Coil Simulators for AC Conductors

This STTR Project addresses stability issues in Second Generation High Temperature Superconductor (2G HTS) wire and will test novel components for increased stability and measurement techniques to evaluate stability at a wide range of conditions, in particular for demanding military AC HTS applications. Wire fabrication at AMSC and testing experiments at FSU will focus on AC stability and quench protection issues for AC magnet applications. Specific experiments will focus on determining safe operational limits for YBCO coated conductors and how these limits are affected by AC transport current. In the Phase II of this Project a so-called "coil simulator test facility" will be built, to be designed in the Phase I. The coil simulator will be able to test short lengths of wire as if positioned in a coil, under a variety of DC+AC fields, AC currents up to 400 Hz, and temperatures from 27 to 77K. The facility will be able to test a wide variety of wire designs (filament size, substrate and stabilizer components, wire width etc.). This type of testing will be very cost-effective with a fast feed-back to researchers concerned with wire architecture and magnet and system design engineers. Optimal quench strategies will be explored in a larger coil using novel stabilizers developed in the Phase I.