Adam C. Francis

Superconducting power supplies commonly known as flux pumps are becoming viable products in various industries. In this work we investigate magnetically switched ( J c ( B ) ) half-wave transformer rectifier flux pumps (TRFPs) via a simulation previously validated against an experimental system. Upgrades to the model are introduced, namely the transition to a fully hysteretic transformer reluctance model and the introduction of a conduction cooling thermal model. The conduction cooling model allows direct comparison between liquid cryogen and conduction cooled systems, highlighting the distinct variations in response. This study focuses on parameter sweeps over some of the most important aspects of a TRFP such as; input power, cooling paths and switch length. The findings from these variable sweeps shed light on how to best design the different aspects of a TRFP for most applications and the conclusions drawn throughout this work can be applied to most TRFP types. Some of the major findings from this work are; i. the need for dedicated cooling busses in TRFP switches, ii. that increased switch lengths increase voltage generation but negatively impact cooling effectiveness iii. that the reduction of the metallic coatings surrounding commercial coated conductors results in larger switch voltages.

We report microsecond timescale switching between the superconducting and normal states of commercially manufactured high-Tc superconducting wires using optical radiation to heat the conductor above Tc. The achieved voltages and switching times have significant implications for a new class of thermal switches. The report contains experimental data for photo-induced microsecond scale voltage transients as well as numerical analysis of heat propagation through the material in response to optical radiation. The microbridges are etched into commercially manufactured coated conductors and submerged in liquid nitrogen. By varying the magnitude of the transport current, two different optical responses are identified. At low transport currents, short-lived voltage transients occur, transitioning to persistent latching once the current is increased above a threshold value. The microbridge, therefore, behaves as a fast opening and closing switch when carrying low currents or an optically latched thyristor at high currents. This is understood to occur due to critical current suppression as a result of heating from the optical pulse. Optically induced heating reduces the superconducting volume fraction, and Joule heating due to the transport current interaction with the high temperature superconducting occurs, which either causes short-lived or stable self-heating normal regions dependent on the magnitude of the transport current. This study is concluded with an estimate of the energy necessary to drive the microbridge into the resistive state. The observed behavior can potentially be utilized as a switching element in superconducting transformer rectifiers where high frequency switch operation is required.

High-current flux pumps are an enabling technology for high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets operating in a quasi-persistent current mode (qPCM). For fusion energy specifically, flux pumps must be capable of delivering more than 10 kA of DC output to a superconducting magnet. Recent HTS flux pumps have yet to achieve more than 1–3 kA of current. In this report, we present progress towards a 10 kA HTS flux pump using the transformer-rectifier circuit topology at the Paihau-Robinson Research Institute. A 10 kA test solenoid has been designed and the fabrication has been commenced. The main requirements of the rectifier switches and transformer have been identified and evaluated, with a circuit simulation demonstrating 10 kA of output expected in under 15 s, with a current ripple of only 0.33%. Finally, a method of low-resistance solder joint fabrication using indium-foil is validated.

A high temperature superconducting (HTS) dynamo is a type of device known as a “flux pump” that can inject DC into a closed superconducting circuit. Here, we report experimental results from a variable-temperature dynamo-type HTS flux pump operated within a cryo-cooled chamber. This device employs a “continuous stator” topology, whereby an HTS “coated conductor” is wrapped to form a cylinder around a mechanical rotor such that applied flux from the rotor magnet must always penetrate the stator. This leads to a high current device that can inject >1 kA into a series-connected HTS coil at 53 K. The open-circuit DC output voltage (Voc) from this HTS dynamo has been studied at stator temperatures between 35 and 95 K and attained a maxima at a temperature ∼5 K lower than the stator Tc. At lower temperatures, Voc decreases and falls to zero below ∼40 K. This non-intuitive effect is found to be due to flux-screening by critical currents flowing with the HTS stator, which increase with decreasing temperature. These shielding currents prevent flux from penetrating the HTS stator and, hence, reduce the magnitude of locally induced emf (and thus DC output) within the HTS film. A key implication of these results is that all magnetically driven HTS flux pumps should be operated at temperatures well above their flux-screening point, and this consideration must be taken into account for future designs of multi-kA class HTS flux pumps.