Coupling-loss-induced Quench Research Articles

CLIQ Protection Design for the Graded Nb$_{3}$Sn Research Racetrack Dipole Demonstrator (R2D2)

The Research Racetrack Dipole Demonstrator (R2D2) is being studied as a demonstrating magnet for future FCC magnets. The R2D2 is meant to prove the feasibility of grading in block-coil Nb <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$_{3}$</tex-math></inline-formula> Sn dipoles and explore quench behaviors at a very high current. This short model provides an opportunity to study quench protection concepts which will be needed for the full-scale FCC magnets. Both quench heaters and CLIQ (coupling loss induced quench) are under study. This paper presents the research work on the CLIQ protection. The work includes CLIQ design methods and configurations, and comparative studies of various CLIQ configurations for maximizing the CLIQ effectiveness. The results show that the most effective CLIQ configuration is able to quench 80% of the coil turns at the nominal current within 3 ms, leaving 20 ms for detection and validation time while keeping the maximum hotspot temperature within 350 K. The study shows that protection of R2D2 using only CLIQ may be feasible under certain assumptions.

Quench Protection of Nb3Sn High Field Magnets Using Heaters, a Strategy Applied to the Graded Racetrack Dipole R2D2

The quench protection for the Future Circular Collider (FCC) 16 T Nb <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> Sn dipoles was based either on the CLIQ (Coupling Loss Induced Quench) system, or on resistive quench protection heaters. Several heater designs were sketched during the iterative magnet design processes. This led to identifying some rules about an effective heater design in the full-scale 14-m-long magnets. Following the FCC study, short dipole magnet models are being built to test the novel features that were envisioned for the FCC magnets. In this work, we review the principles of effective heater design, and then apply this methodology to the graded block dipole short model R2D2, which is being designed at CEA Saclay. This magnet has high current density in copper after quench, which makes the protection challenging and requires pushing the heater technology to its limits.

Assessment of MQXF Quench Heater Insulation Strength and Test of Modified Design

The HL-LHC interaction region magnet triplets (Q1, Q2, and Q3) will be composed of superconducting Nb <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> Sn quadrupoles. The MQXF quadrupole protection system is based on CLIQ (Coupling-Loss Induced Quench system) and outer layer quench heaters. This paper reports a summary of quench heaters to coil high voltage tests performed on MQXF short and long coils in air after fabrication, and in air and He gas after magnet training. Breakdown voltage values demonstrate good margin with respect to the Electrical design criteria for the HL-LHC inner triplet magnets. A modification in the quench heater installation- with an extra layer of fiber glass between the coil and the quench heater trace- has been proposed and tested in a mirror magnet to further increase electrical margins. Results demonstrated improvements of high voltage margin at the expense of a clear increase of hot spot temperature. The baseline heater to coil insulation was assessed to be able to guarantee safe operation for the Nb <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> Sn quadrupole magnets for the interaction regions of HL-LHC.

Quench Protection Studies for the High Luminosity LHC Nb$_3$Sn Quadrupole Magnets

Achieving the targets of the High Luminosity LHC project requires the installation of new inner triplet magnet circuits for the final focusing of the particle beams on each side of the two main interaction points. Each of the four circuits will include six 150 mm aperture, 132.2 T/m gradient, Nb <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$_3$</tex-math></inline-formula> Sn quadrupole magnets to be installed in the LHC tunnel. The recently updated circuit topology is such that the protection of each magnet can be studied from a single magnet point-of-view. To limit the hot-spot temperature and the peak voltage-to-ground, a protection system was designed that quickly and reliably transfers voluminous parts of the coil to the normal-conducting state, hence distributing more homogeneously the magnets stored energy in the windings. This system is based on two elements: quench heaters attached to the outer layers of the magnet coils and CLIQ (Coupling-Loss Induced Quench). The performance of the protection system is investigated by simulating the electro-magnetic and thermal transients occurring after a quench with the program STEAM-LEDET, and by conducting dedicated experiments at the CERN and FNAL magnet test facilities. The effectiveness of the quench protection system is assessed at all representative operating current levels. Furthermore, the coils hot-spot temperature and peak voltage to ground are analyzed for various failure cases, conductor parameters, and parameter distribution among the four coils. It is concluded that the proposed design assures an effective, reliable, and fully redundant quench protection system.

The CLIQ Quench Protection System Applied to the 16 T FCC-hh Dipole Magnets

Part of the Future Circular Collider (FCC-hh) study is dedicated to the development of the 16 Tesla ${\rm Nb_3Sn}$ superconducting dipole magnets. The design of the magnets was enabled by a cooperative effort of national research institutes, universities, and CERN. These actors tackled the problem from different sides, namely, the electromagnetic design, the mechanical design, the design of the quench protection systems, and the circuit design. The article deals with the design of the quench protection systems and provides solid motivations for the selection of the coupling-loss-induced quench (CLIQ) device as the baseline protection system for the FCC-hh main dipole magnets. The article shows that the design domains mentioned above are tightly interconnected and, therefore, the simulation of a quench event involves a complex multiphysics problem. The STEAM cosimulation framework, recently developed at CERN, is applied to address the complexity. The STEAM-SIGMA models are employed to simulate the CLIQ quench protection system applied to the FCC-hh dipole magnets. Dedicated CLIQ configurations are identified to protect the magnets in case of a quench. In addition, the possible implications of the CLIQ protection system on the mechanical design of the magnets are discussed. To this end, the article employs the co-simulation of different software platforms to calculate the mechanical stress during a quench. The results show that CLIQ does not produce additional stress.

Conceptual Design of the FCC-hh Dipole Circuits With Integrated CLIQ Protection System

The Future Circular Collider (FCC-hh) project is a conceptual study whose goal is to design the successor of the Large Hadron Collider, increasing the collision energy from 14 to 100 TeV. The energy stored in the 16-T superconducting dipole magnets and the length of the sectors composing the 100-km FCC tunnel are considerably larger than those in present accelerators. This means that the energy stored in the FCC-hh dipole circuit is likely to be much higher than that in existing superconducting circuits. In the case of magnet quenches or faults, the circuit needs to be protected, i.e., its energy needs to be rapidly dissipated without inducing excessive voltages in the magnet chain. This article proposes a conceptual design for the FCC-hh dipole circuit, which satisfies the constraint of the maximum allowable voltage-to-ground and fulfills additional requirements related to the FCC-hh operation and tunnel layout. A compromise among the considered requirements leads to a relatively simple circuit layout and a large number of circuits for the entire machine. The behavior of the proposed circuit during the critical fast power abort phase is simulated through a numerical model, which covers the electrical circuit domain and the electrothermal magnet domain. Each FCC-hh dipole magnet is protected by means of the coupling-loss-induced quench (CLIQ) protection system, which also acts at the circuit level. The simulations predict severe voltage oscillations in the FCC-hh dipole circuits that may pose a problem for the quench detection system. The simulations also show that the severity of the oscillations is not due to the presence of CLIQ. This protection system can be integrated into the proposed circuit layout and represents an effective protection system for the entire string of FCC-hh dipole magnets.

Quench Protection of the First 4-m-Long Prototype of the HL-LHC Nb&lt;inline-formula&gt; &lt;tex-math notation="LaTeX"&gt;$_3$&lt;/tex-math&gt; &lt;/inline-formula&gt;Sn Quadrupole Magnet

The quadrupole magnets for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) upgrade to higher luminosity are jointly developed by CERN and US-LARP (LHC Accelerator Research Program). These Nb $_3$ Sn magnets will be protected against overheating after a quench by a combination of heaters bonded to the coil outer surface and coupling-loss induced quench (CLIQ) units. The first 4-m-long prototype magnet, called MQXFAP1, was tested at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in stand-alone configuration. The magnet training campaign, consisting of 18 quenches, was interrupted due to the development of a short circuit between one heater strip and the coil. During the campaign, different quench protection schemes were implemented, including heaters attached to outer and inner layers, one CLIQ unit, and the energy-extraction system. The configuration including outer-layer heaters and CLIQ achieved the fastest current discharge, hence the lowest hotspot temperature. The electro-magnetic and thermal transients after a quench were simulated with the program STEAM-LEDET and found in good agreement.

Mechanical analysis of an MgB2 1.5 T MRI main magnet protected using Coupling Loss Induced Quench

Mechanical analysis of the stress and strains developed in the coils were calculated for a ten coil 1.5 T MRI magnet design with magnesium diboride (MgB2) wire protected with Coupling Loss Induced Quench (CLIQ). The temperature distribution inside the coils was first simulated in MATLAB to solve the governing heat and circuit equations. Simulations were performed on the magnet, in which each coil was divided into two subsections, with two CLIQ units while the capacitor ranged from 5 to 20 mF and the initial charging voltage ranged from 2.6 kV to 1.3 kV in order to keep the total stored energy in the CLIQ system constant. The wire’s filamentary twist pitch remained constant at 5 cm for all simulations. The exported temperature distribution was expanded to form a representative unit cell (RUC) representing the wire composite and then imported into ANSYS to calculate the 1st principle strain in the MgB2 filament and shear stress across the epoxy for the coils. A peak temperature of 191 K occurred inside the coil with the initial quench when the CLIQ unit had a 20 mF capacitor charged to 1.3 kV. According to the mechanical simulations, the largest resulting peak strain in the wire was 0.034%, and peak shear stress was 44 MPa.

A Fast Quench Protection System for High-Temperature Superconducting Magnets

For reaching very high magnetic fields in fully superconducting magnets, beyond 16 T for particle accelerators dipoles and beyond 23 T for solenoids, the use of high-temperature superconductors (HTS) is unavoidable. Due to the high minimum quench energy in HTS these coils are much more difficult to protect against quenches using conventional methods, such as quench heaters or coupling loss induced quench (CLIQ). Although it is possible to use a dump resistor on a short HTS magnet, extracting the energy externally, this does not provide a solution for longer magnets or magnets operated in a string, because the extraction voltage becomes unacceptably high. Here, a method named E 3 SPreSSO (External Energy Extraction Symbiotic Protection System for Series Operation) is proposed that allows for fast energy extraction in HTS magnets. The E 3 SPreSSO comprises of units with a near-zero self-inductance superconducting circuit, connected in series with the main magnet. When the protection is triggered, these devices are turned resistive, using quench heaters, overcurrent or CLIQ, causing them to absorb the energy of the system. The units can be located outside the main magnet and do not generate magnetic field. Therefore, it is possible to use relatively cost-efficient and robust Nb-Ti or possibly MgB 2 (at higher temperatures). This paper introduces the concept and provides an analytical method weighing the different options for designing the E 3 SPreSSO units themselves.

Overview of the Quench Heater Performance for MQXF, the Nb3Sn Low-&lt;italic&gt;β&lt;/italic&gt; Quadrupole for the High Luminosity LHC

In the framework of the high-luminosity upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider, the U.S. LARP collaboration and CERN are jointly developing a 150 mm aperture Nb3Sn quadrupole for the LHC interaction regions. Due to the large stored energy density and the low copper stabilizer section, the quench protection of these magnets is particularly challenging, relying on a combination of quench heaters attached to the coil surface and coupling loss induced quench (CLIQ) units electrically connected to the coils. This paper summarizes the performance of the quench heater strips in different configurations relevant to machine operation. The analysis is focused on the inner layer quench heaters, where several heater strips failed during powering tests. Failure modes are discussed in order to address the technology issues and provide guidance for future tests.

Mechanical stress analysis during a quench in CLIQ protected 16 T dipole magnets designed for the future circular collider

Protecting the magnets in case of a quench is a challenge for the 16 T superconducting dipole magnets presently designed for the 100 TeV: Future Circular Collider (FCC). These magnets are driven to the foreseen technological limits in terms of critical current, mechanical strength and quench protection. The magnets are protected with CLIQ (Coupling-Loss Induced Quench) system, which is a recently developed quench protection method based on discharging a capacitor bank across part of the winding. The oscillation of the magnet currents and the dissipation of the high stored energy into the windings cause electrodynamic forces and thermal stresses, which may need to be considered in the magnet mechanical design. This paper focuses on mechanical stress analysis during a quench of the 16 T cos-θ and block type dipole magnets. A finite element model allowed studying the stress due to the non-uniform temperature and current distribution in the superconducting coils. Two different CLIQ configurations were considered for the cos-θ design and one for the block type magnet. The analyses of the mechanical behavior of two magnets during a quench without or with hot spot turn were separately carried out. The simulation results show that the stress related to a quench should be considered when designing a high field magnet.

Design and Manufacturing of the First Industrial-Grade CLIQ Units for the Protection of Superconducting Magnets for the High-Luminosity LHC Project at CERN

The newly developed concept of coupling-loss-induced quench (CLIQ) used in the domain of superconducting magnets quench protection has opened a new path toward efficient magnet protection. Subsequently to the first trials using ad hoc solutions in order to confirm functionality and performance of the method, two pre-series of three units each with different hardware configurations have been recently manufactured at CERN. Starting from the design phase, the hardware realization follows industrial standards and associated quality control. At the same time, aspects related to the long-term operation of the units have also been addressed. This paper discusses the design and manufacturing issues, the construction details, and the decisions made on choices considering their operation in test stations and in a final accelerator environment. The results of the tests of these units before connecting them to a superconducting magnet will be presented and analyzed.

Quench Protection Performance Measurements in the First MQXF Magnet Models

The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) and U.S. LHC Accelerator Research Program (LARP) are jointly developing Nb $_3$ Sn quadrupole magnets to be installed in the LHC for its upgrade to higher luminosity. These magnets’ quench protection system will include a combination of quench heaters attached to the coil surfaces and coupling-loss-induced quench (CLIQ) units electrically connected to the magnets. Different protection elements have been characterized separately and simultaneously by implementing them on two 1.2-m-long model quadrupole magnets, tested at Fermi National Acceleration Laboratory and CERN, and one 4-m-long mirror magnet tested at Brookhaven Nation Laboratory. After analyzing the test data, their performances have been positively evaluated. Furthermore, the electrothermal transients occurring after a quench have been simulated with the LEDET software and the results are compared to experimental results. The preferred quench protection system configuration relies both on heaters and CLIQ. This solution is based on electrically robust components, achieves an effective reduction of the coils hot spot temperature after a quench, and offers increased redundancy against component failures.

Quench Protection of a Nb$_3$Sn Superconducting Magnet System for a 45-GHz ECR Ion Source

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in collaboration with the Institute of Modern Physics has developed a Nb $_3$ Sn-based superconducting magnet system for a fourth-generation electron cyclotron resonance source, with a goal of achieving the magnetic field required for operating at the microwave frequency of 45 GHz. The magnet system is composed of one sextupole magnet inside three solenoids of different sizes manufactured from Nb $_3$ Sn round wire. Given the high stored energy density and relatively low wire copper fraction, the coils are not self-protected in the case of a quench. The study of the transient following a quench is carried out by means of the lumped-element dynamic electro-thermal program, which includes a detailed simulation of the interfilament coupling losses developing in the wire. Nonlinear effects occurring in the magnet, such as coupling loss and differential inductance reduction, have a significant impact on protecting these magnets. The resulting baseline quench protection strategy based on four independent energy extraction systems protecting the four magnets meets the quench protection requirements. Furthermore, in order to enhance the redundancy of the quench protection system and reduce the peak voltages to ground, the implementation of a coupling-loss induced quench (CLIQ) system is considered.

Coupling of Magnetothermal and Mechanical Superconducting Magnet Models by Means of Mesh-Based Interpolation

In this paper we present an algorithm for the coupling of magneto-thermal and mechanical finite element models representing superconducting accelerator magnets. The mechanical models are used during the design of the mechanical structure as well as the optimization of the magnetic field quality under nominal conditions. The magneto-thermal models allow for the analysis of transient phenomena occurring during quench initiation, propagation, and protection. Mechanical analysis of quenching magnets is of high importance considering the design of new protection systems and the study of new superconductor types. We use field/circuit coupling to determine temperature and electromagnetic force evolution during the magnet discharge. These quantities are provided as a load to existing mechanical models. The models are discretized with different meshes and, therefore, we employ a mesh-based interpolation method to exchange coupled quantities. The coupling algorithm is illustrated with a simulation of a mechanical response of a standalone high-field dipole magnet protected with CLIQ (Coupling-Loss Induced Quench) technology.

Numerical analysis of the coupling loss induced quench protection for a 1.5 T whole-body MgB2 MRI magnet

Numerical simulations of a quench protection system using coupling loss induced quench (CLIQ) were performed on a conduction-cooled persistent mode ten coil 1.5 T MRI main magnet design with MgB2 wire. The temperature rise and currents through the coils were simulated in MATLAB to solve for the heat equation and the circuit equations associated with CLIQ. Many different parameters of the system can be varied to determine their impact on the quench protection performance: the number of CLIQ units, the capacitance and initial voltage of the CLIQ unit, the number of subdivisions per coil, and the wire’s twist pitch. While keeping the total stored energy in the CLIQ system constant, simulations were performed on varying the number of CLIQ units with a 10 mF capacitor and varying the CLIQ capacitor with 2 CLIQ units present. As the number of CLIQ units increased, the peak temperature and the charging voltage decreased, but the voltage across the coil increased. As the CLIQ unit capacitance increased, the peak temperature increased but the charging voltage and voltage across the coil decreased. The optimal twist of the wire increased as the CLIQ capacitance increased. From these simulations, a possible optimal design was obtained where each coil is divided into two subsections consisting of two CLIQ units, each with a capacitance of 15 mF and a 1.5 kV initial voltage and a wire with a twist pitch of 5.0 cm. Using these parameters, the simulated peak temperature was found to be 178 K, which is comparable to results from simulations on the same magnet design with the same wire using an external protection heater.

Quench Protection System Optimization for the High Luminosity LHC Nb $_3$Sn Quadrupoles

The upgrade of the large hadron collider to achieve higher luminosity requires the installation of twenty-four 150 mm aperture, 12 T, Nb 3 Sn quadrupole magnets close to the two interaction regions at ATLAS and CMS. The protection of these high-field magnets after a quench is particularly challenging due to the high stored energy density, which calls for a fast, effective, and reliable protection system. Three design options for the quench protection system of the inner triplet circuit are analyzed, including quench heaters attached to the coil's outer and inner layer, Coupling-Loss Induced Quench (CLIQ), and combinations of those. The discharge of the magnet circuit and the electromagnetic and thermal transients occurring in the coils are simulated by means of the TALES and LEDET programs. The sensitivity to strand parameters and the effects of several failure cases on the coil's hot-spot temperature and peak voltages to ground are assessed. A protection system based only on quench heaters attached to the outer layer can barely maintain the hot-spot temperature below the target limit and cannot guarantee the coil protection under failure scenarios. On the contrary, systems including either inner quench heaters or CLIQ are adequate to protect the coil under all realistic operation and failure scenarios. In particular, the option including outer quench heaters and CLIQ achieves lowest hot-spot temperatures, and highest redundancy and robustness.

First Implementation of the CLIQ Quench Protection System on a 14-m-Long Full-Scale LHC Dipole Magnet

The coupling-loss-induced quench (CLIQ) is an innovative system for the protection of superconducting magnets. Its energy-deposition mechanism, based on coupling loss generated directly in the superconductor, is fundamentally faster than heat diffusion, upon which traditional quench-heater-based systems rely. CLIQ electrical design relies on simple and robust components, i.e., easy to install and be replaced in case of damage. After being successfully tested on model magnets of different geometries and types of superconductor, CLIQ is now applied for the first time for the protection of a full-scale dipole magnet. For this purpose, a 14-m-long LHC twin-aperture dipole magnet is equipped with CLIQ terminals and two 80-mF 500-V CLIQ units are connected to its windings. Experimental results obtained under various operating conditions convincingly show that a CLIQ-based quench protection system can effectively protect large-scale magnets by quickly and homogeneously transferring to the normal-state voluminous regions of the winding packs. A developed dedicated simulation code correctly reproduces the complex electrothermal transient occurring during a CLIQ discharge. The successful test completes the development program of CLIQ quench protection systems, which has convincingly demonstrated the maturity and readiness of the system for application in large-scale magnet systems.

Quench Protection of a 16-T Block-Coil Dipole Magnet for a 100-TeV Hadron Collider Using CLIQ

Protection against the effects of a quench is a crucial challenge for 16-T-class superconducting dipole magnets for a future 100-TeV Hadron collider. To avoid damage due to overheating of the coil's hot spot, heat generated during the quench has to be homogeneously distributed in the winding pack by quickly and uniformly transferring to the normal-state voluminous coil sections. Conventional protection systems rely on quench heaters placed on the outer surfaces of the coils. However, this technique has to confront significant challenges in order to achieve the fast transitions required by high magnetic field magnets. The recently developed coupling-loss-induced quench (CLIQ) utilizes interfilament coupling loss as an effective intrawire heat deposition mechanism, which, in principle, is faster than thermal diffusion. Furthermore, the CLIQ technology is based on simple and robust electrical components in contact with the coil only in a limited number of easily accessible and well-insulated points. Hence, expected occurrence of failure and electrical breakdown is significantly reduced. As a case study, the design of a CLIQ-based protection system for a 14-m-long 16-T Nb 3Sn block-coil dipole magnet is demonstrated here. Various magnet design features can be adjusted to improve CLIQ performance and optimize its integration in the magnet system. CLIQ provides future magnet designers with a solution for a very effective, yet electrically robust, quench protection system, resulting in better magnet performance and lower cost than would be possible with a traditional approach to magnet protection.

CLIQ-Based Quench Protection of a Chain of High-Field Superconducting Magnets

Conventional quench protection systems for high-magnetic-field superconducting magnets are based on external heaters composed of resistive strips in close contact with the coil and rely on thermal diffusion across insulation layers on the order of tens of micrometers. The large contact areas between the coil and the heater strips, and the thin insulation between them required for an effective protection constitute a significant risk of electrical breakdown and one of the most common causes of magnet damage. Coupling-loss-induced quench (CLIQ) technology offers a valid option for a time- and cost-effective repair of magnets with failing heater-based protection systems. In fact, its effective heating mechanism utilizing coupling loss, its robust electrical design, and its fast implementation, as compared to alternative repair options, constitute definite advantages over the conventional technology. In the past years, CLIQ was successfully implemented on various coils in a single-magnet configuration. Now the design of a CLIQ-based protection system integrated in a chain of series-connected magnets is presented. The protection of a chain of superconducting magnets usually is considerably more challenging than the protection of stand-alone magnets due to the increased energy stored in the circuit and the presence of transitory effects. The effectiveness of this new method is demonstrated by means of electrothermal simulations modeling the transition to the normal state and the temperature evolution in one quenched magnet, and the electrodynamics of the entire magnet chain.