduction of radial magnetic fields in HTS solenoids with different constraint conditions

The critical current of HTS solenoid is heavily dependent on the value of radial magnetic fields in the coil winding section: the higher radial magnetic field in the winding section, the lower critical current of HTS solenoid is. So, we need to reduce the radial magnetic field components of the solenoid as much as possible to get high performance HTS magnet. In this paper we investigate various HTS coil shapes, obtained from the optimum algorithm, in which the radial magnetic field components are minimized. Three different constraints were used during optimization calculation: (1) fixed magnet volume condition, (2) fixed center magnetic field condition, and (3) maximum magnetic energy storage condition. The calculated results using those three different constraints showed almost similar shapes to one another and turned out to be effective to reduce the radial magnetic fields in the winding section. Finally, it is pointed out that two or three sectioned multi-magnet shape, which can be deduced from the calculated shape, could be more optimal to reduce the radial magnetic field in the coil, and more practical to fabricate.     

Development of Bi-2223 HTS tape and its application to coil and current leads

We are developing Bi-2223/Ag tapes with a high engineering critical current density by optimizing the powder-in-tube process and are studying its application to coil and current leads. We have fabricated 250 m-long tape and investigated optimized processing conditions to enhance engineering critical current density. More bubbling was found when the tape was heat-treated with a higher heating rate. Different kinds of superconducting joints were fabricated with multi-filamentary Bi-2223/Ag tapes, and 58% of retained I_c was achieved using the insertion of Bi-2223 core between two exposed tapes. Current decay property of the persistent mode HTS coil was investigated. Rapid current decay was observed when the operating current is in a flux-flow range. We could successfully fabricate a low heat leak type HTS current lead with Bi-2223/Ag–Au tapes by employing a stepped geometry. Using this lead, safe operation of 2 kA current transport was confirmed.     

Conceptual Design of a Field Coil for 5 MW HTS Synchronous Machine

Compared with a conventional rotating machine, a superconducting rotating machine fabricated by High Temperature Superconducting (HTS) tape has superior performance and efficiency due to the HTS field coil for the rotor which can generate high magnetic flux intensity. The two primary factors for the design of the HTS rotational machine are how to construct the optimal magnetic field path through the air gap located between the rotor and the stator and how to enhance the linkage magnetic flux density between the armature coil in the stator and the field coil in the rotor. A 5 MW HTS motor for ship propulsion is planned for development in early 2011 by a Korean collaboration group of KERI and DOOSAN Heavy Industry. As a part of this R&D efforts, we designed and analyzed the field coil for a 5 MW HTS synchronous motor. In this paper, the computational results of the magnetic field distribution on the whole winding regions of the HTS field coil of the superconducting rotating machine will be also presented and discussed.     

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.     

Comparison study of cable geometries and superconducting tape layouts for high-temperature superconductor cables

High-temperature superconductor (HTS) rare-earth-barium-copper-oxide (REBCO) tapes are very promising for use in high-current cables. The cable geometry and the layout of the superconducting tapes are directly related to the performance of the HTS cable. In this paper, we use numerical methods to perform a comparison study of multiple-stage twisted stacked-tape cable (TSTC) conductors to find better cable structures that can both improve the critical current and minimize the alternating current (AC) losses of the cable. The sub-cable geometry is designed to have a stair-step shape. Three superconducting tape layouts are chosen and their transport performance and AC losses are evaluated. The magnetic field and current density profiles of the cables are obtained. The results show that arrangement of the superconducting tapes from the interior towards the exterior of the cable based on their critical current values in descending order can enhance the cable’s transport capacity while significantly reducing the AC losses. These results imply that cable transport capacity improvements can be achieved by arranging the superconducting tapes in a manner consistent with the electromagnetic field distribution. Through comparison of the critical currents and AC losses of four types of HTS cables, we determine the best structural choice among these cables.     

Measurements of current distributions in a multi-laminated HTS tape conductor for solenoid coils

A multi-laminated HTS tape conductor has recently been developed for large coils. If the HTS tapes are simply laminated to form the conductor, the current distribution in the laminated tape conductor of the coil is unbalanced because of the differences among all tape inductances. Transposition of the tape in the conductor is effective for homogeneous current distribution, but the tape may be damaged due to the lateral bending. In our previous paper, we proposed a new theory to analyze and control current distributions in the multi-laminated tape conductor for a solenoid coil with arbitrary layers. We applied the Maxwell integral equation to the region contoured by adjacent laminated tapes to analyze the current distributions of the tapes in the infinite solenoid coil, demonstrated that the flux across the region is conserved as long as the tapes are not saturated, and finally induced fundamental equations as functions of coil construction parameters, such as layer radius, laminated tape space, and winding pitch. In order to verify the theory, we designed two kinds of coils with homogeneous and inhomogeneous current distributions in the two-laminated tape conductor by adjusting the space between the tapes in the second layer, and fabricated them. In the case when the space between the tapes in the second layer is the same as that of the first layer, 0.31 mm in thickness, we measured the tape currents of 7:3 for the inner and outer tape of the first layer, respectively. We adjusted the space between the tapes of the second layer, 1.78 mm in thickness, while the space of the first layer remained unchanged, 0.31 mm in thickness. We obtained the homogeneous current distribution in the tape conductor. The experimental data were in good agreement with the theory.     

AC Loss of a Multi-Layer per Phase Tri-Axial HTS Cable with?Balanced Current Distribution

Recently, high-temperature superconductor (HTS) cables have been widely studied because of their compactness and high power capacity compared to conventional copper cables. In HTS cables, AC loss is an important issue since large losses reduce the efficiency of the power line. Among HTS cables, tri-axial cable is under intensive investigation recently, since it has a smaller amount of HTS tapes, small leakage fields and small heat loss in leak when compared with the three single-phase cables. For realizing high current capacity, more than one layer is required for each phase; therefore AC loss of the multi-layer tri-axial HTS cable should be carefully examined. In the tri-axial cable, different phase currents produce the out-of-phase magnetic fields on the other phase layers. In case of multi-layer arrangement, net magnetic fields on layer surfaces may exceed the penetration field of the HTS tape. Therefore in this paper, we analyze the AC loss of a tri-axial HTS cable which is composed of two layers per phase. Here, we treat the tri-axial cable which consists of two different longitudinal segments and thus satisfies balanced phase and homogeneous current distribution condition by controlling twist pitch and length of separate segments.     

舰船电力系统用1 MJ高温超导储能磁体设计研究

介绍了舰船电力系统用的1MJ螺管型高温超导储能磁体的设计优化步骤，给出了用Bi-2223超导带进行1 MJ磁体线圈的设计和优化结果，分析了高温超导体的各向异性对磁体临界电流的影响，讨论了储能容量一定的多螺管磁体系统在漏磁、储能密度和所需超导线材方面的变化。     

Analysis of a novel laminated coil using eddy currents for AC highmagnetic field

The analysis and performance of an eddy current type laminated coil for a high AC magnetic fields are described. It is usually difficult to obtain a high AC magnetic field using an air-gap coil because of eddy currents. The present coil circumvents this limitation by making use of the magnetic shielding effect of eddy currents. Two different realizations of the coil are proposed to provide design flexibility. The field distributions are analyzed by the two-dimensional finite-element method. The coils can also be applied to an induction electromagnetic pump     

Analysis of current distributions in a multi-laminated HTS tape conductor for solenoid coils

A multi-laminated HTS tape conductor has been recently developed for large coils. If the HTS tapes are simply laminated to form the conductor, the current distribution in the laminated tape conductor of the coil is imbalanced because of the differences among inductances of tapes. Transposition of the tapes in the conductor is effective for homogeneous current distribution, but the tape may be damaged due to the lateral bending. The solenoid coil has enough space to transpose the tapes at both ends. However, a proposed theory so far requires a restriction in the number of coil layers for homogeneous current distribution in the laminated tape conductor. It is very important to analyze current distributions in the multi-laminated tape conductor for the solenoid coil with arbitrary layers. In this paper, we apply the Maxwell integral equation to the region contoured by adjacent laminated tapes to analyze the current distributions of the tapes in an infinite solenoid coil, and demonstrate that the flux across the region is conserved as long as the tapes are not saturated, and finally induce the fundamental equations as functions of coil construction parameters, such as layer radii, laminated tape spaces, and winding pitches. We use the fundamental equations for 2-layer and 4-layer coils to verify the homogeneous current distribution of the laminated tape conductor for an arbitrary layer number. Since the flux between the tapes in the inner layer of a 2-layer coil is contributed from the outer layers, the tape space in the outer layer must be larger than that in the inner layer because of the balance between the two fluxes. Moreover, we have developed an analysis method for a finite solenoid coil.     

The electric characteristics of HTS double-pancake coil with AC pulse over currents

A double pancake coil was designed and manufactured with a 36-m long Bi-2223/Ag tape. The tape was insulated by 25 μm thick Kapton tapes, which can stand a voltage of 400 V_rms in liquid nitrogen. The whole double pancake was impregnated with epoxy resin. AC over-current experiments of the coil were performed by applying constant AC voltages to the two terminals of the coil and lasted for 3 s. The experiment began first at a lower voltage of 33.6 V_rms, and then the voltage stepped up till the coil was burned out at the pulse voltage of 202.7 V_rms. All of the experiments were carried out with the coil dipped in liquid nitrogen. The current waveforms were measured. The impedance and resistance characters of the HTS coil with its over pulse currents were analyzed from the experiment results. At the end of this paper, some conclusions derived from the experiment results and their analyses are given, which are helpful for the safety operating of the HTS coils in power applications.     

Analysis of Current and Magnetic Distributions in REBCO Superconducting Coated Conductors in Self- and External Fields

The influence of a self-field on the critical current density J _c for a REBCO superconducting tape is presented in this paper. The distributions of the current density and magnetic field are analyzed in the tape under three kinds of conditions, i.e., applying an external magnetic field only, applying a transport current only, and applying a transport current together with an external magnetic field. In the analysis, the two-dimensional Poisson equation for the vector potential is employed. For the convenience of calculation, that the dependence of critical current versus the perpendicular and parallel fields tested from experiment is substituted for the traditional Kim-type or Bean model. The results show that the distributions of the current density and magnetic field in the REBCO tape change for the different frequencies and amplitudes of the transport current I _a and applied magnetic field B _a.     

Observation of self-magnetic field relaxations in Bi2223 and Y123 HTS tapes after over-current pulse and DC current operation

The development of power transmission lines based on long-length HTS tapes requires the production of high quality tapes. Due to fault conditions, technical mistakes and human errors during the operation of a DC power transmission line, an over-current pulse, several times larger than the rated current, could occur. To study the effect of such over-current pulses on the transport current density distribution in the HTS tapes, we simulated two start-up scenarios for one BSCCO and two YBCO tapes. The first start-up scenario is an initial over-current pulse during which the transport current was turned on rapidly, rising to 900 A during the first milliseconds, then reduced to a 100 A DC current. The second start-up scenario is normal operation, and involved increasing the transport current slowly from 0 A to 100 A at a rate of 1 A/s. For both scenarios, we then measured the vertical component of the self-magnetic field by means of a Hall probe above the tape, and afterward, by solving a linear equation of the inverse problem we obtain the current density profiles. We observe a change of the self-magnetic field above the edge of the BSCCO and YBCO tapes during 30 min after the 5 ms of over-current pulse and during the normal operation. The current density profiles are peaked in the centre for over-current pulse, and more peaked around the edge of the HTS tape for normal operation, which means that the limited time over-current pulse changes the current density profiles of the HTS tapes. We observe also a loop of current for YBCO tapes and we show the role of the HTS tape stabilizer.     

Instabilities above critical current region in Bi-2223/Ag superconducting coils cooled by liquid nitrogen

A sudden drop of the coil voltage and a hysteresis of I-V curve were observed in measurement of one-layer Bi-2223/Ag coils cooled by liquid nitrogen at currents well above critical current region. Their temporal behavior indicates, that the improvement of the cooling and corresponding decrease of temperature after the jump takes place. To study this phenomenon we measured I-V curves of two Bi-2223/Ag coils made from tapes with various degree of critical current homogeneity and analogical curves of two non-superconducting coils made from thin Cu tapes having various widths. In Cu coils we really observed a sudden drop of the temperature, measured in parallel with Cu resistance drop, after reaching heat flux of about 0.4 W cm⁻² during current ramping up. In spite of non-superconducting character of the tape, the hysteresis, i.e. difference between increasing branch and decreasing branch of I-V curves, was observed too! Approximately the same value of heat flux, at current corresponding to the jump, was found also in superconducting coil on segment with least value of local critical current. We conclude that observed voltage drop of the Bi-2223/Ag does not bear upon superconducting nature of the coil and, as that for Cu coil, can be explained by dynamics of heat transfer to liquid nitrogen and its history.     

Influence of High Temperature Superconducting Transformer Geometry on Leakage Magnetic Field

Leakage magnetic fields in high temperature superconducting (HTS) transformer windings reduce the critical current and increase the ac losses in HTS tapes. Moreover, because of the anisotropic properties of the HTS tapes, the influence of the radial component of the leakage field on critical current and ac losses is much stronger than that of the axial one. For these reasons, leakage magnetic fields must be carefully considered in HTS transformer design. In this paper, we report a study of the influence of the core structure and the winding configuration on the leakage field by the finite-element method (FEM), and offer some suggestions for reducing the maximal radial component of leakage field to make the HTS transformer more efficient.     

Electrical Design of a 17 MW Class HTS Motor for Ship Propulsion

A superconducting motor shows several advantages, such as smaller size and higher efficiency, over a conventional motor, especially utilized in ship propulsion applications. However, the size reduction merit appears for large capacity, more than several MW. We develop a large capacity synchronous motor with a rotating high-temperature superconducting (HTS) coil, that is aimed to be utilized for ship propulsion, so it has a low rotating speed of about 200 rpm. The ship propulsion motor must generate high electromagnetic torque instead of low speed. Therefore, the rotor (field) coils have to generate a large magnetic flux that results in a large amount of expensive HTS conductor for the field coil. In this paper a 17 MW HTS motor for ship propulsion is designed with a cost-effective method because the HTS conductor cost is a critical factor in the construction of an HTS motor. Unlike conventional rotating machines, the superconducting motor consists of an iron-coreless structure. Most conventional motors can be designed with small error based on two-dimensional magnetic field analysis. However, the superconducting motor shows an even larger error between the two- and three-dimensional based designs. Thus, in order to improve the design accuracy, we have calculated the back electromotive force (EMF) using 3D magnetic field analysis. An output performance evaluation has also been carried out to obtain a design with higher efficiency.     

Eddy current turbocharger blade speed detection

A commercially available magnetic reluctance sensor is used to determine the angular velocity of turbocharger impeller blades from outside the aluminum housing. Eddy currents are induced in the aluminum blades by blade motion through the magnetic field projected by an externally mounted Samarium-Cobalt permanent magnet. Experiments show that secondary eddy currents and associated ac magnetic fields generated in the aluminum housing provide the prime excitation for a sensor coil located outside the housing. The coil output voltage spectrum shows a strongly peaked structure with peak locations at multiples of the blade passage frequency in the range 1-10 kHz. The sensor output signal decreases with increasing frequency above 2 kHz because of increasingly effective attenuation by the housing. Test results show that a circuit designed to track the blade signal gives an analog voltage output proportional to the frequency of blade passage over the operating range of the Cummins VT-903 and Detroit 8V-71T turbocharged diesel engines. Suggestions are made for the design of a sensor appropriate for both magnetic reluctance and eddy current sensing applications.