A surface-shunting method for the prevention of a fault-mode-induced quench in high-field no-insulation REBCO magnets

Abstract

In this paper, we apply a surface-shunting method to prevent quenches in no-insulation (NI) REBCO magnets triggered by external failures of magnet current leads or power suppliers (i.e., fault mode). In a high-field magnet system, an NI coil may still be at risk during the mentioned quench events even if the whole magnet is well-designed, non-defective, and properly operated. The mechanism of this fault-mode quench initiation and propagation still remains unclear, complicating the development of reliable quench protection. Here, we present this mechanism to demonstrate a corresponding practical quench-preventive approach named surface shunting, which utilizes a low-temperature solder attached to the top and bottom of pancake coils. We validate the effectiveness of this approach by comparing the electromagnetic, thermal, and mechanical behaviors in the fault mode with and without the shunt. We conclude that the surface shunt suppresses the fault-mode quench initiation and propagation by redirecting the original turn-to-turn current and induced overcurrent out of the NI winding. We anticipate this work can provide a solution to improve the operational safety of high-field HTS NI magnets against quench and potential damage during fault modes.