HTS LINKED PARTIAL INSULATION FOR HTS FIELD COILS

Abstract

A high temperature superconducting, HTS, field coil. The HTS field coil comprises a plurality of turns comprising HTS material and metallic stabilizer; and a partially insulating layer separating the turns, such that current can be shared between turns via the partially insulating layer. The partially insulating layer comprises an insulating region, and a plurality of electrically conductive paths through the insulating region, wherein current can be shared between the turns via the electrically conductive paths. Each electrically conductive path comprises an HTS bridge comprising HTS material, wherein the HTS bridge is in series with normally conducting material of the electrically conductive path.

Claims

1. A high temperature superconducting, HTS, field coil, the HTS field coil comprising: a plurality of turns comprising HTS material and metallic stabilizer; a partially insulating layer separating the turns, such that current can be shared between turns via the partially insulating layer; the partially insulating layer comprising: an insulating region, a plurality of electrically conductive paths through the insulating region, wherein current can be shared between the turns via the electrically conductive paths; each electrically conductive path comprising an HTS bridge comprising HTS material, wherein the HTS bridge is in series with normally conducting material of the electrically conductive path.

2. An HTS field coil according to claim 1, wherein each HTS bridge comprises a metal stabiliser and/or substrate bonded to the HTS material and connected in parallel with the HTS material.

3. An HTS field coil according to claim 1, wherein the electrically conductive paths are evenly spaced along the partially insulating layer.

4. An HTS field coil according to claim 1, wherein the partially insulating layer further comprises a plurality of further electrically conductive paths through the insulator, wherein current can also be shared between turns via the further electrically conductive paths, wherein the further electrically conductive paths do not comprise HTS material.

5. An HTS field coil according to claim 4, wherein the electrically conductive paths comprising HTS bridges are provided within a first region of the field coil, and the further electrically conductive paths are provided at least outside of the first region, wherein the first region of the field coil is a region where a ratio I/I.sub.c between operating current of the field coil and critical current of each turn of the field coil during operation of the magnet is lower than said ratio outside of the first region.

6. An HTS field coil according to claim 1, wherein the HTS material of the HTS bridges has a lower critical current and/or a greater critical temperature than the HTS material of the plurality of turns.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0034] FIG. 1 illustrates a first PBT device;

[0035] FIG. 2 illustrates a second PBT device;

[0036] FIG. 3 illustrates the structure of ReBCO tape;

[0037] FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of a wound coil;

[0038] FIG. 5 is a schematic illustration of a sectional coil;

[0039] FIGS. 6A and 6B show a partially insulating layer according to WO 2019/150123 A1;

[0040] FIGS. 7A to 7C show an alternative partially insulating layer according to WO 2019/150123 A1;

[0041] FIG. 8 shows simulation results for a partially insulated TF coil during a quench;

[0042] FIG. 9 is a side view cross section of an exemplary partially insulating layer;

[0043] FIG. 10 is an illustration of a further exemplary partially insulating layer;

[0044] FIGS. 11A, B, C, D, and E illustrate a yet further exemplar partially insulating layer;

[0045] FIG. 12 is a circuit diagram of a generic exemplary partially insulating layer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0046] While the partially insulating structures as described in the background are suitable for most coils, it has been found that in coils where some parts of the coil operate at a higher I/I.sub.C fraction than others, a localised hotspot can still occur. This hotspot does not occur in the place where the quench initially began, but instead in the part of the coil with the greatest I/I.sub.C fraction. To explain why this occurs, it is first helpful to explain what happens during a quench in a partially insulating field coil.

[0047] FIG. 8 shows simulation results for a single partially insulated D-shaped TF coil during a quench. The upper part of the figure shows the (local) average tape current in the coil at a series of timesteps (from left to right, starting at the time where a part of the coil becomes normal), and the lower part of the figure shows the temperature in the coil at the same series of timesteps. When a part of a single turn of a field coil becomes normal (or close to normal), current in that turn will quickly drop to zero 801—as it becomes more favourable for current to travel in the radial path and bypass the turn (through the partial insulation) than through the spiral path (through the HTS) of the turn. This has two effects—firstly, the temperature of the single turn and adjacent turns will begin to rise 802 due to resistive heating from the radial path, and secondly the current in the remaining turns will increase 803, due to the coil's inductance opposing the change to the magnetic field. In a symmetrical coil, the temperature increase will radiate out from the single turn, causing adjacent turns to become normal, which will then increase the current in the radial path, causing further heating, until the entire coil becomes normal. This process happens quickly, and will dissipate the stored energy substantially evenly over the field coil.

[0048] However, in an asymmetrical coil, i.e. a coil where the I/I.sub.C fraction varies around the field coil, the even redistribution of current, and initially even heating of the field coil, will not cause the field coil to heat evenly as it quenches fully. This is because regions with lower I/I.sub.C fraction, e.g. the central column 810, will quench before regions with higher I/I.sub.C fraction—simply because it is not possible for such regions to hold as much current before generating a significant resistance (and therefore heat). As such, the regions with lower I/I.sub.c fraction will become normal more quickly, eventually reaching the point where the entire cross section of the coil is resistive. At this stage, similar to the previous description of a quench in a non-insulating field coil, the resistive section of the coil will heat up rapidly 804, and the current in the spiral path with reduce rapidly 805, as the current in the spiral path dumps into the resistive section and the resistive radial path. This causes the temperature in the region with lower I/I.sub.c fraction to increase much more than the temperature of the rest of the coil, potentially resulting in damage to the coil in that section.

[0049] The simple ways to solve such issues would be to design coils such that I/I.sub.c is substantially constant around the coil (e.g. by varying the number of HTS tapes at different points in the coil), or to provide additional cooling to regions with low I/I.sub.c. However, in many applications such regions arise because there is insufficient space for more HTS tapes or more cooling in that region of the HTS coil (or where increasing the space required would result in unacceptable tradeoffs). One example is in the central column of a spherical tokamak, where there is a drive to make the central column diameter as small as possible, as this increases the efficiency of the tokamak—and a large proportion of the central column is taken up by parts of the toroidal field coils.

[0050] Given the advantages of partially insulated HTS coils, and in particular partially insulated HTS coils with partially insulating layers as previously described, there is a need to find a solution to the problem of uneven quenching, without significantly increasing the thickness of the HTS coils (compared to an equivalent coil with a partially insulating layer as described in the background).

[0051] This can be achieved by providing HTS elements within the partially insulating layer, such that there is an HTS element in series with at least a proportion of the conductive paths through the partially insulating layer. The HTS elements act as current limiters for the radial path—so in regions where the coil is turning normal more quickly, the current that can be shunted through the radial path is limited (because the HTS elements are also turning normal more quickly, increasing the local resistance of the partially insulating layer). This means that more current will be shunted through the radial path in regions of the coil which are turning normal more slowly, which will increase the heating in those regions, and hence even out the rate of loss of superconductivity around the coil. This will in turn reduce the temperature of any hot spot located in a region of high I/I.sub.c, as more of the energy will be dumped elsewhere in the coil.

[0052] FIG. 9 shows side view cross section of an exemplary partially insulating layer 900, which comprises an insulating body 901 (generally in the form of a long strip, for co-winding with the HTS turns, extending to the left and right as shown in the figure), metal connection layers 902, and HTS bridges 903. The HTS bridges are spaced along the insulating body (regularly in this example, though they may be more closely spaced in some regions than others), and provide an electrical connection between the metal connection layers. As described above, the HTS bridges will effectively act as current limiters, as their resistance will increase rapidly as the radial current reaches their critical current. The critical current of the HTS bridges will depend internal factors such as the properties of the HTS material and the dimensions of the HTS material (particularly the width), and on external factors such as the local temperature, local magnetic field, and strain. Determining the required critical current during operation of a coil containing the partially insulating layer can be done via simulation as is common in the field.

[0053] When the radial current per HTS bridge exceeds the critical current of the HTS bridge, the HTS bridge will become normal, with a high resistance. There may still be a path of moderate resistance (e.g. via any cladding or substrate of the HTS, via normally conducting lanes provided through the insulating body, or via other routes, e.g. through the solder if the coil is solder potted), but the overall effect will be a significant increase in the resistance of the partially insulating layer in the region where the HTS bridges have become normal. This will divert the current to other parts of the partially insulating layer, with lower resistance (causing more heating in those parts). At currents close to, but not exceeding the critical current, the resistance of the HTS bridges will increase as the current increases. As such, for a partially insulated coil with a uniformly constructed partially insulating layer, the redistribution of current will tend towards an equilibrium where both the radial current and the critical current of the HTS bridges are the same around the coil. This happens because regions with a higher critical current will have a lower resistance, which causes more current to flow through those regions, which causes additional heating, which lowers the critical current of the HTS bridges.

[0054] If a part of the coil heats up (e.g. due to a high I/I.sub.C fraction in the spiral path of that part of the coil causing a hot-spot as described above), then this will reduce the critical current of the HTS bridges in that region, diverting radial current to other parts of the coil, and in turn causing them to heat up. As such, the same effects that cause a levelling out of I/I.sub.C in the HTS bridges will also cause a levelling out of heating in the HTS turns when the field coil quenches, and hence a more even distribution of the energy dumped during a quench.

[0055] FIG. 10 shows an example partially insulating layer incorporating HTS bridges into a design similar to that of FIGS. 6A and 6B. As with FIG. 6B, the partially insulating layer includes a metal strip 1001, having an insulating layer 1002 on each side, and a plurality of windows on each side of the insulating layer, with the windows being offset from each other to provide a current path 1010 through the partially insulating layer. In this case, the partially insulating layer also comprises HTS bridges 1003 within the windows on one side, and connecting elements 1004 within the windows on the other side, which connect the metal strip to connection layers 1005.

[0056] FIGS. 11A through E shows an example partially insulating layer incorporating HTS bridges into a design similar to that of FIG. 7A through 7C. The leaky insulation layer comprises 5 layers, which are, in order: [0057] a first metal connection layer 1111; [0058] a first insulating layer 1121; [0059] an electrically conducting layer 1130; [0060] a second insulating layer 1122; [0061] a second metal connection layer 1112.

[0062] FIGS. 11A to C show the layout of the first metal connection layer 1111, electrically conducting layer 1130, and second metal connection layer 1122 respectively. FIGS. 11 D and E are cross sections along the lines D and E in FIGS. 11A to C.

[0063] The connection layers are present to facilitate attachment to HTS cables by soldering. In this and previous examples, these may be omitted, or comprise several smaller regions which allow electrical contact to be made with the electrical connections through the partially insulating layer.

[0064] The electrically conducting layer is divided into several conductive regions. These regions come in two types. The square regions 1131 (though they may be any shape in practice) are connected by vias 1106 only to one of the metal connection layers. These regions do not affect the electrical properties of the partially insulating layer, but provide a thermal path through the respective insulating layer. By varying the size of these regions and the number of connections between them and the metal connection layer, the thermal properties of the partially insulating layer can be varied independently of the electrical properties.

[0065] The other regions 1132 each connect a window 1101 of the first insulating layer 1121 to a window 1102 of the second insulating layer 1122. Each of the regions 1132 comprises an HTS bridge 1107, which is connected in series with the rest of the region. The resistance between the windows while the HTS is superconducting can be controlled by varying the geometry of the regions 1132—e.g. where the region 1132 contains a track 1133 which is elongate as shown in FIG. 11B, increasing the width of the track would reduce the resistance between the windows, and increasing the length of the track (e.g. by providing a non-linear track, or by moving the windows) would increase the resistance between windows. The radial current at which the HTS will cease superconducting can be controlled by varying the HTS material used (e.g. different ReBCO formulations or suppliers will generally have different critical currents) and/or varying the dimensions (particularly the width) of the HTS bridge.—though the critical current will also depend on external factors such as temperature and magnetic field. As previously, the required arrangement of HTS can be determined via simulation as is common in HTS magnet design.

[0066] The windows 1101 in the first insulating layer are formed by drilled vias through the first connection layer and the first insulating layer, which are then plated with metal 1103 (or other electrically conductive material) to connect the first connection layer and the electrically conductive layer. The windows 1102 in the second insulating layer are formed by drilling a via 1102 through all of the layers, which is then plated with metal 1104 (or other electrically conductive material). To prevent a connection being formed to the first connection layer through the windows 1102 of the second insulating layer, the first connection layer is etched around the via 1102 to electrically isolate it, and an insulating cap 1105 is placed on the end of the via 1102 to ensure no bridging occurs due to soldering or contact with the HTS cable.

[0067] As an alternative, the windows 1102 may instead be drilled from the other side of the partially insulating layer, such that they pass through the second connection layer, second insulating layer, and electrically conducting layer, and do not pass through (or do not pass completely through) the first insulating layer. As a further alternative, all the windows may be formed from vias which pass through all layers, with etching of the second connection layer and an insulating cap on the second connection layer being used for windows 1101 of the first insulating layer.

[0068] As with the previous examples, some of the electrical connections 1108 across the partially insulating layer may not comprise the HTS bridges (i.e. may be essentially the same as the lanes 703 of FIG. 7B), in order to further control the upper limit of the resistance of the partially insulating layer when the HTS has quenched.

[0069] FIG. 12 shows a circuit diagram for a generic partially insulating layer of which the above description provides specific examples. The HTS coils 1201 are connected by two sets of resistances. The first set is a variable resistance R.sub.HTS connected in series with a resistance R.sub.1. The variable resistance R.sub.HTS represents the resistance of the HTS bridge, and will depend on the critical current ration I/I.sub.C of the HTS (i.e. will be very low when I/I.sub.C is less than around 0.8, increase for greater I/I.sub.c, and be very high when I/I.sub.C is greater than 1). R1 represents the resistance of the other conductive elements in series with the HTS bridge.

[0070] The second set of resistances is a resistance R.sub.2, which represents the resistance of current paths which bypass the HTS. This may include current passing through any cladding or substrate of the HTS bridge (and through any components in series), or current paths which pass through other electrical connections through the partially insulating layer which do not comprise HTS e.g. the connection 1108 in FIG. 11B.

[0071] While the above has presented various examples of insulation within the partially insulating layer (e.g. an insulating layer as in FIG. 10, an insulating body as in FIG. 6B, or insulating layers as in FIG. 11), it will be appreciated that the unifying concept of these examples is a partially insulating layer having an “insulating region” through which a plurality of conductive paths are provided. This would also include other examples not described in detail herein, e.g. vacuum or gas gaps within the partially insulating layer, or gaps in the partially insulating layer which are later filled with epoxy (e.g. when the coil is epoxy potted).

[0072] The partially insulating layer is incorporated into an HTS field coil in such a way that it allows current to be shared radially between the turns. For example, in a wound field coil the partially insulating layer may be co-wound with the cables, and in a sectional field coil the sections may be built from alternating layers of partially insulating layers and HTS cable (or other HTS current carrying assemblies). The external electrical connections of the partially insulating layer (e.g. the metal connection layers, or the ends of the conductive paths) may be connected to the turns via solder, by simple contact, or by any other suitable method.

[0073] In a sectional coil, the partially insulating layer may or may not continue within the joints between sections—i.e. the partially insulating layer may extend all the way to the end of a section (to match up with a corresponding layer of another section at the joint), the joint may comprise an insulated region which prevents current from bypassing the partially insulating layer within the joint, or the joint may have conductor which allows current to bypass the partially insulating layer within the joint.

[0074] The HTS bridges may be distributed throughout the field coil, or may be used only in regions with high I/I.sub.C during normal operation of the magnet (with normally conductive current paths through the partial insulation being provided outside of those regions).

[0075] The HTS bridges may be made from similar HTS material to the magnet coils, or may be made from HTS material having reduced critical current and/or higher critical temperature. Providing HTS bridges with reduced critical current and/or higher critical temperature allows the characteristics of the HTS bridges to be controlled, in particular how quickly they will become normally conducting when required. The variation in critical current may be achieved by providing HTS bridges of reduced HTS cross section, e.g. reduced width, compared to the HTS material used in the magnet coils, by providing HTS bridges made from HTS material with striations or other variation in the amount and/or distribution of the HTS material compared to the magnet coils, or by providing HTS bridges made from HTS material with inherently lower critical current per unit volume. The variation in critical temperature may be achieved by providing HTS bridges made from HTS material with inherently higher critical temperature, or by controlling the oxygenation level of ReBCO HTS material used in the HTS bridges, as the oxygenation level of the ReBCO is directly related to the critical temperature.