RADIABEAM TECHNOLOGIES, LLC — Department of Energy SBIR Phase II: Experimental measurement of Normal Zone Propagation (NZP) velocity in HTS 2G wires yields

Description

Experimental measurement of Normal Zone Propagation (NZP) velocity in HTS 2G wires yields values below 1 mm/s. Such low propagation velocity results in concentrated energy dissipation and irreversible damage of the magnet during an unprotected quench. This project is developing a novel method for quench protection of high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets based on coupling the magnet with a high-power resonant coil. The quench protection is realized by applying an electromagnetic pulse through the resonant coil and disrupting the superconducting state in the conductor. This creates a large (10s of meters) normal zone in less than 10 ms, thus ensuring even distribution of the energy dissipation. The proposed protection system does not involve generation of high voltage on the coil leads and does not contribute to cryogenic losses. The system is easily scaled to a magnet of arbitrary size. Multi-Physics design, mechanical design, fabrication and systematic study of a proof of concept experiment utilizing this inductive was executed. A HTS solenoid with this quench protection system will be designed, built and tested for utilization in Ultrafast Electron Microscopy (UEM) experiments at the UCLA Pegasus Laboratory. physics magnets. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits: The implications of successful development of this protection system are significant. Conventional market segments such as energy, medical and R & amp;D could immediately benefit from reductions in mean time between failures (MTBF) and increase overall availability of these devices. This is critical within the context of all devices within these markets segments, as typically the HTS coils are components embedded within extremely costly devices intended for high availability such as generators, transformers, magnetic resonance imagers and high energy.