Research and development of electrical insulation of superconducting cables by extruded polymers

This is a review to show the importance of electrical insulation in ac superconducting cables. An attractive superconducting cable has to be designed for the voltage range of 60-270 kV. Therefore, a reliable insulation design is imperative. Two types of insulation have been compared. One is composite insulation, namely laminar paper or plastic tape, impregnated with coolant. The other is solid insulation of extruded polymer on the conductor. The composite insulation has a lengthy history and, in the constructions to date, has been the insulation design used for superconducting cables. Some prototype superconducting cables with this type of insulation have been developed and successfully tested. However, the partial discharge in butt gaps may affect their long-term reliability. The solid insulation, on the other hand, can separate the coolant from the electrical insulation and can exploit the benefit of the super electrical insulation characteristics of polymers in the cryogenic region. Some attempts have been made to use this design with liquid nitrogen and liquid helium. One example incorporating extruded ethylenepropylene rubber (EPR) for insulation was found to satisfactorily go through the cool-down to a liquid helium temperature and to endure the simultaneous voltage and current tests. EPR, and possibly some other polymers, seem to be promising materials for solid insulation in the cryogenic region.