A MHD superconducting magnet for a linear experimental facility

Ansaldo Componenti is carrying out the design of a superconducting dipole magnet to be employed in an experimental MHD (magnetohydrodynamic) generator. The magnet is a rectangular saddle-shaped dipole with an on-axis field of 5 T, an active length of 2 m, a 0.7×0.5 m warm bore, and a stored energy of 62 MJ. It will be the first MHD magnet wound by a cable-in-conduit superconductor; this choice was made in order to employ a conductor concept and a technology scalable to larger-size MHD magnets. The main aspects of the superconductive and mechanical design are reported