High-Tc Superconducting (HTS) magnets operating in persistent current mode suffer a current decay due to flux creep of superconductor and joint resistance. Flux pumps are able to inject direct current into superconducting circuit to compensate the current decay, without the thermal loss caused by current leads. In this work, we proposed a flux pumping mechanism for HTS coils, with an experimental verification and an analytical model. The basic principle we have used is that flux flow can be triggered when the superconductor carrying a direct current is subjected to a perpendicular AC magnetic field. Low frequency alternating current is induced in a loop of YBCO tape using an AC field. A portion of the tape which we refer to as the “bridge” shorts a superconducting coil. A high frequency AC field is applied perpendicular to the bridge tape when alternating current in the tape reaches one polarity. This triggers a net flux flow and results in a current increase in the coil. The proposed flux pump has clear physics and is easily controllable, which may make it promising in practical use.
Superconducting flux pumps are the kind of devices which can generate direct current into superconducting circuit using external magnetic field. The key point is how to induce a DC voltage across the superconducting load by AC fields. Giaever [1] pointed out flux motion in superconductors will induce a DC voltage, and demonstrated a rectifier model which depended on breaking superconductivity. Klundert et al. [2, 3] in their review(s) described various configurations for flux pumps all of which relied on inducing the normal state in at least part of the superconductor. In this letter, following their work, we reveal that a variation in the resistivity of type II superconductors is sufficient to induce a DC voltage in flux pumps and it is not necessary to break superconductivity. This variation in resistivity is due to the fact that flux flow is influenced by current density, field intensity, and field rate of change. We propose a general circuit analogy for travelling wave flux pumps, and provide a mathematical analysis to explain the DC voltage. Several existing superconducting flux pumps which rely on the use of a travelling magnetic wave can be explained using the analysis enclosed. This work can also throw light on the design and optimization of flux pumps.
The physical understanding and numerical modelling of superconducting devices which exploit the high performance of second generation high temperature superconducting tapes (2G-HTS), is commonly hindered by the lack of accurate functions which allow the consideration of the in-field dependence of the critical current. This is true regardless of the manufacturer of the superconducting tape. In this paper, we present a general approach for determining a unified function Ic(B, θ), ultimately capable of describing the magneto-angular dependence of the in-field critical current of commercial 2G-HTS tapes in the Lorentz configuration. Five widely different superconducting tapes, provided by three different manufacturers, have been tested in a liquid nitrogen bath and external magnetic fields of up to 400 mT. The critical current was recorded at 90 different orientations of the magnetic field ranging from θ = 0°, i.e., with B aligned with the crystallographic ab-planes of the YBCO layer, towards ±90°, i.e., with B perpendicular to the wider surfaces of the 2G-HTS tape. The whole set of experimental data has been analysed using a novel multi-objective model capable of predicting a sole function Ic(B, θ). This allows an accurate validation of the experimental data regardless of the fabrication differences and widths of the superconducting tapes. It is shown that, in spite of the wide set of differences between the fabrication and composition of the considered tapes, at liquid nitrogen temperature the magneto-angular dependence of the in-field critical current of YBCO-based 2G-HTS tapes, can be described by a universal function Ic(f(B), θ), with a power law field dependence dominated by the Kim’s factor B/B0, and an angular dependence moderated by the electron mass anisotropy ratio of the YBCO layer.
This paper presents a comprehensive AC loss study of a circular HTS coil. The AC losses from a circular double pancake coil were measured using the electrical method. A 2D axisymmetric H-formulation model using FEM package COMSOL Multiphysics has been established, which was able to make consistency with the real circular coil used in the experiment. To model a circular HTS coil, a 2D axisymmetric model provided better accuracy than a general 2D model, and was also more efficient than a 3D model. Three scenarios have been analysed: Scenario 1 AC transport current and DC magnetic field (experiment and simulation); Scenario 2 DC transport current and AC magnetic field (simulation); Scenario 3 AC transport current and AC magnetic field (simulation and experimental data support). The angular dependence analysis on the coil under the magnetic field with the different orientation angle has been carried out for all three scenarios. For Scenario 3, we investigated the effect of relative phase difference ∆ between AC current and AC field on the total AC loss of the coil. To summarise, we have carried out a current/field/angle/phase dependent AC loss (I, B, , ∆) study of circular HTS coil, which could potentially benefit the future design and research of HTS AC systems.
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