Shigeru Ioka

New 25 T Cryogen-Free Superconducting Magnet Project at Tohoku University

The new high magnetic field research laboratory network is recognized as one of the Japanese Master Plans of Large Research Project by the Science Council of Japan. Recently, the project of the 25 T cryogen-free superconducting magnet (25 T-CSM), which is operated under a conductive cooling condition by cryocooler, was approved under the high magnetic field research laboratory network. We adopted a high strength CuNb/Nb3Sn Rutherford cable with a prebending treatment for the middle section coils of the 25 T-CSM. The central magnetic field of 14 T is generated by the operational current of 851 A by the Nb3Sn middle section and NbTi outer section coils in a 300 mm bore. The induced maximum hoop stress in the CuNb/Nb3Sn section is about 250 MPa. In addition, the 11.5 T high temperature superconducting insert coil is also designed using Gd123 tapes. Therefore, a total central magnetic field of 25.5 T can be achieved.

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.

Upgraded Cryogen-Free 20 T Superconducting Magnet

We have constructed an 18 T superconducting magnet conductively cooled by a GM/JT (Gifford-McMahon/Joule-Thomson) cryocooler. A double-pancake stacked insert coil using Ag-sheathed Bi2Sr2Ca2Cu3O10 (Bi2223) tape with stainless steel reinforcement has generated 2.5 T in a 15.5 T outer LTS coil. After we constructed the cryogen-free 18 T superconducting magnet (18 T-CSM), Bi2223 tape conductors have been improved in both critical current and strength. The critical current of the conductor doubled and a tape conductor with copper alloy reinforcement which has a strength of 250 MPa at 77 K was developed. So we developed a new Bi2223 insert coil for the cryogen-free superconducting magnet which can generate 4.5 T in a 15.5 T outer LTS coil by exchanging the insert coil. The new 20 T cryogen-free superconducting magnet (20 T-CSM) can generate constant magnetic fields up to 20 T in a 52-mm room-temperature bore.

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.

AC Losses of an HTS Insert in a 25-T Cryogen-Free Superconducting Magnet

A 25-T cryogen-free superconducting magnet (25T-CSM) is being developed at the High Field Laboratory for Superconducting Materials, Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University. In the case of a cryogen-free superconducting magnet, the coil temperature rises during a sweep of an operating current due to ac losses. Hence, the ac loss estimation is very important for the cooling design. The critical current density and the magnetization of Gd123 tapes at 4.2 K were measured in order to estimate the ac loss of a Gd123 insert of the 25T-CSM. The ac loss is actually the hysteresis loss, which are calculated from the Jc properties taking the magnetic field distribution in the Gd123 coil into account. Regarding the effect of tape stacking (or winding) in a pancake coil, the slab approximation can be used for hysteresis loss calculation. In the case of slab model, the full penetration field at the center of the tape becomes higher than the maximum applied magnetic field in the most part of the coil. As a result, the hysteresis loss increases with increasing a magnetic field when the magnet energizes. The hysteresis losses assuming the slab model, however, show an opposite field dependence to those calculated from the strip model without the stacking effect. Hence, the ac loss of 5 W is estimated when the magnet energizes to 25.5 T within 60 min.

Performance of a 14-T CuNb/Nb3Sn Rutherford coil with a 300 mm wide cold bore

A large-bore 14-T CuNb/Nb3Sn Rutherford coil was developed for a 25 T cryogen-free superconducting magnet. The magnet consisted of a low-temperature superconducting (LTS) magnet of NbTi and Nb3Sn Rutherford coils, and a high-temperature superconducting magnet. The Nb3Sn Rutherford coil was fabricated by the react-and-wind method for the first time. The LTS magnet reached the designed operation current of 854 A without a training quench at a 1 h ramp rate. The central magnetic field generated by the LTS magnet was measured by a Hall sensor to be 14.0 T at 854 A in a 300 mm cold bore.

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.

10 T generation by an epoxy impregnated GdBCO insert coil for the 25 T-cryogen-free superconducting magnet

A GdBa2Cu3O y (Gd123) insert coil for the 25 T cryogen-free superconducting magnet was constructed, installed and tested. We succeeded in the generation of 10 T using a Gd123 insert coil without a background field. The temperature of the Gd123 coil increased from 4.5 K gradually and reached about 5.5 K, when the magnet was energized with 0.036 A/s, which corresponds to a 1 hour energizing mode. The calculated and measured central magnetic fields are 10.61 T and 10.15 T, respectively, because of the magnetization current effect in RE123 tape. The maximum heat load by the AC-losses estimated from the temperature rise is about 3 W, which is consistent with the slab model combined with tape stacking effect.

Construction of a 25-T cryogen-free superconducting magnet

The construction of a 25-T cryogen-free superconducting magnet (25T-CSM) has started in 2013 at the High Field Laboratory for Superconducting Materials, Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University. The 25T-CSM consists of a low-T superconducting (LTS) coil and a high-Tc superconducting (HTS) coil. A high-strength CuNb/Nb3Sn Rutherford cable with the reinforcing stabilizer CuNb composite is adopted for the middle LTS section coil. The characteristic feature of the new technology using a CuNb/Nb3Sn Rutherford cable is a react-and-wind method for the coil-winding process. The LTS coil of 300-mm winding inner diameter is fabricated, and a central magnetic field of 14 T is generated at an operation current of 851 A. The HTS insert coil wound with GdBa2Cu3Oy (Gd123) tape has a 52-mm experimental room temperature bore, and a central magnetic field of 25.5 T will be generated at an operation current of 150 A in a background field of 14 T.

Testing of Stacked Pancake Coils for a Cryogen-Free 25-T Superconducting Magnet

A cryogen-free 25-T superconducting magnet with a 52-mm room temperature bore consists of an 11-T REBa2Cu3O7-δ (REBCO) insert coil and outer 14-T lowtemperature superconducting (LTS) coils. The REBCO insert coil is composed of a stack of 56 single pancake coils. The inner and outer diameters of the REBCO insert coil are 102 and 263 mm, respectively, and the total conductor length is about 14 km. The REBCO insert coil is cooled by circulating helium gas using both single-stage and two-stage Gifford-McMahon cryocoolers, and the LTS coils are cooled by two Gifford-McMahon/Joule-Thomson cryocoolers. The maximum hoop stress of the REBCO insert coil was estimated to be 387 MPa when the central magnetic field was 25 T. If thermal runaway occurs in a conduction-cooled system, the REBCO coils will almost certainly be burned out. Therefore, the coil should have no damaged area in the winding because a damaged area would generate heat locally, eventually resulting in thermal runaway. In order to avoid the degradation of the coil due to thermal stress, the coil was divided into all winding parts in the radial direction. In practice, the coil was divided by inserting a polyimide tape coated with a fluorine resin, which has low adhesive strength, into the epoxy resin at every turn. Before fabricating and testing the actual REBCO insert coil, two kinds of coils were fabricated and tested in order to evaluate the validity of the winding method. Two stacked pancake coils wound with REBCO-coated conductors were fabricated and tested in liquid helium with a 4-T background magnetic field in order to evaluate whether the coil could withstand the hoop stress of over 387 MPa. Moreover, we fabricated and tested a demonstration coil which was composed of a stack of four single pancake coils with the same size as the pancake coils used for the REBCO insert coil in order to evaluate whether the coil could withstand the thermal stress and the electromagnetic force.