Koji Shikimachi

System Coordination of 2 GJ Class YBCO SMES for Power System Control

YBCO superconducting wire has a relatively low decrease in power distribution at high temperatures and under a high magnetic field. A high-intensity substrate is used for the wire, so the wire has high machine characteristics. Therefore, it is expected that this wire can be used for large-scale high magnetic field coils. Here, coordination between the SMES system for 100 MVA/2 GJ class load fluctuation compensating was conducted using IBAD/CVD-YBCO wire. The SMES system includes a toroidal type YBCO coil consisting of 180 compact, high magnetic field multi-unit coils, a large coil cooling system that uses the conduction cooling method, which does not use a refrigerant medium, and a multi-cell power converter that achieves multi-unit coil connection with relatively low current and low voltage. Studies were conducted for each individual device and for the whole system. Based on the study plan in this paper, it has become possible to develop and coordinate each device of the 100 MVA/2 GJ class power system load fluctuation compensation SMES system using YBCO wire, which up until now had seem impossible as an actual system.

Development and performance results of 5 MVA SMES for bridging instantaneous voltage dips

The superconducting magnetic energy storage system (SMES) of output 5 MVA has been developed to bridge instantaneous voltage dips. The field examination is executed by setting up this system at the new and large liquid crystal factory in Japan. The developed SMES system can store up to 7.34 MJ of magnetic energy in superconducting coils using the NbTi Rutherford conductor. The maximum output of the developed SMES is 5 MVA, and the system can discharge the output for one s. The operating current of the coil is 2.7 kA, and the rated voltage is 2.5 kV. The field examination was started in July 2003. During the field test, we will confirm the performance of bridging instantaneous voltage dips by SMES, the long-term drive reliability and the standby loss characteristic.

Stress Tolerance and Fracture Mechanism of Solder Joint of YBCO Coated Conductors

YBCO coated conductors have been expected to be applied to superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) due to high critical current density under high magnetic field and possibility of reducing cooling cost. Solder joints are essential to fabricate a high Tc superconducting coil for SMES system which requires long length of coated conductors. Not only low joint resistance but sufficient mechanical strength is needed, since conductors are exposed to large electromagnetic force generated by large transport current and high magnetic field. In the present study, influence of tensile load on transport property through the joint was investigated. The solder joint with sufficiently low resistance of 5.3 nOmega was attained before loading. Such joint can carry the load up to 650 N without substantial degradation. For further applied load, degradation attributed to fracture at the edge of the conductor is firstly observed. Overall fracture is caused by delamination at the interface between YBCO and CeO2 . As a result, importance of interfacial strength between the superconducting and buffer layer is revealed to realize both low joint resistance and mechanical strength for solder joint.

Conceptual Design of HTS Coil for SMES Using YBCO Coated Conductor

High Tc superconducting (HTS) toroidal coil using YBCO coated conductor is designed for 70 MJ class superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) for power system control. Its configuration and shape are optimized by means of genetic algorithm (GA) to minimize the required length of the conductor. The optimization is performed for two kinds of constrains, i.e., maximum electric field or flux flow loss of the coil, which are calculated by means of finite element method (FEM). The FEM analysis considers quantitative current density (J)-electric field (E) expressions based on percolation transition model. It is shown that the great transport performance against magnetic field of YBCO coated conductor can realize a very compact SMES coil compared with an existing Nb-Tis one.

Development of MVA class HTS SMES system for bridging instantaneous voltage dips

A SMES system of MVA class for bridging instantaneous voltage dips has been developed using Bi-2212 wire. The Bi-2212 wire has high-performance conductive characteristics that do not deteriorate at a low temperature in high magnetic fields beyond 10 T. These characteristics enable a compact design of a SMES system of the Bi-2212 wire. In addition, coils of the Bi-2212 wire can be adequately insulated due to a high temperature margin. Therefore, the SMES system designed by using the coils has advantages to enhance dielectric strength and output power of the system. In our previous study, a SMES system consisting of 4 unit coils was constructed and the various properties were examined. Up to the present, the total 18 unit coils were stacked to make a coil system (outer diameter: 700 mm, height: 554 mm, stored energy: 984 kJ) and installed into a SMES system of 1 MVA for bridging instantaneous voltage dips. Also, the cooling system of the HTS SMES has been improved. The characteristics of the conduction cooled HTS coils of 1 MJ class were investigated in the operations of 1 MVA SMES system for bridging instantaneous voltage dips. Thermal reliability was verified during each operations of exciting, standby, bridging and current damping. Moreover, the repetitive bridging operations even worked out every 5 minutes. Advantages of the conduction cooled HTS coils for SMES were verified.

The effect of the 2D internal strain state on the critical current in GdBCO coated conductors

A reversible effect of strain on the critical current (Ic) has been reported for REBa2Cu3O7−δ (REBCO) coated conductors. In this study, the strain sensitivity of Ic was compared for GdBCO coated conductors with different crystal orientations. Extremely small strain sensitivity was confirmed from tensile and bending tests at 77 K for a GdBCO film with the [110] direction parallel to the tape length (Gd-F), while a GdBCO film with the [100] or [010] direction parallel to the tape length (Gd-I) has much stronger strain dependence of Ic. To compare the strain sensitivity of Ic based on internal strain, the lattice strain was evaluated for a GdBCO film in a composite conductor by employing a diffraction technique using synchrotron radiation. The lattice strain was determined along both the a- and b-axes for the orthogonal domains that are generated by the twin structure of GdBCO film. A distinct difference in the 2D strain state that depended on the crystal orientation was revealed for the GdBCO coated conductors. In Gd-I, the lattice strains along the axial and lateral directions are tensile and compressive under tensile loading, respectively, that is, the 2D internal strain state is anisotropic. On the other hand, an almost isotropic 2D strain state was confirmed in Gd-F. In addition, the strain components along the crystal axes in Gd-F are much smaller than the axial strain components in Gd-I. This difference in the internal strain state is attributed to the difference in strain sensitivity between the GdBCO coated conductors with different crystal orientations. The contributions of the strain components along the a- and b-axes to Ic are discussed on the basis of the measured strain sensitivities and internal strains for two conductors.

Transport Characteristics of CVD-YBCO Coated Conductor under Hoop Stress

Transport characteristics of IBAD/ CVD-YBa2Cu3O7 (YBCO) coated conductor were measured at 4.2 K under hoop stress. The conductor was fabricated by a multi-stage metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. The YBCO layer was deposited on Hastelloy substrate with PLD-Ce02 and IBAD-Gd2Zr207 buffer layers. A 20-mum silver layer was sputtered as a protective and stabilizing layer. The hoop stress test coils were fabricated by winding the conductor on a 250-mm diameter stainless-steel bobbin by five turns. Two coils, denoted as coils A and B, were fabricated. The Hastelloy substrate located outside for coil A and inside for coil B. Both coils were tested in magnetic field at 4.2 K under hoop stresses. Coil A and B experienced 1028 and 777 MPa at 11 T, 4.2 K. The measured stress-strain curves provided that the Youngs modulus of the conductor was 190 GPa. The tolerable stress of ~1000 MPa and the Youngs modulus of 190 GPa are consistent with the values obtained by a tensile test. The hoop stress test results indicates that the YBCO coated conductor is promising for application under huge hoop stress.

Development of MJ-class HTS SMES for bridging instantaneous voltage dips

MJ-class HTS SMES has been developed for bridging instantaneous voltage dips using newly-developed Bi-2212 cable. The developed Bi-2212 wire for SMES coils achieves high-performance conductive characteristics that do not deteriorate in high magnetic fields beyond 10 T, which enable compactly arranged SMES coils to be operated in a high magnetic field, and SMES coils of the Bi-2212 wire can be adequately insulated due to a high temperature margin. Therefore it is possible for the SMES coils to enhance dielectric strength and output power. The insulating, cooling and conductive characteristics of 4 unit coils (Outer Diameter: 700 mm, Height: 127 mm, Stored Energy: 90 kJ) were checked under a variety of conditions. Moreover, fundamental performance tests were done on bridging instantaneous voltage dips, using a 125 kW resistance and 50 kW motor as imitation loads. Testing showed that the HTS SMES operated reliably. Up to the present, 11 unit coils (Outer Diameter: 700 mm, Height: 390 mm, Stored Energy: 560 kJ) have been stacked and tested.

Field Test Results of the 5 MVA SMES System for Bridging Instantaneous Voltage Dips

A superconducting magnetic energy storage system (SMES) was developed and has been tested in the field (at a large LCD TV plant in Japan) in order to confirm its performance at bridging instantaneous voltage dips, its long-term reliability and its standby loss. The developed SMES system can store up to 7.34 MJ of magnetic energy in superconducting coils using a NbTi Rutherford conductor with a maximum electric output of 5 MVA. The field tests began in July 2003. During operation, the performing compensatory action of the SMES system on instantaneous voltage dips within the actual system was confirmed. Through the field tests of the SMES system, technical proof of the specifications required to provide instant, effective compensation for instantaneous voltage dips was verified

Performance Improvement of YBCO Coil for High-Field HTS-SMES Based on Homogenized Distribution of Magnetically-Mechanically Influenced Critical Current

Generally speaking for a HTS coil, perpendicular magnetic field to conductors broad surface should be suppressed as small as possible in relation to the magnetic anisotropy. This is a reason why toroidal coil with relatively many elementary coils is expected for HTS-SMES. On the other hand, from the point of view of the homogenization of critical current distribution in the coil, perpendicular field and parallel field should be balanced corresponding to the ratio of the magnetic anisotropy. This means that a certain level of the perpendicular field is effective to reduce local heat generation in the coil. Furthermore, this concept is especially reasonable for a high-field coil with usual winding method (flat-wise winding) because the perpendicular field does not induce hoop stress which decreases the critical current. In this paper, we show these findings through an optimal design of a MOCVD-YBCO toroidal coil for 2 GJ class SMES taking account of magnetically and mechanically influenced J - E characteristics.