Earticle

Among elemental metals, niobium (Nb) has the highest superconducting transition temperature (Tc) at ambient pressure. Thus, Nb films have been used in superconducting electronics and radio frequency cavity applications. In this study, the depositional factors determining the crystallinity and Tc of Nb films were investigated. An Nb film grown at a sputtering temperature of 240°C exhibited the maximum crystallinity of Nb and the minimum crystallinity of niobium oxide. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirmed a maximum atomic percent of niobium and a minimum atomic percent of oxygen. A sputtering power of 210 W and a sputtering time of 50 min were the optimal conditions for Nb deposition, and the Tc of the optimized film (9.08 K) was close to that of bulk Nb (9.25 K). Transmission electron microscopy images of the thick film directly confirmed the removal of the typical in-plane compressive strain in the (110) plane caused by residual stress.

Superconducting coplanar waveguide (SCPW) resonators with high quality (Q) factor are widely used for developing quantum sensors and quantum information processors. Here we conducted numerical simulations of SCPW resonators to investigate the relationship between the Q factor and the coupling capacitance of the resonator. Varying the geometrical shape of both ends and coupling parameters of the SCPW resonator resulted in a change of the coupling capacitances and the Q factor as well. Our calculation results indicate that the performance of the SCPW resonator is highly sensitive to the capacitive coupling and searching for an optimal coupling condition would be crucial for developing high-performance SCPW resonator.

Recently, cable conductors composed of numerous coated conductors have been developed to transport huge current for largescale applications, for example accelerators and fusion reactors. Various cable conductors such as CORC (Conductor on round core), Roebel Cable, and TSTC (Twisted stacked tape cable) have been designed and tested to apply for large-scale applications. But, these cable conductors cannot improve the engineering critical current density (Je) because they are made by simple stacking of coated conductors. In this study, multi-HTS (High temperature superconductor) layers on one substrate (MHOS) wire was fabricated to increase the engineering critical current density by using the exfoliation of superconducting layer from substrate and silver diffusion bonding method. By the repetition of these processes, the 10 m long 6-layer MHOS conductor was successfully fabricated without any intermediate layers like buffer or solder. 6-layer MHOS conductor exhibited a high critical current of 2,460A/12mm-w. and high engineering critical current density of 1,367A/mm2 at liquid nitrogen temperature.

The Mg-Powder-Compaction (MPC) process is proposed to fabricate the MgB2 superconducting wires. Mg powder wall, similar to the Mg metal tube, inside the Nb outer sheath has been made and the stochiometric B powder was inserted into the wall. Even though the very high MgB2 core density of 2.53 g/cm3 is obtained, the superconducting area fraction of MgB2 is not high enough for the applications. In this work, an advanced MPC process was adopted by adding Mg powder into B powder. The Mg powder wall in the initial wire was fabricated by controlling the wall thickness while maintaining a constant density, and the mixture of B and Mg powder was filled into the Mg powder wall with the same filling density. It is found that the reduction in the area of the Mg powder wall proceeds similar to the wire, and the Mg powder wall is well maintained at the final wire diameter, which is advantage for the fabrication of long wires. With the advanced MPC process, as the added Mg is increased the densities of MgB2 core is decreased and the porous structure is formed, it is found that the area fraction of superconducting MgB2 increase up to the 37.7 % with the improved high critical current density (Jc) and the engineering critical current density (Je).

The low normal zone propagation velocity (NZPV) of high-temperature superconducting (HTS) tape leads to a quench protection problem in HTS magnet applications. To overcome this limitation, various studies were conducted on HTS coils without turn-toturn insulation (NI coils) that can achieve self-protection. On the other hand, NI coils have some disadvantages such as slow charging and discharging time. Previously, the HTS coils with turn-to-turn insulation (INS coils) were operated in power supply (PS) driven mode, which requires physical contact with the external PS at room-temperature, not in persistent current mode. When a quench occurs in INS coils, the low NZPV delays quench detection and protection, thereby damaging the coils. However, the rotary HTS flux pump supplies the DC voltage to the superconducting circuit with INS coils in a non-contact manner, which causes the INS coils to operate in a persistent current mode, while enabling quench protection. In this paper, a new protection characteristic of HTS coils is investigated with INS coils charging through the rotary HTS flux pump. To experimentally verify the quench protection characteristic of the INS coil, we investigated the current magnitude of the superconducting circuit through a quench, which was intentionally generated by thermal disturbances in the INS coil under charging or steady state. Our results confirmed the protection characteristic of INS coils using a rotary HTS flux pump.

For the application of HTS wire to AC power equipment, a conductor with high current capacity and low loss is required. CORC® , one of the high-current conductors manufactured using several HTS wires, is made by winding the wires in a spiral on a cylindrical former. Because the magnetization loss of a CORC® conductor depends on the degree of magnetic coupling between the wires constituting the CORC® , it is necessary to know the value of the magnetization loss of the CORC® itself. In order to obtain an accurate loss value, it is necessary to know the effect of the ratio of the winding pitch of the CORC® conductor in the pickup coil region sampling the magnetization loss signal. To confirm this effect, we prepare CORC® samples having various winding pitches, and measure and compare the magnetization losses. In addition, the magnetization loss was measured while rotating the CORC® samples and it was examined whether there was a difference in the magnetization loss according to the rotation.

Superconducting magnets have paved the way for opening new horizons in designing an electromagnet of a high field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) device. In the first phase of the superconducting MRI magnet era, low-temperature superconductor (LTS) has played a key role in constructing the main magnet of an MRI device. The highest magnetic resonance (MR) field of 11.7 T was indeed reached using LTS, which is generated by the well-known Iseult project. However, as the limit of current carrying capacity and mechanical robustness under a high field environment is revealed, it is widely believed that commercial LTS wires would be challenging to manufacture a high field (>10 T) MRI magnet. As a result, high-temperature superconductor together with the conducting cooling approach has been spotlighted as a promising alternative to the conventional LTS. In 2020, the Korean government launched a national project to develop an HTS magnet for a high field MRI magnet as an extent of this interest. We have performed a design study of a 7 T 320 mm winding bore HTS MRI magnet, which may be the ultimate goal of this project. Thus, in this paper, design study results are provided. Electromagnetic design and analysis were performed considering the requirements of central magnetic field and spatial field uniformity.

Conventional direct current (DC) rotating machines are usually used for crane and press machine using high torque in metal and steel industries, because of a constant output power along variable rotating speed. A general DC motor with permanent field magnets could not increase a magnetic flux density at a gap between armature coils and field magnets. However, a superconducting DC motor has field magnets composed with high temperature superconducting (HTS) coils and it could increase the magnetic flux density at the gap to over 10 times than those of a general DC motor by control the excitation current into HTS coils. The superconducting DC motor could be operated with extremely high torque and constant output power at a low rotational speed. In this paper, a 500 W superconducting DC rotating machine was conceptually designed with a LN2 (Liquid Nitrogen) cooling method and the operation characteristics results of HTS field magnets were presented. The two no-insulation HTS magnets for a 500 Wsuperconducting DC rotating machine were fabricated. The excitation current for the HTS magnets could be controlled from 0 to 40 A. This test results will be available to design large-sized HTS magnets for a number of hundred kW class superconducting DC rotating machine under LN2 cooling system.

This study deals with the ferromagnetic shims design based on the spherical harmonic coefficient reduction method. The design method using the sequential search method is an intuitive method and has the advantage of quickly reaching the optimal result. The study was conducted for a 400 MHz all-REBCO magnet, which had difficulty in shimming due to the problem of SCF (screening current induced field). The initial field homogeneity of the magnet was measured to be 233.76 ppm at 20 mm DSV (Diameter Spherical Volume). In order to improve the field homogeneity of the magnet, the ferromagnetic shim with a thickness of 1 mil to 11 mil was constructed by a design method in which sequential search algorithm was applied. As a result, the field homogeneity of the magnet could be significantly improved to 0.24 ppm at 20 mm DSV and 0.05 ppm at 10 mm DSV.

In order to obtain ultra-high resolution MRI images, research and development of 11 T or higher superconducting magnets have been actively conducted in the world, recently. The high-temperature superconductor (HTS), first discovered in 1986, was very limited in industrial application until mid-2010, despite its high critical current characteristics in the high magnetic field compared to the low-temperature superconductor. This is because HTS magnets were unable to operate stably due to the thermal damage when a quench occurred. With the introduction of no-insulation (NI) HTS magnet winding technology that does not burn electrically, it could be expected that the HTS magnets are dramatically reduced in weight, volume, and cost. In this paper, a 6 T-class NI HTS magnet for basic characteristic analysis was designed, and a distributed equivalent circuit model of the NI coils was configured to analyze the charging current characteristics caused by excitation current, and the charge delay phenomenon and loss were predicted through the development of a simulation model. Additionally, the critical current of the NI HTS magnets was estimated, considering the magnetic field, its angle and temperature with a given current. The loss due to charging delay characteristics was analyzed and the result was shown. It is meaningful to obtain detailed operation technology to secure a stable operation protocol for a 6T NI HTS magnet which is actually manufactured.

The Cable in Conduit Conductor (CICC) configurations are designed, tested and realized to make high field superconducting (SC) magnets. The evolution of CICC design makes it challenging to forecast thermo-hydraulic behavior. A common objective of thermo-hydraulic studies is to obtain the most reliable predictive correlation for friction factor in CICC geometries and to reduce the dependency on the experiment. So far, only the void fraction and Reynolds number have been considered in the predictive correlations in an explicit way. In the present paper, the CICC twisting pattern dependency, called tortuosity (𝜏), on the pressure drop prediction, has been assessed through a numerical simulation approach. The CICC twisting pattern with 6+1 petals (solid conductor in the present study) with different twisting pitches is mimicked in the numerical simulation for the range 100 ≤ Re ≤10000 and 1 < 𝜏 < 1.08 and a correlation for friction factor, f, has been proposed as a function of Re and 𝜏.

The microwave Radar used for special purposes in the past is being applied in various areas due to the technological advancement and cost reduction, and is particularly applied to autonomous driving in the automobile field. The FMCW (Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave) Radar can acquire level information of liquid in vessel based on the beat frequency obtained by continuously transmitting and receiving signals by modulating the frequency over time. However, for cryogenic fluids with small impedance differences between liquid medium and gas medium, such as liquid nitrogen and liquid hydrogen, it is difficult to apply a typical Radar-based level meter. In this study, we develop an 80 GHz FMCW Radar for level measurement of cryogenic fluids with small impedance differences between media and analyze its characteristics. Here, because of the low intrinsic impedance difference, most of the transmitted signal passes through the liquid nitrogen interface and is reflected at the bottom of the vessel. To solve this problem, a radar measurement algorithm was designed to detect multiple targets and separate the distance signal to the bottom of the vessel in order to estimate the precise position on the liquid nitrogen interface. Thereafter, performance verification experiments were performed according to the liquid nitrogen level using the developed radar level meter.

This paper presents the analysis and experiment results on the electrical and thermal characteristics of metal insulation (MI) REBCO racetrack coil, which was wound with stainless steel (SS) tape between turn–to–turn layers, under rotating magnetic field and conduction cooling system. Although the field windings of superconducting rotating machine are designed to operate on a direct current, they may be subjected to external magnetic field due to the unsynchronized armature windings during electrical or mechanical load fluctuations. The field windings show the voltage and magnetic field fluctuations and the critical current reduction when they are exposed to an external magnetic field. Moreover, the cryogenic cooling conditions are also identified as the factors that affect the electrical and thermal characteristics of the HTS coil because the characteristic resistance changes according to the cryogenic cooling conditions. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the effect of external magnetic field on the electrical and thermal characteristics of MI–SS racetrack coil for further development reliable HTS field windings of superconducting rotating machine. First, the major components of the experiment test (i.e., HTS racetrack coil construction, armature winding of 75 kW class induction motor, and conduction cooling system) were fabricated and assembled. Then, the MI racetrack coil was performed under liquid nitrogen bath and conduction cooling conditions to estimate the key parameters (i.e., critical current, time constant, and characteristic resistance) for the test coil in the steady state operation. Further, the test coil was charged to the target value under conduction cooling of 35 K then exposed to the rotating magnetic field, which was generated by three phrase armature windings of 75 kW class induction motor, to investigate the electrical and thermal characteristics during the transient state.