COMPOSITE TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT, INC. — Department of Energy SBIR Phase I: 19c

Description

The U.S. Department of Energy is developing nuclear fusion as a source of abundant, renewable energy for the nation. Many fusion reactor designs have been put forward using high temperature superconductors. High temperature superconductors offer not only the potential for achieving higher fields and near-continuous operation in fusion magnets, as well as for decreasing the reactor size and simplifying maintenance High quality joints between superconducting cable and magnet segments are key for moving these concepts forward. The primary objective of the Phase I work is to develop an insulation scheme that is compatible with joint designs under consideration for helical field coils and demountable toroidal field coils to be used in future fusion energy systems. Key features of the insulation system include the need to insulate potentially complex shapes, the need for thin insulation, integration with ground insulation, thermal conductivity and radiation tolerance. This program focuses on the development and demonstration a fully insulated prototype joint based on state-of-the-art joint designs. The overall goal of this proposed Phase I program is to develop an insulation scheme that is compatible with joint designs for cable and magnet applications and to demonstrate the performance of a representative joint selected during the course of the program. In Phase I, a representative set of requirements for joints will be established and used to develop an insulation scheme that is compatible with current state-of-the-art joint designs as well as being adaptable to future demountable joint concepts. The electrical performance of a representative joint insulated with the new scheme will be demonstrated. In addition to benefitting the development of future plasma-confinement magnets for fusion energy applications, the proposed work will benefit several segments of the U.S. economy. These include energy generation and distribution, medical imaging, scientific instruments, transportation, and defense. Specific examples include: Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage systems, superconducting generators for large (10 MW) off-shore wind turbines, power cables for industry and utility applications, and electric motors for ships and rail systems, as well as the construction of superconducting magnets for Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance systems.