The medium temperature superconductor (MTS) design philosophy

This paper proposes basic principles for large-scale application design in the range 10-35 K, called medium temperature superconductor (MTS) design. Three separate categories of MTS design are analyzed, using LTS (e.g., A15), true MTS (e.g., MgB/sub 2/), and high-temperature superconductor (HTS) (e.g., BSSCO, YBCO) superconductors. Performance and limitations of each approach are quantified for critical current, stability and protection limits. The assumption that future applications will be dominated by high-temperature superconductors is challenged, arguing that MTS should be the preferred method for many energy, fusion, and high energy physics applications.