Design and testing of a pair of current leads using bismuth compound superconductor

Author

Ueda, K. ; Bohno, T. ; Takita, K. ; Mukae, K. ; Uede, T. ; Itoh, I. ; Mimura, Masato ; Uno, N. ; Tanaka, T.

Author_Institution

Fuji Electr. Corp. Res. & Dev. Ltd., Yokosuka, Japan

Volume

3

Issue

1

fYear

1993

fDate

3/1/1993 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

400

Lastpage

403

Abstract

The thermal behavior of current leads using an oxide superconductor for the low-temperature portion has been studied. Numerical calculations predict a reduction of the necessary coolant flow rate and refrigerator input power. A pair of current leads has been manufactured where the low-temperature portion consists of six sintered Bi compound cylindrical bars and the high-temperature portion consists of a Cu wire bundle. The lead, cooled by gaseous helium along its entire length, is 0.9 m long and designed to carry 1 kA. The leads have been tested in the same arrangement as practical applications. The helium flow rate necessary to hold thermal equilibrium was about 80% of that for conventional copper leads. The calculation shows that power consumption of the refrigerator needed to cool high-temperature superconductor current leads with an optimum cooling scheme will be about one-third of that for conventional current leads.<>

Keywords

bismuth compounds; high-temperature superconductors; low-temperature techniques; wires (electric); 0.9 m; 1 kA; Cu leads; Cu wire bundle; He; He flow rate; coolant flow rate; current leads; high-temperature superconductor current leads; low-temperature portion; optimum cooling; oxide superconductor; power consumption; refrigerator input power; sintered Bi compound cylindrical bars; thermal behavior; thermal equilibrium; Bars; Bismuth; Coolants; Copper; High temperature superconductors; Lead compounds; Manufacturing; Refrigeration; Testing;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Applied Superconductivity, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1051-8223

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/77.233729

Filename

233729