Thermal conductivity measurement of HTS tapes and stacks for current lead applications

Abstract

The use of high-temperature-superconductors (HTS) within current leads offers a high potential to save cooling-power. The principle of HTS current leads is well established, e.g. for particle accelerators (LHC-CERN) but also on the commercial sector, which offer HTS current leads ready for use in small scale magnets and magnets systems. Future fusion machines currently under construction like ITER, W7-X or JT-60SA also will use HTS current leads. At the moment the standard material for HTS current leads is a Bi 2Sr 2Ca 2Cu 3O x (BSCCO)–AgAu composite tape. The common way to receive high current capacity current leads is to form stacks by sintering or soldering these tapes together. The solder changes the thermal conductivity of the stacks compared to the single tape in the temperature range from 4 K to 60 K. To estimate the heat flux from the warm environment to the cold application the measurement of the thermal conductivity of the soldered stack is mandatory. Therefore the thermal conductivity of stacks with different number of tapes is investigated. To measure the thermal conduction in the current flow direction, the axial heat flow method is used. Combining these results with FEM simulations gives the possibility to estimate the thermal conductivity normal to the flat tape plane. The resulting anisotropic thermal conductivity can be used to model the behaviour of the HTS tape under thermal disturbances more accurately.