Quench protection of very large superconducting magnets

The feasibility of utilization of cold switches for quench protection of very large superconducting magnets (e.g., for SMES) is considered. The scheme of quench protection of large SMES is suggested. The necessary number of sections can be easily evaluated. Destructive superconducting switches seem to be the best solution. The switch has to be properly designed to avoid arcing and to offer a possibility to change the destructive elements in a reasonable time without warming up large portions of the winding. A suggestion is also made to make use of the temperature dependence of the electrical resistance of the dump resistor. A proper choice of its mass can result in 25 percent decrease of a quench load.<>