Sadanori Iwai

Thermal Stability of Conduction-Cooled YBCO Pancake Coil

When a high-temperature superconducting (HTS) coil is operated using a conduction-cooling technique, the coil should be impregnated with epoxy resin because the coil is not sufficiently cooled without it. On the other hand, it is important that the coil should have no damaged area in the winding because the damaged area would generate heat locally and the coil would eventually quench. However, whenever we fabricated an impregnated HTS coil wound with YBCO tapes and evaluated its V-I characteristics, the n-value of the coil was much lower than we expected, indicating that the critical currents of some areas in the winding drastically decreased. Therefore, we have started to improve the performance of an impregnated HTS coil wound with YBCO tapes. In this paper, we investigated the cause of the degradation and found that the degradation did not occur when we decreased the radial tensile stress in the windings. Then we fabricated four single-pancake coils, stacked them, and tested them in a conduction-cooled condition. The measured V-I curves were in good agreement with the calculated ones, suggesting that we successfully developed a technique of fabricating an impregnated HTS coil wound with YBCO tapes with no degradation. We also measured thermal runaway currents of a conduction-cooled HTS coil composed of two single-pancake coils wound with YBCO tapes and numerically simulated the thermal properties by using a three-dimensional heat conduction equation in order to study the thermal stability of the YBCO coil. The measured thermal runaway currents were in good agreement with the calculated ones.

Degradation-Free Impregnated YBCO Pancake Coils by Decreasing Radial Stress in the Windings and Method for Evaluating Delamination Strength of YBCO-Coated Conductors

A radial stress is generated in the winding when an impregnated YBCO pancake coil is cooled from room temperature to 77 K or less. If this radial stress locally exceeds the delamination strength of the YBCO-coated conductor under transverse tensile stress, the coil will be degraded. Although several methods for evaluating the delamination strength of YBCO-coated conductors have been reported, the delamination strength determined by these methods has shown considerable variation. In order to fabricate an impregnated coil that does not suffer from degradation, it is important to determine the exact delamination strength. The delamination strength was evaluated using small impregnated test coils with an inner diameter of 30 mm and an outer diameter from 36 mm to 60 mm, since the radial stress depends on the ratio of inner to outer diameter regardless of the coil size. The delamination strength can be obtained by investigating the ratio of inner to outer diameter that does not result in degradation. On the other hand, for a larger ratio of inner to outer diameter, it is necessary to make the radial stress less than the delamination strength of the YBCO-coated conductor. To achieve this, the radial stress was decreased by dividing the coil into a number of parts in the radial direction.

RandD Project on HTS Magnets for Ultrahigh-Field MRI Systems

An R&D project on high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets using (RE)Ba2Cu3O7 (REBCO; RE = rare earth) wires for ultrahigh-field (UHF) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems is described. Our targets are 9.4-T MRI systems for whole-body imaging and brain imaging. REBCO wires are promising components for UHF-MRI because REBCO wires have high critical current density in high magnetic fields and high strength against hoop stresses, which allows MRI magnets to be smaller and lighter than conventional ones. The aim of the project is to establish basic magnet technologies for adapting REBCO coils for UHF-MRI. The project term is three years, and this year is the final year. We have already demonstrated the generation of an 8.27-T magnetic field with a small test coil composed of 22 REBCO pancake coils. A magnetic field spatial distribution with inhomogeneity of several hundreds of parts per million within 100-mm diameter spherical volume (DSV) was demonstrated with a 1-T model magnet. A stable magnetic field of a few parts per million per hour was also demonstrated with the 1-T model magnet. The targets of the project, to be achieved by March 2016, are to demonstrate the generation of a 9.4-T field with the small REBCO coil, and to demonstrate a homogeneous magnetic field in 200-mm DSV with a 1.5-T magnet having three pairs of split coils. Imaging will be performed with the 1.5-T magnet.

Numerical Simulation on Magnetic Field Generated by Screening Current in 10-T-Class REBCO Coil

In a REBCO superconducting magnet for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) applications, the large screening current induced by a magnetic field perpendicular to the winding tape is a serious problem: it generates irregular magnetic field that deteriorates the spatial field homogeneity and temporal field stability in MRI applications. Therefore, we need to estimate the magnetic field generated by the screening current using electromagnetic field analysis to design and develop a REBCO magnet that generates highly accurate and stable magnetic field. Therefore, to examine the influence of the magnetic field generated by the screening current, we constructed cryocooler-cooled small bore-coil stacked pancake REBCO coils with an inner diameter of 50 mm. This coil generates a magnetic field of 10 T at the center. In this study, we report the evaluation of the current distribution and magnetic field in the REBCO coil using the developed 3-D numerical simulation code for electromagnetic field analysis in a REBCO tape using the finite-element method and fast multipole method. The numerical results agree well with the experimental results. Furthermore, we discuss the current distribution in the REBCO tape and the spatial and temporal behavior of the magnetic field on the basis of the results of the experiments and numerical simulation.

Experimental Results of Screening-Current Field With 10-T Class Small REBCO Coil

A REBCO-coated conductor has a tape shape and is suitable for forming a stack of single pancakes for generating a high magnetic field. However, the magnetic flux going through the tape surface causes a screening current, which reduces the magnetic field in conventional coil designs. Magnetic resonance imaging systems need high uniformity of the magnetic field, both spatially and temporally, and thus, the screening field resulting from the screening current is one of the critical issues. In this paper, a 10-T class small test coil using REBCO-coated conductors was fabricated and tested in a conduction-cooled configuration from 10 to 60 K for investigating the effect of the screening field on the generated magnetic field in the inner space of the coil. The coil was composed of a stack of 22 single pancakes using 4-mm-wide REBCO tapes with an inner diameter of 50 mm, an outer diameter of 129 mm, and a height of 104 mm. For different stacking orders based on the coil critical currents, the measured values of the central magnetic field at 10 K were 7.66 and 8.27 T, which were lower than the calculated values of 8.07 and 8.70 T obtained without taking account of the screening-current fields.

Delamination Strengths of Different Types of REBCO-Coated Conductors and Method for Reducing Radial Thermal Stresses of Impregnated REBCO Pancake Coils

An impregnated pancake coil is composed of a REBa2Cu3O7-δ (REBCO)-coated conductor, a polyimide tape, and epoxy resin, so that a radial thermal stress is generated in the winding by their anisotropic thermal contraction when the coil is cooled from room temperature to 77 K or less. If this radial stress locally exceeds the delamination strength of the REBCO-coated conductor under transverse tensile stress, the coil will be degraded. Although it is important to determine the exact delamination strength of the REBCO-coated conductor to fabricate an impregnated coil that does not suffer from degradation, the delamination strengths reported until now have shown considerable variation due to the evaluation methods used. Therefore, we propose a new method for evaluating the delamination strength using small epoxy impregnated test coils, since the radial stress depends on the ratio of inner to outer diameters regardless of the coil size. The delamination strength can be obtained by investigating the ratios of inner to outer diameters that do not result in degradation. In this paper, the delamination strengths of three types of REBCO-coated conductors made with different manufacturing processes and having different configurations were evaluated. This method showed that a conductor laminated with copper plates had higher delamination strength than the other two kinds of conductors. In addition, impregnated single pancake coils whose inner diameter was 50 mm and whose outer diameter was 100 mm were fabricated using the three types of REBCO-coated conductors. Degradation was avoided in all coils by dividing the coils into a number of winding parts in the radial direction according to the delamination strength of the conductors.

Design of a Cooling System for a REBCO Insert Coil in a Cryogen-Free 25 T Superconducting Magnet

A cryogen-free 20 T superconducting magnet with a 52 mm room-temperature bore was developed and installed in Tohoku University in 2013. This magnet consists of a Bi2223 insert coil, which generates 4.5 T, and outer low-temperature superconducting (LTS) coils. Both coils were cooled by a GM/JT cryocooler with 4.2 W-class cooling capacity at 4.3 K. To generate a higher magnetic field, a new cryogen-free 25 T superconducting magnet using a REBCO insert coil, which generates 11.5 T, and new outer LTS coils is now under development. The magnetic field contribution of this REBCO insert coil is considerably higher than that of the previous Bi2223 insert coil, and the ac-loss of the insert coil during field ramping rises to approximately 9.7 W. The LTS coils have to operate at about 4 K, but the REBCO coil can operate at various temperatures above 4 K. In addition, the cooling capacity of a GM cryocooler is greater than that of a GM/JT cryocooler around 10 K. Thus, the REBCO insert coil is cooled to about 10 K by using two GM cryocoolers, independently of the LTS coils, which are cooled by two GM/JT cryocoolers. To protect the cryocoolers from the leakage field of the magnet, the two GM cryocoolers cool circulating helium gas through heat exchangers, and the gas is transported over a long distance to another heat exchanger provided for the REBCO insert coil. The maximum temperature of the REBCO insert coil was calculated under the most severe condition where an insert coil ac-loss of 9.7 W was generated continuously. And it was confirmed to be less than the target maximum temperature of 12 K.

Development of Large-Scale Racetrack Coil Wound With REBCO-Coated Conductors

A newly designed racetrack coil wound with REBCO-coated conductor was developed and demonstrated. The coil shape was improved to achieve consistent dimensional accuracy, and the winding structure was improved to prevent degradation in the epoxy-impregnated windings. The wire length of the fabricated large-scale coils was 574 m, and the overall size was 434 mm × 796 mm. This wire length was longer than that of any of the coils the authors fabricated previously. The outer radiuses in both the semicircular sections and the pseudo-straight sections, which had a slight curvature, were approximately the same in the two coils, to within 1 mm, indicating that good dimensional accuracy was obtained consistently. Furthermore, the n-value was sufficiently high at 24 in an electric field range from 10- 9 to 10- 7 V/cm at 77 K, which indicates that the coils had no damaged area in the windings.

Design of YBCO Insert Coil for a Cryogen-Free 22 T Superconducting Magnet

A YBCO insert coil has been developed for upgrading a cryogen-free 18 T superconducting magnet installed in the High Field Laboratory for Superconducting Materials (HFLSM) at Tohoku University to a 22 T superconducting magnet. The YBCO insert coil is designed to generate 6.5 T at 200 A in 15.5 T outer LTS coils. The YBCO insert coil is composed of a stack of 50 single pancake coils wound with YBCO-coated conductors (0.23 mm × 4 mm). The inner and outer diameters of the YBCO insert coil are 96 mm and 178 mm, respectively, and the total conductor length is about 3 km. The maximum hoop stress of the YBCO insert coil was estimated to be 310 MPa when the central magnetic field was 22 T. The magnet system is cooled by a GM/JT cryocooler and two single-stage GM cryocoolers. Thermal runaway may cause burnout of the YBCO insert coil, and therefore, it is important to calculate the voltage-current characteristics of the coil from the superconducting properties of the YBCO-coated conductors. The coil should have no damaged area in the windings because a damaged area would generate heat locally, eventually resulting in thermal runaway. Therefore, a demonstration coil with almost the same size as the pancake coils used for the YBCO insert coil was fabricated and tested in conduction cooling conditions in order to evaluate whether the coil could withstand the thermal stresses and electromagnetic force.

Evaluation of Magnetic Field Homogeneity of a Conduction-Cooled REBCO Magnet with a Room-Temperature Bore of 200 mm

Development of a high-temperature superconducting magnet wound with REBa2Cu3O7-δ (REBCO)-coated conductor for ultrahigh-field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is in progress. Our final targets are 9.4-T MRI systems for whole-body and brain imaging. Since REBCO-coated conductors feature high mechanical strength under a tensile stress and high critical current density, superconducting magnets could be made smaller by using REBCO coils. Superconducting magnets for MRI require homogeneous stable magnetic fields. The homogeneity of the magnetic field is highly dependent on the size and current density of the coils. Furthermore, in REBCO magnets, the screening-current-induced magnetic field that changes the magnetic field distribution of the magnet is one of the critical issues. In order to evaluate the magnetic field homogeneity and the screening-current-induced magnetic field of REBCO magnets, a conduction-cooled REBCO magnet with a room-temperature bore of 200 mm was fabricated and tested. The REBCO coils were composed of 12 single pancakes, and the size of the homogeneous magnetic field region was 100-mm diameter spherical volume (DSV). The central magnetic field was as high as 1 T at 285 A. The magnetic field distribution on the z-axis was measured by using an NMR probe. The maximum error magnetic field was 470 parts per million (ppm) in the range from -50 to +50 mm, as well as in the coefficients of the spherical harmonic expansion for a 100-mm DSV. The error magnetic fields due to the screening-current-induced magnetic field were less than 5 ppm, because there was a sufficient distance between the coil and the homogeneous magnetic field region. The main reason for the error magnetic field was dimensional errors in the outer diameters and positions on the z-axis.