Multi-channel Data Acquisition System for a 500 m DC HTS Power Cable in Ishikari

Abstract

Reduction of heat penetrating into the cryogenic region is the important method of optimization of superconducting devices. In the cases of short-range power transmission lines and compact HTS devices like magnets, the heat leakage through current leads is relatively large. In order to decrease this contribution, current leads equipped with Peltier elements can be used. The mentioned technology is being actively developed in the Chubu University. Commercial samples of Peltier current leads are installed at the terminals of 500-meter DC HTS cable in Ishikari (Hokkaido). This cable is designed for 5 kA. The inner conducting layer consists of 37 DI-BSCCO HTS tapes from Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. with a critical current of 180 A; and the outer one consists of 35 tapes of the same type. Each end of the cable's tape is connected to the individual Peltier current lead. Accordingly, each of the two terminals is equipped with 72 Peltier current leads, 144 pieces in total. In order to examine behavior of the current leads in detail, each piece is supplied with two thermocouples; there are also voltage taps on feedthrough and on HTS tape end. In addition, current through Peltier current lead can be measured by means of individual current transformer. The hardware part of the data acquisition system includes four Keithley 3706A multimeters equipped with 60-channel model 3724 FET multiplexer cards. Therefore, 144 data blocks are formed. Furthermore, there are 72 measurements of a voltage drop across HTS tape. Sampling period is set to be 3 s. The program part of the data acquisition system was written using LabVIEW software solution (National Instruments Corp.).