A method of protecting a superconducting magnet from quenches, the superconducting magnet having at least one primary coil comprising high temperature superconductor, HTS, material. A secondary HTS tape is provided, the secondary HTS tape being in proximity to and electrically insulated from the primary coil, and being configured to cease superconducting at a lower temperature than the primary coil during operation of the magnet. A loss of superconductivity in the secondary HTS tape is detected. In response to said detection, energy is dumped from the primary coil into an external resistive load.

The invention relates to a superconducting electrical switch. The switch comprises two parallel branches of superconducting material in a loop, and a magnetic field generator which generates a time-varying magnetic field through the loop in a direction generally parallel to the axis of the loop. The magnetic field generator is selectively activated and de-activated to switch the electrical switch between a low-resistance state and a higher-resistance state. In the low-resistance state, there is no magnetic field through the loop and transport current flows through the loop. In the higher-resistance state, a magnetic field through the loop induces a screening current such that the sum of the transport current and the screening current is substantially equal to the critical current or is greater than the critical current of the superconducting material. The switch may be used in, for example, a rectifier or fault current limiter.

A quench protection system for a superconducting machine, such as a superconducting generator having a plurality of series-arranged superconducting coils, includes at least one switch heater electrically coupled to each of the superconducting coils. A quench protection switch is provided in series with the coils, wherein each switch heater is in thermal contact with the quench protection switch. A heater network is configured in parallel with the quench protection switch and is in thermal contact with each of the coils. A quench of any one of the coils triggers a quench of the quench protection switch, wherein the heater network then triggers a quench of all of the remaining coils.

A system comprises a superconducting magnet comprising a coil of superconducting material. The coil includes electrical terminals. The windings of the coil are separated by a metallic conductor. A control circuit is coupled to the terminals to drive a current through the coil to charge the superconducting magnet and configured to provide a current through the coil that is sufficiently small to avoid a quenching effect of the superconducting magnet but also large enough to charge the magnet within a predetermined time period. A cooling structure is thermally coupled to the coil to remove heat caused by charging the superconducting magnet with the current to allow for the current to be sufficiently large to charge the magnet within the predetermined time period without causing the quenching effect.

A quench protection arrangement for a superconducting magnet is disclosed. The arrangement comprises: a superconducting magnet comprising a plurality of magnet sections; a plurality of varistors, wherein each of the plurality of varistors is electrically connected in parallel across a respective one of the plurality of magnet sections; and a heater arrangement electrically connected to the plurality of varistors and configured to apply heat to each of the plurality of magnet sections in response to a change in a voltage across any one or more of the plurality of varistors. A method of protecting a superconducting magnet is also disclosed.

A device comprising a high temperature superconductor, HTS, circuit; wherein the HTS circuit comprises: a quenchable section comprising HTS material and connected in series to other elements of the HTS circuit, the HTS material comprising a stack of HTS takes comprising at least one HTS tape; the device further comprising: a quenching system configured to quench the HTS material in the quenchable section; a quench protection system configured to detect temperature rises in the HTS circuit and, in response to detection of a temperature rise, cause the quenching system to quench the superconducting material in the quenchable section in order to dump stored magnetic energy from the HTS circuit into the quenchable section; wherein the HTS circuit is configured such that, when in use, the magnetic field on the or each HTS tape is substantially parallel to a a-b plane of the HTS tape, and the quenching system is configured to quench the HTS material by producing an additional magnetic field along the length of the or each HTS tape within the quenchable section, such that the additional magnetic field has a component perpendicular to the a-b plane of the HTS tape.

The disclosure discloses a superconducting magnet system and a quench protection circuit thereof. The quench protection circuit includes: a superconducting unit, a first diode integrated element, a second diode integrated element, a third diode integrated element, a low-temperature superconducting switch, a thermal shield and a vacuum vessel. The superconducting unit is composed of M superconducting coils connected in series. The low-temperature superconducting switch is connected to the first superconducting coil and the M-th superconducting coil. The first diode integrated element is connected in parallel with the low-temperature superconducting switch; the thermal shield and the second diode integrated element are connected in series and then connected in parallel at both ends of any symmetrical coil subsets in the superconducting unit. The vacuum vessel and the third diode integrated element are connected in series and then connected in parallel at both ends of any symmetrical coil subset of the superconducting unit.

A superconducting arcing induction type DC circuit breaker includes a superconducting fault current limiter and an arcing induction type DC circuit breaker connected in series to each other. The arcing induction type DC circuit breaker includes an induction member that has a through-hole, is continuously formed in a 360-degree direction, and has a certain shape and thickness, and an induction needle that protrudes from an inner surface of the induction member toward a center of the induction member. A contact point where an anode and a cathode, which are mechanical contacts, approach from opposite directions and come into contact with each other is formed in the through-hole of the induction member, and the anode and the cathode are separated in a direction far away from each other. The induction needle induces arc generated upon contact opening when the anode and the cathode are separated from each other in the event of system accident of DC power or AC power, and the induction member quenches the induced arc by the flow of the induced arc to ground through a ground line.

A superconducting wire rod according to an aspect of the present disclosure is a superconducting wire rod having a flat cross-sectional shape which is characterized in that a voltage is generated with a lower current density or a higher voltage is generated with the same current density in a region on at least one end side in a wire rod width direction as compared with a region other than the region on the at least one end side.

An anomaly detection system comprising a diagnostic interface and a data acquisition system capable of recording data indicating variation of voltages at tapping points in a superconducting magnet. Data representing those variations in voltages may be stored as a data log and a processor may analyze the data in order to identify a mechanical impact.