Cooling test of the 500 m class superconducting DC power transmission system

Abstract

Recently, 500 m and 1000 m class superconducting DC power transmission systems were constructed in the Ishikari area in Japan and the cooling test of the 500 m system was performed. The heat leak of the cryogenic pipe and the total heat load of the system were estimated in the cooling test. The cryogenic pipe of the system has two inner pipes in one outer pipe for circulation. The heat leak was 0.98 W/m and 0.44 W/m for each inner pipe. The total heat load of the system was 1.37 kW except for the heat load by the current feeding and the circulation pumps, while the total cooling power of the system was approximately 3 kW. The pressure drop of the circulation was measured to be 19.5 kPa at the rated flow rate of 30 L/min for the 1000 m circulation both ways in the 500 m transmission line. By the cooling test, it was confirmed that the system can be operated stably.