Abstract

Various high-temperature superconducting (HTS) power cables are being developed or are ready for commercial operation to help energy suppliers meet the growing power demand in urban areas. Recently, triaxial HTS power cables have been developed by Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) and LS Cable & System. Further, KEPCO has been planning to install a 2 km long 23 kV/60 MVA triaxial HTS power cable to connect the Munsan and Seonyu substations and increase the stability of the power grid. The HTS power cables should be cooled down to a cryogenic temperature near 77 K. A thermo-hydraulic analysis of the cooling system considering the geographical characteristics of the installation site is essential for long-distance sections. This paper describes the thermo-hydraulic analysis of the triaxial HTS power cable to determine the proper mass flow rates of subcooled liquid nitrogen that meet the operating temperature and pressure of the cable for four configurations of cooling systems: (1) a single cooling system with an external return path, (2) a dual cooling system with an external return path, (3) a single cooling system with an internal return path, and (4) a dual cooling system with internal return path. Since the flow characteristics in a corrugated cable cryostat differ significantly from those in a typical annular tube, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis was conducted to estimate the pressure drop along the cable cryostat. With the CFD analysis and given heat loads in the cable, the temperature and the pressure variations along the cable were calculated and their pros and cons were compared for each configuration of the cooling system. This thermo-hydraulic analysis will be referenced in the actual installation of the HTS power cable between the Munsan and Seonyu substations.

Highlights

  • High-temperature superconducting (HTS) power cables with low electric loss and large power capacities are being developed or are ready for commercial operation to meet the increasing energy demand in downtown areas [1,2,3,4,5]

  • The HTS power cable is cooled by the circulation of subcooled liquid nitrogen (LN2 ) at approximately 77 K in order to remove various heat losses such as AC loss, heat penetration into the cable, and the heat load at terminations

  • This paper describes the thermo-hydraulic analysis of the 23 kV/60 MVA tri-axial HTS power cable to determine proper mass flow rates of subcooled liquid nitrogen that meet the operating temperature and pressure of the cable with four configurations of a cooling system: (1) a single cooling system with an external return path, (2) a dual cooling system with an external return path, (3) a single cooling system with an internal return path, and (4) a dual cooling system with internal return path

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Summary

Introduction

High-temperature superconducting (HTS) power cables with low electric loss and large power capacities are being developed or are ready for commercial operation to meet the increasing energy demand in downtown areas [1,2,3,4,5]. The Jeju smart-grid demonstration center completed the testing of a 1 km, 154 kV, 600 MVA three-phase superconducting cable [6] They developed a triaxial HTS cable with enhanced current characteristics, compared to a 3-core-in-1 cryostat type [7], and are preparing its commercialization connecting the Munsan and Seounyu substations to increase the stability of the power grid [5,8]. This paper describes the thermo-hydraulic analysis of the 23 kV/60 MVA tri-axial HTS power cable to determine proper mass flow rates of subcooled liquid nitrogen that meet the operating temperature and pressure of the cable with four configurations of a cooling system: (1) a single cooling system with an external return path, (2) a dual cooling system with an external return path, (3) a single cooling system with an internal return path, and (4) a dual cooling system with internal return path. An expanded 1-D thermo-hydraulic network analysis was conducted to consider a radial heat transfer in a cable core that has an internal return path

Structure of Tri-Axial HTS Power Cable
Geographical Characteristics of Installation Path
Installation environment in the
Single and Dual Cooling System with External Return Paths
Allowable Operating Conditions
Calculation of LN2 Temperature Variation
Pressure Drop Model for the Cable Cryostat
CFD Analysis of Spiral Corrugation Cryostat
Streamlines
Pressure and Temperature Analysis Results for External Return Path
Pressure and Temperature
Allowable
Expanded One-Dimensional Thermo-Hydraulic Network Analysis Model
Analysis
Summary of Analysis Results Using Phase Diagram
13. Possible
Full Text
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