Bending performance analysis on YBCO cable with high flexibility

In order to utilize high‐temperature superconducting Yttrium Barium Copper Oxide(YBCO)tapes to develop superconducting cables for high magnet field applications,it is critical to ensure the stable operation of the YBCO cable under challenging mechanical and thermal conditions.A new type of cable featuring the winding of YBCO and copper tapes around a spiral stainless steel tube has been proposed to increase flexibility and cooling.Experiments are performed to confirm that its critical current varies with the bending diameter.The cables wound with nine YBCO tapes in three layers show a critical current degradation of less than 5%for a bending diameter of 30 mm.The performance of the cable degrades as the number of wound layers increases.The critical current degradation of cable specimens wound from 15 tapes in five layers reached approximately 12%for a bending diameter of 30 mm.In addition,when compared to traditional CORC cable specimens,the developed cable specimens show better‐bending flexibility and achieve a lower critical bending diameter.The finite element models show that the higher elasticity coefficient and lower plasticity of the stainless steel spiral tube results in a lower strain on the YBCO tapes of the HFRC cable than that of the CORC cable,and the maximum strain on the YBCO tapes of the HFRC cable was only about 10%of that of the CORC cable.Therefore,it is less likely that the YBCO tape in this type of cable will reach the irreversible strain limit during bending,resulting in a degradation in current carrying performance.Furthermore,the cooling efficiency can be improved by flowing the cooling medium inside the central core,which can significantly improve its thermal stability.These advantages indicate the possibility of using it in future high‐field magnets with high current carrying capacity at fields greater than 15 T.

AC loss and contact resistance in highly flexible rebco cable for fusion applications

High Temperature Superconductor(HTS)materials can operate at higher magnetic fields up to 20 T with high critical current and higher operating temperature,compared to low temperature superconductors(LTS).A Highly Flexible REBCO Cable(HFRC)is introduced at the Institute of Plasma Physics,Chinese Academy of Sciences(ASIPP);a cabling method that is suitable for REBCO HTS tape having anisotropic material properties in its thin REBCO layer.This type of HTS superconducting cable shows high potential for applications in nuclear fusion.The alternating currents and magnetic fields in tokamak type of fusion magnets,cause AC power losses in such cables,which can provoke instability of the conductor by induced currents and increase the temperature.As a first step in characterizing the electromagnetic(EM)performance of an HFRC cable,the AC loss and contact resistance of the HFRC prototype cable were measured at the University of Twente.The measurements were done in liquid helium(4.2 K)with AC magnetic fields,applied perpendicular to the cable's long axis.The AC loss was measured simultaneously by a calibrated gas flow calorimeter utilizing the helium boil-off method,and by the magnetization method using pick-up coils.For the applied test conditions,no coupling loss could be distinguished as a part of the overall AC loss.It is suggested that this might be explained by the shielding of the conductor interior from the applied magnetic field by the outer tape layer due to the high critical current density of the REBCO tape,leading to a high penetration field.

Performance of highly flexible sub-cable for REBCO Cable-In-Conduit conductor at 5.8 T applied field

Due to the high current capability and excellent flexibility,High Flexible REBCO Cables(HFRC)have emerged as an important candidate for composite high‐temperature superconducting conductors.The REBCO six around one Cable‐In‐Conduit Conductor(CICC)concept has been designed for application in the Central Solenoid(CS)coil of the China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor.In the application of fusion devices,the performance of CICC under electromagnetic(EM)loading and thermal stress is very important for reliable and economic operation.Therefore,a 1.22 m long sub‐cable with HFRC design for CICC was manufactured and tested at 4.2 K in a background magnetic field up to 5.8 T.The aim is to investigate the stability of the current‐carrying properties of the HFRC cable under electromagnetic and thermal cyclic loading.The test results show that the critical current(I_(c))of the HFRC cable reached 17.3 kA in a background magnetic field of 5.8 T at 4.2 K.Furthermore,no performance degradation was observed after 24 cycles of 80 kN/m peak load with a background field of 5.8 T and 8 warm‐up‐cool‐down cycles between 77 K and room temperature.The test results provide a good basis for the development of full‐size conductors in future magnet applications.