Cooling Power Consumption Research Articles

Design of high-temperature superconductor current leads for ITER

In the framework of the European Fusion Programme, the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe and the Centre de Recherches en Physique des Plasmas (CRPP) have successfully developed and tested a 70 kA high-temperature superconductor (HTS) current lead demonstrator. In the present work, the optimisation of the cooling conditions with respect to the cooling power consumption and the required amount of HTS material is described for a binary current lead consisting of a conduction-cooled HTS part and a gas-cooled heat exchanger. The refrigerator input power, required to cool a binary HTS current lead, is determined by the heat load at the 4.5 K level, the helium mass flow rate necessary to cool the heat exchanger part and the helium inlet temperature ( T He,in). For a range of copper ( T Cu) and helium inlet ( T He,in) temperatures at the cold end of the heat exchanger, the optimum values of the length of the heat exchanger and the required helium mass flow rate have been calculated. Furthermore, the main results of the pulsed operation of the 70 kA HTS current lead demonstrator are presented. The possibility of pulsed operation of HTS current leads for the CS and PF coils is discussed.

Evaluation of existing cooling systems for reducing cooling power consumption

This work was designed to estimate the cooling load power consumption during the summer in the hot and humid areas of Iran. The actual electrical energy consumption for cooling systems of some typical buildings with various applications (3 residential home buildings, 2 industrial plant buildings, a trade center with 38 shops, 3 public sectors and a city hospital) in a hot and humid region in South of Iran was recorded during the peak load period of the year (July–August). The records were used for estimating the total power consumption of the cooling systems in this region. According to this estimation, which was confirmed by the regional electrical power distribution office, the cooling systems power consumption in this region accounted for more than 60% of the total power consumption during the peak load period of the year. A computer program was developed for simulating the effect of various parameters on cooling load of the buildings in hot and humid regions. According to the simulation results, use of double glazed windows, light colored walls and roofs, and insulated walls and roofs can reduce the cooling load of the buildings more than 40%.