We report a refrigeration system for rotating machines associated with the enhancement of the trapped magnetic flux of bulk high-temperature superconductor (HTS) field poles. A novel cryogenic system was designed and fabricated. It is composed of a low-loss rotary joint connecting the rotor and a closed-cycle thermosiphon under a GM cryocooler using a refrigerant. Condensed neon gas was adopted as a suitable cryogen for the operation of HTS rotating machines with field poles composed of RE-Ba-Cu-O family materials, where RE is a rare-earth metal. Regarding the materials processing of the bulks HTS, thanks to the addition of magnetic particles to GdBa 2 Cu 3 O 7−d (Gd123) bulk superconductors an increase of more than 20% in the trapped magnetic flux density was achieved at liquid nitrogen temperature. Field-pole Gd123 bulks up to 46 mm in diameter were synthesized with the addition of Fe-B alloy magnetic particles and assembled into the synchronous machine rotor to be tested. Successful cooling of the magnetized rotor field poles down to 35 K and low-output-power rotating operation was achieved up to 720 rpm in the test machine with eight field-pole bulks. The present results show a substantial basis for making a prototype system of rotating machinery of applied HTS bulks.
This paper describes the progress in quench melt-growth (QMG) bulk magnets, developed by the Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation, which consist of single crystalline RE123 phase and finely dispersed RE211 particles. QMG bulks can trap high magnetic fields. The field-trapping ability of QMG bulks is largely increased with an improvement in its Jc and size, promising the realization of various applications such as flywheel energy-storage systems, ship motors, NMR/MRI spectrometers, wind-power generators and so on. Intensive research has revealed that the optimal RE element is different depending on application requirements. Gd-QMG bulk is the most promising material for several high-field engineering applications. The trapped magnetic field of Gd-QMG bulk 60 mm in diameter at 77 K is twice as large as that of Y-QMG bulk with a similar size due to its excellent Jc properties. The large Gd-based QMG bulks up to 150 mm in diameter are fabricated by incorporating the RE compositional gradient method. Compact NMR/MRI spectrometers are one of the promising applications of bulk superconductors. Eu-QMG bulks are suitable for NMR magnets. NMR applications require extremely homogeneous magnetic fields. In the Eu-system, the small paramagnetic moment of a Eu ion compared to a Gd ion improves the field homogeneity in the bulk. For the application of current leads, Dy-based QMG is available by utilizing a low thermal conductivity.
Recent studies have shown that ferromagnetic materials can be used together with bulk high temperature superconductors in order to improve their magnetic trapped field. Remarkably, it has also been pointed out that ferromagnets can help in reducing the crossed field effect, namely the magnetization decay that is observed under the application of AC transverse magnetic fields. In this work, we pursue a detailed study of the influence of the geometry of the ferromagnetic part on both trapped fields and crossed field effects. The magnetic properties of the hybrid superconducting / soft ferromagnetic structures are characterized by measuring the magnetic moment with a bespoke magnetometer and the local magnetic field density with Hall probes. The results are interpreted by means of 2D and 3D numerical models yielding the distribution of the superconducting currents as a function of the ferromagnet geometry. We examine in details the distortion of the shielding superconducting currents distribution in hybrid structures subjected to crossed magnetic fields. These results confirm the existence of an optimum thickness of the ferromagnet, which depends on the saturation magnetization of the ferromagnetic material and the current density of the superconductor. A hybrid structure providing an efficient protection against the crossed magnetic field while maintaining the magnetic induction along the axis of the structure is suggested. The limitations of the 2D modelling in this configuration are discussed.
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