The Brookhaven superconducting cable test facility

Construction has started on an outdoor testing station for flexible ac superconducting power transmission cables. It is intended to serve as an intermediate step between laboratory-scale experiments and qualification testing of prototype-scale cables. The permanent equipment includes a 500 W supercritical helium refrigerator using a screw compressor and multi-stage turbine expanders. Helium storage for 250,000 cu ft of helium at 250 psi is provided. Initially, the cables will be tested in a horizontal cryostat some 250 ft long. High-voltage 60 Hz tests will be performed with the cable in a series resonant mode with a maximum line to ground capability of 240 kV, this is adequate for a 138 kV system design. Impulse testing up to about 650 kV is planned. The cable conductor will be energized by current transformers, initially at about 4 kA and later up to fault levels of 40 kA. The refrigerator is now at the site and testing on a dummy load will commence in the Fall of 1976. The cryostat will be installed in 1977 followed about a year later by the first cable tests.