Calculated E-I characteristics of HTS pancakes and coils exposed to inhomogeneous magnetic fields

Abstract

The upper limit of the operating current of LTS solenoids can be estimated as the coordinate of the crossing point of its load line with IC (B) line of the superconductor. For HTS coils this approach seems to underestimate the allowable operating current of the coil. A better approach is to obtain a full electric field distribution over the coil and to use it as the base for a more sophisticated coil design criteria. We developed an algorithm and a Matlab program for calculating distributions of the current density, magnetic field and electric field in HTS solenoids made of pancakes, considering the inhomogeneous current density distribution inside the anisotropic tape. I-V curves of several Bi-2223 coils are calculated and good agreeement of the calculated and measured critical currents, IC, and indexes, n, are attained. One can utilize the program in the coil design choosing his own criteria of coil's critical current, e.g., 1) The average electric field 10−4 V/m over the coil, 2) The electric field 10−4 V/m at the weak point of the coil, 3) The energy dissipation in the entire coil, 4) Distribution of local energy dissipation.