Quench initiation and propagation study (QUIPS) for the SMES-CICC

Abstract

A test coil was designed and built in order to experimentally verify the quench initiationand propagation behavior in a sub-scale version of the 200 kA cable-in-conduit conductor (CICC) for the superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) Engineering Test Model (ETM). A test coil was wound with 75 m of a sub-scale (nominal 8 kA) conductor. The sub-scale conductor reproduced the hydraulic characteristics of the 200 kA CICC (a cable space and a segregated open flow path communicating through a perforated wall). The quench tests, conducted at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, are the first done in this type of geometry and in 1.8 K superfluid helium. The results of the experiment shed new light on the mechanisms driving the quench propagation in this type of conductor, and show that the behavior is inherently different from that in standard CICCs (without segregated channel).