Earticle

Production of MgB2 film on metallic Hastelloy with SiC as the buffer layer was achieved by means of hybrid physical-chemical vapor deposition technique, whereas SiC buffer layers with varied thickness of 170 and 250 nm were fabricated inside a pulsed laser deposition chamber. Superconducting transition temperature and critical current density were verified by transport and magnetic measurement, respectively. With SiC buffer layer, the reduced delaminated area at the interface of MgB2-Hastelloy and the slightly increased Tc of MgB2 tapes were clearly noticed. It was found that the upper critical field, the irreversibility field and the critical current density were reduced when MgB2 tapes were buffered with SiC buffer layer. Clarifying the mechanism of SiC buffer layer in MgB2 tape in affecting the superconducting properties is considerably important for practical applications.

The effects of Pr substitution on the structural and the superconducting properties for Pb- based 1201 cuprates with compositions of (Pb0.5-xPrxCd0.5)SrLaCuOz ( 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.25) and (Pb0.45Pr0.05Cd0.5)(Sr1-yLa1+y)CuOz (0 ≤ y ≤ 0.1) were investigated. It is found that Tc decreases as the Pr-doping content x increases in the (Pb0.5-xPrxCd0.5)SrLaCuOz samples, whereas Tc of (Pb0.45Pr0.05Cd0.5)(Sr1-yLa1+y)CuOz samples increases as the La-doping content y increases. The experimental results were discussed in connection with the change in hole concentration of the samples.

NbN thin films were deposited on thermally oxidized Si substrate at room temperature by using reactive magnetron sputtering in an Ar-N2 gas mixture. Total sputtering gas pressure was fixed while varying N2 flow rate from 1.4 sccm to 2.9 sccm. X-ray diffraction pattern analysis revealed dominant NbN(200) orientation in the low N2 flow rate but emerging of (111) orientation with diminishing (200) orientation at higher flow rate. The dependences of the superconducting properties on the N2 gas flow rate were investigated. All the NbN thin films showed a small negative temperature coefficient of resistance with resistivity ratio between 300 K and 20 K in the range from 0.98 to 0.89 as the N2 flow rate is increased. Transition temperature showed non-monotonic dependence on N2 flow rate reaching as high as 11.12 K determined by the mid-point temperature of the transition with transition width of 0.3 K. On the other hand, the upper critical field showed roughly linear increase with N2 flow rate up to 2.7 sccm. The highest upper critical field extrapolated to 0 K was 17.4 T with corresponding coherence length of 4.3 nm. Our results are discussed with the granular nature of NbN thin films.

In superconducting coil applications particularly in wet wound coils, coated conductor (CC) tapes are subjected to different type of stresses. These include hoop stress acting along the length of the CC tape and the Lorentz force acting perpendicular to the CC tape’s surface. Since the latter is commonly associated with delamination problem of multi- layered CC tapes, more understanding and attention on the delamination phenomena induced in the case of coil applications are needed. Difference on the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of each constituent layer of the CC tape, the bobbin, and the impregnating materials is the main causes of delamination in CC tapes when subjected to thermal cycling. The CC tape might also experience cyclic loading due to the energizing scheme (on - off) during operation. In the design of degradation-free superconducting coils, therefore, characterization of the delamination behaviors including mechanism and strength in REBCO CC tapes becomes critical. In this study, transverse tensile tests were conducted under different loading conditions using different size of upper anvils on the GdBCO CC tapes. The mechanical and electromechanical delamination strength behaviors of the CC tapes under transverse tensile loading were examined and a two-parameter Weibull distribution analysis was conducted in statistical aspects. As a result, the CC tape showed similar range of mechanical delamination strength regardless of cross-head speed adopted. On the other hand, cyclic loading might have affected the CC tape in both upper anvil sizes adopted.

This paper deals with high-Tc superconducting (HTS) power charging system with GdBCO magnet, photo-voltaic (PV) controller, and solar panels to charge solar energy. When combining the HTS magnet and the solar energy charging system, additional power source is not required therefore it is possible to obtain high power efficiency. Since there is no resistance in superconducting magnet carrying DC transport current the energy losses caused by joule heating can be reduced. In this paper, the charging characteristics of HTS power charging system was simulated by using PSIM. The charging current of HTS superconducting power charging system is measured and compared with the simulation results. Using the simulation of HTS power charging system, it can be applied to the solar energy applications.

Quadruple magnet is an essential component for the accelerator, and the field uniformity in the good field region reflects the quality of quadruple magnet. In this paper, the total magnetic field B was separated into the coil-induced magnetic field Bs and the iron-induced magnetic field Bc to explain why the total magnetic field B has some inhomogeneity. Using Fourier analysis, harmonic components of Bs, Bc and B have been analyzed at good field region, respectively. The harmonics of multipole magnet and Fourier analysis are helpful to show the uniformity of magnetic field. Several geometries of yoke and coils were defined to analyze the effect on field uniformity of an HTS quadruple magnet. By the analysis, it was found that the sixth harmonics which is the main factor of field inhomogeneity can be reduced to zero. It means that the sixth harmonics of the magnetic field B can be removed by adjusting the geometry of the magnet pole and the position of coils. We expect that this result can effectively improve the uniformity of an HTS quadruple magnet.

Nowadays the magnetic field mapping is widely used in the design and analysis of the NMR/MRI magnet system, and the accuracy of mapping result has become more and more important. There are several factors affecting the accuracy of the mapping such as the mapping method, the precision of the sensor, the position of the measurement points, the calculation accuracy, and so on. In this paper the error due to the misalignment of the measurement points was discussed. The magnetic field in the central volume was mapped using an indirect method in an MRI magnet system and the magnetic field was fitted to a polynomial. Considering the misalignment between the original measurement points and the practical measurement points, there must be some errors in the mapping calculation and we called it positioning error. Several comparisons of the positioning error have been presented through the theoretical estimates and the exact magnetic field values. Finally, the allowable positioning errors were suggested to guarantee the accuracy of the magnetic field mapping within a certain degree for an example case.

A liquid nitrogen (LN2) is usually used to be a coolant and insulant for a HTS coil system. HTS wires for a superconducting apparatus may be surrounded by gaseous nitrogen (GN2) due to film boiling generated by a quench or voids occurred by electrical breakdown. The increased maximum electric field intensity at GN2 may result in the degradation of dielectric strength of a HTS coil system. In this paper, a study on the dielectric characteristics of a composite insulation system composed of LN2 and GN2 is performed. A sphere-to-plane electrode system made with stainless steel is used to perform the experiments under AC and lightning impulse voltage condition. A sphere electrode is surrounded by GN2 and a plane electrode is immersed into LN2 to conduct dielectric experiments with a composite insulation system. The dielectric experiments are performed according to the level of LN2 from the plane electrode to a sphere electrode. It is found that the dielectric characteristics of a composite insulation system are dependent on the level of LN2 and the field utilization factor of an electrode system.

Recently, the electrical insulation design for electrical apparatuses is important to cope with the tendency of high voltage. The degradation characteristics of a superconducting coil due to an electrical breakdown should be considered to design a high voltage superconducting coil. In this paper, the degradation characteristics of 2G high temperature superconducting (HTS) wires are studied with respect to electrical breakdown tests. To analyze the dependency of the degradation characteristics of 2G HTS wires, the electrical breakdown tests are performed with AC(alternating current) and DC(direct current) voltage. All tests are performed by applying various magnitudes of AC and DC breakdown voltages. To verify the degradation characteristics of 2G HTS wires, the tests are performed with various 2G HTS wires with respect to stabilizer materials. The degradation characteristics of 2G HTS wires, such as Ic(critical current) and index number are measured by performing electrical breakdown tests. It is found that the characteristics such as Ic and index number can be degraded by an electrical breakdown. Moreover, it is concluded that the degradation characteristics of 2G HTS wires are affected by the stabilizer material and applied voltages. The cross-sectional view of 2G HTS wires is observed by using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). As results, it is found that the degradation characteristics of 2G HTS wires are concerned with hardness and electrical conductivity of stabilizer layers.

Recently, the development of the HTS power cable is actively promoted. As the length of HTS power cable increases, there have been many efforts to develop large capacity cryocooler. Among the various cryocooler, the Brayton refrigerator is the most competitive for HTS power cable. The Brayton refrigerator is composed of recuperative heat exchangers, a compressor, and a cryogenic turbo expander. In these components, the cryogenic turbo expander is a part to decrease the temperature and it is the most significant component that is closely related with overall system efficiency. It rotates with high speed using a high-pressure helium or neon gas at cryogenic temperature. This paper describes the design of a 10 kW class Brayton refrigeration cycle and the cryogenic turbo expander. Flow and structural analysis are performed for the rotating impeller and nozzle to verify the efficiency and the design performance.

The high temperature superconducting (HTS) magnet has been developed for the high magnetic field applications such as NMR, MRI and other industrial machinery. In designing process of these HTS magnets, the accurate estimation on the critical current (Ic) is essential to predict and secure the electromagnetic performance. The critical current of 2G HTS tape has anisotropic Ic degradation characteristics with the application of magnetic field – angular dependency of critical current. It is known that the perpendicular magnetic field to the face of HTS tape makes dominant degradation on the critical current for conventional 2G HTS tape. However, recently developed 2G HTS tape has more complex characteristics due to the artificial pinning center. Therefore, the method for Ic estimation reflecting such characteristics of 2G HTS tape needs to be devised. The method considering the angular dependency is introduced in this paper. And the result of newly devised method is compared with that of previous method.

Cryogenic cooling system for HTS electric power devices requires a reliable and efficient high-capacity cryocooler. A Striling cryocooler with a linear compressor can be a good candidate. It has advantages of low vibration and long maintenance cycle compared with a kinematic-driven Stirling cryocooler. In this study, we developed dual- opposed linear compressor of 12 kW electric input power with two 6 kW linear motors. Electrical performance of fabricated linear compressor is verified by experimental measurement of thrust constant. The developed Stirling cryocooler has gamma-type configuration. Piston and displacer are supported with flexure spring. A slit-type heat exchanger is adopted for cold and warm-end, and the generated heat is rejected by cooling water. In cooling performance test, waveforms of voltage, current, displacement and pressure are obtained and their amplitude and phase difference are analysed. Moreover, temperatures of cooling water, housing and linear motor are recorded and electric power parameters of driving circuit are also obtained. The developed Stirling cryocooler reaches to 47.8 K within 23.4 min. with no-load. From heat load tests, it shows cooling capacity of 440 W at 78.1 K with 6.45 kW of electric input power and 19.4 of % Carnot COP.

A Superconducting Fault Current Limiter is an electric power device which limits the fault current immediately in a power grid. The SFCL must be cooled to below the critical temperature of high temperature superconductor modules. In general, they are submerged in sub-cooled liquid nitrogen for their stable thermal characteristics. To cool and maintain the target temperature and pressure of the sub-cooled liquid nitrogen, the cryogenic cooling system should be designed well with a cryocooler and coolant circulation devices. The pressure of the cryostat for the SFCL should be pressurized to suppress the generation of nitrogen bubbles in quench mode of the SFCL. In this study, we tested the performance of the cooling system for the prototype 154 kV SFCL, which consist of a Stirling cryocooler, a subcooling cryostat, a pressure builder and a main cryostat for the SFCL module, to verify the design of the cooling system and the electric performance of the SFCL. The normal operation condition of the main cryostat is 71 K and 500 kPa. This paper presents tests results of the overall cooling system.

The cryostat is designed for the superconducting quadrupole magnets to be used in a heavy-ion accelerator facility. The main accelerator is superconducting linac, which can accelerate a 238U beam to 200 MeV/u (Mega electron voltage per nucleon). The cryostat for the magnet employs an innovative design primarily driven by the requirement of the compactness, user-friendliness and reliability. Also, several ancillary requirements such as background field, space restriction due to the beam line and cryostat structure need technical attentions. The development of the cryostat for three quadrupole magnets in the in-flight fragmentation separator is presented in the paper. The concept of cryogenic design is reported and the amount of cryogenic load is estimated by a relevant analysis. The structure of the cryostat to endure the heavy iron yoke including three quadrupole magnets is presented. In addition, the design as well as the performance test of the support link for the cold mass is described.