Enhanced trapped field performance of bulk high-temperature superconductors using split coil, pulsed field magnetization with an iron yoke

Abstract

Investigating and predicting the magnetization of bulk superconducting materials and developing practical magnetizing techniques is crucial to using them as trapped field magnets in engineering applications. The pulsed field magnetization (PFM) technique is considered to be a compact, mobile and relative inexpensive way to magnetize bulk samples, requiring shorter magnetization times (on the order of milliseconds) and a smaller and less complicated magnetization fixture; however, the trapped field produced by PFM is generally much smaller than that of slower zero field cooling or field cooling techniques, particularly at lower operating temperatures. In this paper, the PFM of two, standard Ag-containing Gd–Ba–Cu–O samples is carried out using two types of magnetizing coils: (1) a solenoid coil, and (2) a split coil, both of which make use of an iron yoke to enhance the trapped magnetic field. It is shown that a significantly higher trapped field can be achieved using a split coil with an iron yoke, and in order to explain these how this arrangement works in detail, numerical simulations using a 2D axisymmetric finite element method based on the H-formulation are carried to qualitatively reproduce and analyze the magnetization process from both electromagnetic and thermal points of view. It is observed that after the pulse peak significantly less flux exits the bulk when the iron core is present, resulting in a higher peak trapped field, as well as more overall trapped flux, after the magnetization process is complete. The results have important implications for practical applications of bulk superconductors as such a split coil arrangement with an iron yoke could be incorporated into the design of a portable, high magnetic field source/magnet to enhance the available magnetic field or in an axial gap-type bulk superconducting electric machine, where iron can be incorporated into the stator windings to (1) improve the trapped field from the magnetization process, and (2) increase the effective air-gap magnetic field.