Practical Forecasting of AC Losses in Multi-Layer 2G-HTS Cold Dielectric Conductors

Abstract

With the recent progresses on the designing and manufacturing of lightweight superconducting cables with high engineering current density, the need for a reliable, fast, and accurate computational model forecasting the alternating current (AC) losses of cold-dielectric conductors is pivotal for power grid investors and operators. However, validating such models is not an easy task. This is due to the low availability of experimental data for large scale power cables, and likewise, because of the large computational burden which underlies the total number of second generational high temperature superconducting (2G-HTS) tapes in the modelling of realistic power cables. Thus, aiming to overcome these challenges, we present a detailed two-dimensional H-model capable to reproduce the experimentally measured AC-losses of multi-layer power cables made of tens of 2G-HTS tapes. Two cable designs with very high critical currents ( <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{1.7}~kA$</tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{3.2}~kA$</tex-math></inline-formula> ) have been considered. These are composed of five and six concentric layers wound over a cylindrical former consisting of 50 and 67 2G-HTS tapes, respectively. In both situations a remarkable resemblance between the simulations and experiments has been found, offering a unique view of the local electrodynamics of the wound tapes where the mechanisms of shielding, magnetization, and transport currents coexist within the hysteretic process.