No-insulation Winding Technique Research Articles

Watch-sized 12 Tesla all-high-temperature-superconducting magnet

We demonstrate the construction of 7 Tesla and 12 Tesla all high-temperature-superconducting (HTS) magnets, small enough to fit on your wrist. The size of the magnet reduces the cost of fabrication, decreases the fringe field to permit facile siting of magnets, and decreases the stored energy of high field magnets. These small HTS-based magnets are being developed for gyrotron microwave sources for use in high-field nuclear magnetic resonance applications. The 7 Tesla and 12 Tesla magnets employ a no-insulation winding technique and are cooled to 4.2 Kelvin in a liquid helium cryostat. The 7 Tesla magnet is a single pancake coil, made of only 9.4 m of HTS tape, with an inner diameter of 8 mm and an outer diameter of 24 mm. This magnet was charged up to 1168 Amperes, generating a field of 7.3 Tesla. The 12 Tesla magnet is comprised of two pancake coils (inner diameter of 10 mm and outer diameter of 27 mm) connected in series. This magnet reached its maximum field at a current of 850 Amperes.

First-Cut Design of a Benchtop Cryogen-Free 23.5-T/25-mm Magnet for 1-GHz Microcoil NMR.

As a preliminary work, we have completed a 12.5-mm-cold-bore high-temperature superconducting (HTS) REBCO magnet prototype and successfully operated it up to 25 T at 10 K cooled by a cryocooler only, without liquid helium. In this paper we present the first-cut design of a cryogen-free all-REBCO 23.5-T/25-mm-warm-bore magnet having a high homogeneity of <0.1 ppm over a 1-cm diameter of spherical volume for a benchtop 1-GHz microcoil NMR spectroscopy. We also investigate a shielding design to reduce a 5-gauss fringe field radius to ≤1.5 m. This benchtop magnet will incorporate all the innovative design and operation concepts validated by the prototype magnet: 1) all-HTS composition and operation at above 4.2 K; 2) no-insulation winding technique with an extra shunting that makes this high-field REBCO magnet compact, mechanically robust, and self-protecting; 3) a single coil formation that leads, compared with the traditional multi-nested high-field NMR magnet, to simpler and more affordable manufacturing processes; 4) operational temperature-controlled screening-current reduction method which reduces peak stresses within the REBCO coil and field errors; and 5) cryogenic design for conduction-cooling operation.

A Study of the Dynamic Characteristics of an Electrical Rotating Machine Applying No-Insulation HTS Field Coils

This paper presents a dynamic characteristic analysis of an electrical rotating machine that applies no-insulation (NI) high-temperature superconductor (HTS) field coils. The HTS electrical rotating machine applying HTS field coils has high power density compared to conventional electrical rotating machines that utilize normal conductor field coils, meaning that it has great potential for next-generation mobility applications such as electric ships and aircraft. Recently, several studies have reported the possibility of solving the quench protection problem of the HTS field coil, which is one of the most pressing issues in HTS electrical rotating machines, and the key technology is the no-insulation (NI) winding technique. The NI winding technique enhances the electrical and thermal stability of the HTS field coil because the over-current can be automatically bypassed through the turn-to-turn contacts. Although there have been many studies of the electrical and thermal stability of NI HTS field coils, there are still issues related to NI HTS field coil applications to electrical rotating machines. In particular, there are few studies of the behavior of electrical rotating machines with a NI HTS field coil under dynamic conditions, such as active shortcircuit and speed drop conditions. In this study, we designed an electrical rotating machine that utilizes NI HTS field coils and analyzed the dynamic characteristics of the designed machine. The results demonstrate there is a possibility of larger torque fluctuations and armature current fluctuations in the NI HTS machine than in the insulated HTS machine.

Electromagnetic and thermal characteristics of supplementary-conductor-based no-insulation REBCO pancake coils with comparison to conventional-based ones

A no-insulation (NI) winding technique was originally developed in 2011 to enhance the thermal stability of Rare-Earth Barium Copper Oxide (REBCO) pancake coils. Thereafter, several similar techniques of controlling turn-to-turn contact resistance have been proposed, and they can be categorized as the conventional NI winding technique, named a conventional-based NI (CNI) technique in this paper. Recently, a few novel winding techniques different from the CNI winding technique but similar have been proposed: an intra-layer no-insulation technique and a conductive-epoxy-resin-coating technique. These techniques utilize supplementary conductors attached or embedded on REBCO coils as bypassing current paths, which is, in this paper, categorized as supplementary-conductor-based no-insulation (SNI) techniques. These conventional-based and supplementary-conductor-based NI techniques have high a potential for high-field applications. As of today, the applications of these NI techniques are nuclear magnet resonance and magnetic field imaging, and compact nuclear reactors. Those applications require a high performance; however, it is still uncertain which NI technique is suitable for which application since the differences in the characteristics are not clarified well. Therefore, we have systematically investigated the thermal stability of SNI REBCO pancake coils with different circuit parameters in this paper. The thermal stability simulation results of SNI REBCO coils were compared with those of CNI REBCO coils. As a result, the SNI REBCO pancake coils are able to be operated with high thermal stability without deteriorating charging performance as long as the turn-to-turn contact resistances between REBCO tapes and supplementary conductors are low.

Construction and test result of an all-REBCO conduction-cooled 23.5 T magnet prototype towards a benchtop 1 GHz NMR spectroscopy

A compact benchtop high-field REBCO nuclear magnetic resonance is one of the most promising high-temperature superconductor applications. An all-REBCO, conduction-cooled magnet is a very attractive design option for demonstrating the unique potential of REBCO for forefront magnets. In this research, we have successfully constructed and tested a prototype all-REBCO, conduction-cooled, 23.5 T magnet operating at 10 K. We have applied the concept of an extreme no-insulation winding technique, coupled with a solder-shunting procedure to improve magnet performance. We have also used a temperature-controlled charging sequence to reduce the screening current. The magnet was energized to 23.6 T at 14 K; it was further operated to 25 T at 10 K for nearly 60 h.

An HTS Magnet With Individually Controllable Coil Currents Energized by a Single Power Source

This paper reports a feasibility study of a high temperature superconductor (HTS) magnet with individually controllable coil currents energized by a single power source. An HTS magnet, a stack of four double pancake (DP) coils, was designed, constructed, and tested. We fabricated four DP coils using no-insulation winding technique and then connected them in parallel to build the HTS magnet. Each DP coil has two current leads, inlet and outlet, and they are electrically soldered to two HTS current leads connected to a single power source in series. The joints between HTS current leads and each coil’s current lead, to be named “control resistors,” are used to measure and control coil currents in a <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">passive</i> way. A charge-discharge test was performed with the HTS magnet in a liquid nitrogen bath at 77 K. We investigated the electromagnetic behaviors of the HTS magnet by measuring currents, voltages, and magnetic fields. The measurements were described with a numerical simulation using an equivalent circuit model. Two advantages of the HTS magnet were demonstrated: 1) the controllability of coil currents by using “control resistor”; and 2) the improvement of the central magnetic field performance by sharing coil currents.

Design and Characteristic Analysis of a Homopolar Synchronous Machine Using a NI HTS Field Coil

This paper deals with a homopolar synchronous machine (HSM) applying high-temperature superconducting (HTS) field coils. Superconductors, especially high-temperature superconductors, have high potential as advanced materials for next-generation electrical machines due to their high critical current density and excellent mechanical strength. However, coils made with high-temperature superconductors have a high risk of being damaged in the event of a quench due to the intrinsic low normal zone propagation velocity (NZPV). Therefore, the coil protection issue has been regarded as one of the most important research fields in HTS coil applications. Currently, the most actively studied method for quench protection of the HTS coils is the no-insulation (NI) winding technique. The NI winding technique is a method of winding an HTS coil without inserting an insulating material between turns. This method can automatically bypass the current to the adjacent turn when a local quench occurs inside the HTS coil, greatly improving the operating stability of the HTS coils. Accordingly, many institutions are conducting research to develop advanced electrical machines using NI HTS coils. However, the NI HTS coil has its intrinsic charge/discharge delay problem, which makes it difficult to successfully develop electrical machines using the NI HTS coil. In this study, we investigated how this charging/discharging problem appeared when the NI HTS coil was used in an HTS homopolar synchronous machine (HSM) which is one of the electrical machines with a high possibility of applying the HTS coil in the future because it has a stationary field coil structure. For this, the characteristic resistances of HTS coils were experimentally obtained and applied to the simulation model.

Study on the Current Bypassing and Mechanical Properties of No-Insulation HTS Coil With Protection Ring

We have been studying no-insulation (NI) high temperature superconducting (HTS) coils that do not use turn-to-turn electrical insulation. The no-insulation winding technique can provide high stability of the HTS coils against the quenching, but it cannot prevent mechanical deterioration of the HTS coil due to electromagnetic force and multiple cooling. To solve these problems, we propose the installation of metal protection ring on the outermost turn of NI HTS coil to improve thermal, mechanical, and electrical stability. In this study, the current bypass characteristics in the transverse direction within an NI test coil wound with 37 turns of REBCO wire with/without copper protection ring were experimentally investigated for various amounts of heating by a heater and various heater positions. Eight repeated cooling experiments with liquid nitrogen proved that the proposed copper protection ring was effective against shape deformation of the NI test coil and deterioration of contact resistance between turns due to thermal stress.

Mechanical Damage Protection Method by Reducing Induced Current in NI REBCO Pancake Coils During Quench Propagation

The no-insulation (NI) winding technique has been attracting attention, because NI Rare-Earth Barium Copper Oxide (REBCO) pancake coils have high thermal stability. It is an indispensable technology to generate an ultra-high magnetic field. In 2017, using the NI winding technique a world-record high magnetic field, 45.5 T, was generated by 12 insert single pancake coils with an outsert magnet, and it showed a high potential to generate 14.4 T inside a background field of 31.1 T. After the experiment, the REBCO tapes were mechanically damaged, so that the critical currents were deteriorated. A large current was induced in NI REBCO coils next to the quenched coil when one of multi-stacked NI REBCO pancake coils quenched, resulting in tape property degradation and irreversible mechanical damage. Therefore, in order to protect NI REBCO pancake coils during quench, it is desired to reduce the amount of induced current. To suppress an induced current, the idea of “magnetic dam” has been proposed previously. The idea is to use a copper pipe installed at the outside of NI REBCO pancake coils. However, the copper pipe just slowed the quench propagation. In this paper, we extended the method to decrease an induced current much more by installing extra NI REBCO windings instead of the copper pipe. The electromagnetic and stress behaviors of 6-stacked NI REBCO coils with extra windings are simulated when one of the stacked NI REBCO coils transitions into a normal state. The ability of mechanical damage protection from a strong stress by an induced current during quench propagation is demonstrated through simulations.

Sudden Discharging and Overcurrent Simulations of REBCO Coils Coated With Conductive Epoxy Resin

In 2011, a no-insulation (NI) winding technique was first proposed. Rare-Earth Barium Copper Oxide (REBCO) pancake coils using the NI winding technique are promising to generate an ultrahigh magnetic field, because the NI winding technique drastically enhances the thermal stability. When a local hot spot appears on a turn of the NI REBCO pancake coil, the enforced current can bypass into the adjacent turns to suppress the Joule heat generation. Recently, different types of REBCO coils to enhance the thermal stability by escaping the current flow from a local hot spot have been researched and developed. A few years ago, a REBCO single pancake coil whose upper surface was coated with conductive epoxy resin was proposed as one kind of NI winding techniques. The high thermal stability of conductive-epoxy-resin-coated (CERC) REBCO single pancake coil was demonstrated through an overcurrent test. However, the current behavior in the coil is still unclear. Therefore, we have newly developed an equivalent circuit model for CERC REBCO pancake coils. The sudden discharging and overcurrent tests were simulated for CERC REBCO pancake coils, and the resistance parameters were varied to investigate the coil stability.

Turn-to-Turn Contact Resistance Measurement of No-Insulation REBCO Pancake Coil at DC Current Operation

No-insulation (NI) (RE)Ba $_2$ Cu $_3$ O $_y$ (REBCO) magnets are very promising for practical applications to generate high magnetic field. The NI winding technique provides high thermal stability so that quench protection is unnecessary. However, the turn-to-turn contact resistance (sometimes called characteristic resistance) is an important factor to characterize the thermal stability and charging delay of NI REBCO pancake magnets. Although the conventional sudden-discharging method is widely used to measure the turn-to-turn contact resistance, it is not applicable to various conditions; e.g., the change of DC operating current and temperature. Therefore, we have previously proposed a turn-to-turn contact resistance measurement method using a low-frequency AC (LFAC) current. In this paper, we measured the contact resistance for different DC operating currents or change of DC current to confirm the validity of LFAC method. In addition, by heating a test coil, the contact resistances were also measured during the change of DC operating current. Since the electromagnetic stress is small enough not to change the contact condition, the change in contact resistance is negligible. The measured contact resistance was unchanged, so we could conclude that the LFAC method is effective in measurement of the contact resistance when DC operating current was applied.

Study on a Stacked REBCO Coil Composed of Six Single Pancakes With Electrically Conductive Epoxy Resin

A coil without turn-to-turn insulation, called a no-insulation (NI) coil has been developed. The NI winding technique has been reported to be a promising method of quench protection. In order to apply the NI winding technique to a conduction-cooled REBCO coil, we developed a coil using an electrically conductive epoxy resin. The conductive epoxy resin, in which silver powder was mixed, was applied to the edge of the winding. If thermal runaway of the coil is observed, the excessive current could be automatically bypassed through the conductive epoxy resin. In order to confirm the effect of a larger coil with higher stored energy when using the conductive epoxy resin, we fabricated and tested a stacked coil composed of six single pancakes whose inner diameters and outer diameters were 501 mm and 567 mm, respectively. The coil was tested in liquid nitrogen and under conduction cooling conditions. When the operating current was 256 A at 40 K, the stored energy was 29 kJ, and burn-out of the coil could be avoided. These results show that thermal runaway can be avoided in larger coils with higher stored energy by using conductive epoxy resin.

A Flux-Controllable NI HTS Flux-Switching Machine for Electric Vehicle Applications

This paper deals with a flux-controllable NI HTS flux-switching machine (FSM) for electric vehicle (EV) applications. In a variable-speed rotating machine for EVs, such as electric buses, electric aircraft and electric ships, an electric motor capable of regulating the flux offers the advantage of constant output operation. In general, conventional HTS rotating machines have excellent flux-regulation performance, because they excite an HTS field coil. However, it is difficult to ensure any flux-regulation capabilities in HTS rotating machines using HTS field coils that apply the no-insulation (NI) winding technique, due to the inherent charge and discharge delays in these machines. Nevertheless, the NI winding technique is being actively researched as a key technology for the successful development of HTS rotating machines, because it can dramatically improve the operational stability of HTS field coils. Therefore, research to implement an HTS rotating machine with flux-regulation capabilities, while improving the operating stability of the HTS field coil using the NI winding technique, is required for EV applications. In this paper, we propose an HTS rotating machine with a flux switching structure, a type of topology of a rotating machine that is being actively studied for application to the electric motors used in EVs. The proposed HTS flux-switching machine (FSM) uses NI field coils, but additional field windings are applied for flux regulation, which enables flux control. In this study, an NI HTS field coil was also fabricated and tested because the characteristic resistance value should be used for the design and characteristic analyses of machines which utilize an NI coil. The simulation model used to analyze the flux-regulation performance capabilities of the NI HTS FSM were devised based on the characteristic resistance values obtained from a charging test of the fabricated NI HTS field coil. This study can provide a good reference for further research, including work on the manufacturing of a prototype NI HTS FSM for EV applications, and it can be used as a reference for the development of other HTS rotating machines, such as those used in large-scale wind power generation, where flux-regulation capabilities are required.

Progress in the Development of a 25 T All Superconducting Magnet With Small-Scale YBCO Insert Coil

The 25 T all superconducting magnet designed as a combination of 14 T low temperature superconductor (LTS) background field magnet and a 11 T YBCO insert coil has been developed at Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ASIPP). The prototype insert coil with no-insulation winding technique has the inner and outer diameters of 16 mm and 54 mm, respectively, and consists of ten single pancakes wound with about 220 m of YBCO conductors produced by Shanghai Superconducting Technologies Co., Ltd (SSTC). The preliminary tests were carried out at 77 K and 4.2 K. The test results show that the performance of coil did not degrade during the manufacturing and impregnation process, and it can generate a steady-state central magnetic field of 9.7 T in the 14.3 T background field, and 10.6 T in self-field. The detailed design, construction, and preliminary test results of the YBCO insert coil will be fully introduced in this paper.

Electromagnetic, Thermal, and Mechanical Quench Simulation of NI REBCO Pancake Coils for High Magnetic Field Generation

The no-insulation (NI) winding technique drastically enhances the thermal stability of REBa 2 Cu 3 O y (REBCO) coils. Even if a larger current than a critical current is carried in NI REBCO pancake coils, the coils would not burn out. So far, many NI REBCO pancake coils showed a “self-protecting” characteristic in experiments. However, most of these experiments have been done under a low magnetic field or cooled by liquid nitrogen. Under these conditions, a huge electromagnetic force does not occur after an NI REBCO pancake coil transitions into a normal state. Recently, the NI winding technique has been applied to high-field magnets, such as NMR and accelerators. Under a high magnetic field (> 20 T), a huge hoop stress is generated after one NI REBCO pancake coil constituting a high-field magnet by stacking reaches to quench. The huge hoop stress causes the delamination of REBCO-coated conductors. That is, the quench protection condition of high-field NI REBCO magnets is decided according to the mechanical condition, even though the magnets show a high thermal stability. In this paper, three simulation models for NI REBCO pancake coils are compared, and then the mechanical condition is discussed for a quench protection through an electromagnetic, thermal, and mechanical simulation of multistacked NI REBCO pancake coils for high field generation.

Thermal and Electromagnetic Simulation of Multistacked No-Insulation REBCO Pancake Coils on Normal-State Transition by PEEC Method

This paper presents the thermal and electromagnetic behaviors of multistacked no-insulation (NI) REBa 2Cu3O7− x (REBCO, RE = rare earth) pancake coils. The NI winding technique gives a high enough thermal stability not to damage REBCO coils even though a normal-state transition occurs. The high thermal stability has been verified through overcurrent tests. Moreover, the numerical simulation of multistacked NI REBCO pancake coils has been performed to investigate the electromagnetic behaviors in detail. The simulation results also confirmed the high thermal stability of NI REBCO pancake coils. However, it does not mean that an NI REBCO magnet never quenches. In experiments, it was observed that a quench in one of the pancake coils propagated to the other pancake coils sequentially. The above sequential quench from pancake to pancake has not been confirmed in the numerical simulation since the thermal behavior is not considered. For the more reliable verification, we have developed a numerical simulation to investigate the thermal and electromagnetic behaviors by the partial element equivalent circuit method and the two-dimensional thermal finite-element method. In this paper, the six-stacked NI REBCO pancake coil is simulated with several operating temperatures, and the sequential quench is reproduced. The velocity of the sequential quench is also shown.

Feasibility Study of a No-Insulation 1.5-T/600-mm All-REBCO Magnet for MRI Systems

This paper presents the design of a 1.5-T/600-mm all-REBCO magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) magnet comprising a stack of 118 no-insulation (NI) double-pancake coils. A 4.1-mm-wide and 0.1-mm-thick REBCO tape was used in this study. The preshim overall field homogeneity within a 50-cm diameter of spherical volume was estimated to be <25 ppm. According to the equivalent-circuit model of the NI magnet, the basic magnet performance was demonstrated analytically. The design results of the 1.5-T/600-mm all-REBCO MRI magnet with the NI technology indicate the possibility that the NI winding technology can be used in all-REBCO NI magnets for MRI systems. Consequently, the combination of the REBCO tape and the NI winding technique is expected to enable the development of 1.5-T MRI magnets that offer LHe-free operation and are self-protecting, highly compact, and mechanically robust.

Development of REBCO-Based Magnets for Plasma Physics Research

The accessible performance range for most magnetic confinement plasma physics devices expands markedly with increasing magnetic flux density. The MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center is investigating the use of high-temperature superconductors as a low cost means to significantly enhance the performance characteristics of small to moderate scale devices. Our initial investigation emphasized the no-insulation winding technique as a means to produce highly stable dc magnets for devices operating at moderate to high magnetic flux density. We present design, manufacture, and test results for a double pancake coil wound from a 500 m length of 12 mm wide REBCO tape. The coil provides on-axis magnetic flux density within an 8 cm clear bore in excess of 0.5 T when operated in liquid nitrogen and in excess of 6 T when operated in liquid helium. The ultimate aim of the program is to develop conduction-cooled HTS coil modules that can be used for both linear and toroidal plasma devices.

Current Behavior Simulation in Stacked NI REBCO Pancake Coils During Local Normal-State Transition

This paper presents the current behavior and axial Lorenz force of stacked no-insulation (NI) REBa2Cu3O7-x (REBCO, RE = Rare Earth) double-pancake coils during local normal-state transition. The NI winding technique enhances the thermal stability and increases the engineering current density in REBCO pancake coils. The high thermal stability of NI REBCO coil has been verified in experiments of overcurrent test. In addition, the numerical simulations of NI REBCO single-pancake coils have been performed to confirm the high stability. However, REBCO magnets usually consist of some stacked double-pancake coils to generate a high magnetic field for practical applications. When a normal-state transition occurs in one of the stacked pancake coils, it may affect the other pancake coils. For the more reliable verification, the current and electromagnetic force behavior of stacked NI REBCO pancake coils during a normal-state transition should be simulated. To examine the stacked NI REBCO pancake coils, we extend the previously proposed partial element equivalent circuit (PEEC) model to deal with a few double-pancake coils. In this paper, an NI REBCO double-pancake coil and their three stacked coils are simulated by using the extended PEEC model.

Feasibility Study of the Impregnation of a No-Insulation HTS Coil Using an Electrically Conductive Epoxy

This paper reports the feasibility of the impregnation of no-insulation (NI) high-temperature superconducting (HTS) coils using an electrically conductive epoxy resin. Recently, several studies of HTS coils without turn-to-turn insulation have been reported for field coils used in rotating machines such as motors and generators. The NI winding technique enhances the thermal stability of the HTS coil without requiring complicated protection techniques because the quench current is automatically bypassed through the turn-to-turn contacts within the HTS coil. Nevertheless, there is still a question as to whether the NI technique can be applied to rotating machines. To utilize an HTS coil under high mechanical loads such as field coils for rotating machines, the HTS tapes must be stabilized mechanically. For HTS field coils intended for use in rotating machines, epoxy impregnation is generally necessary to protect the HTS field coil from mechanical disturbances caused by the magnetic field and rotational vibration of the rotor to enhance the mechanical stability [1] , [2] . However, the NI HTS coil cannot be fabricated by wet winding using epoxy resin because epoxy resins such as Stycast 2850 FT and CTD 521 are electrically insulating materials. This study examines the electrical stability of an NI HTS coil impregnated with an epoxy resin containing electrically conductive particles. The results are likely to present useful data for the application of electrically conductive epoxy impregnated NI HTS coils to rotating machines.