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In this paper, we investigated the electrical and thermal performance of conduction-cooled Bi2212/Ag HTS coils with 4K-GM cryocooler system. First, we measured the critical current Ic for different ambient temperatures T0 at 4.2 K - 40 K. Experimental results revealed that Ic increased with the decrease in T0 and was saturated at T0 < 10 K. We carried out thermal analysis considering heat generation, conduction and transfer under conduction-cooling condition, and reproduced the electrical and thermal characteristics of the conduction-cooled HTS coil, taking account of temperature dependence of specific heat and thermal conductivity of the materials. We also measured the temperature rise of Bi2212/Ag HTS coil for different continuous current levels at T0 = 4.8 K. Experimental results revealed the criterion of thermal runaway, which was discussed in terms of heat generation and propagation in the test coil.

Since FY 2004, a four-year Japanese national project has been ongoing to develop an HTS-SMES as a sub-program of the Development of Superconducting Power Network Control Technology. The purpose of this project is to confirm the performance of a high energy density SMES coil with Bi-2212 cables. This coil system is composed of an NbTi outer coil and a Bi-2212 inner coil, consisting of 16 double pancakes. A Bi2212 cable of 140 m length is used for the double-pancake windings, and reinforcing materials are co-wound with the cable. A winding inner diameter of 360 mm was set according to the bending tolerance of the cable. The magnet is to be cooled at 4.2 K by liquid helium in order to obtain high overall current density. In the first year of this project, a conceptual design and various experiments for HTS magnet were carried out. This paper describes the test results of the HTS experimental coil that was developed to evaluate the electrical and thermal characteristics of an HTS. It is important to minimize deterioration and damage to the cable, because such defects cause fatal impact to the coil. Consequentially, high accuracy measurement of V-I characteristics up to10−8 V/cm range was performed in this experiment.

Superconducting Fault Current Limiting Transformer (SFCLT) is expected to perform functions both of transformer in the normal operating condition and of fault current limiter in the system fault condition. As the Phase-3 of the SFCLT project, we have been developing SFCLT based on Bi2212/CuNi bulk coils at LN2 temperature and verified its technical feasibility. In this paper, we developed a numerical model for evaluation of the electrical and thermal behavior of HTc-SFCLT such as current limitation and recovery characteristics. This model took into account E-J characteristics of Bi2212/CuNi bulk coil and its electrical and thermal transient phenomena during the operation of HTc-SFCLT. The simulated current agreed well with the experimental data with the error of less than 5％. The excellent current limitation and self recovery characteristics obtained by the experiments could also be reproduced. With the numerical model, current and thermal behavior of HTc-SFCLT was simulated for different parameters of conductor configuration, which would be useful for the future design and optimization of HTc-SFCLT.

YBCO coated conductor has high prospects for coils used in high magnetic fields, but not only its higher transport characteristics but also its adequate workability are required for coil applications. In these studies, mechanical properties of YBCO tape fabricated by multistage chemical vapor deposition were investigated by flat-wise and edgewise bend strain tests. After estimation of influences of its bend strain and its self magnetic field, a small coil of the long YBCO tape could be manufactured. Basic characteristics of the coil were investigated and maximum magnetic field of 0.4 T class was achieved in decompressed liquid nitrogen by the small YBCO coil.

In applications to power transmission cables, a number of YBCO tapes would be assembled and wound spirally on a Cu former. The YBCO tapes and the Cu former would be connected in parallel and could be subjected to short-circuit fault currents 10 to 30 times the operating current. The fault currents would drive the YBCO tapes into the normal state and thus generate Joule heating for the duration of the fault. Therefore, in order to examine the stability and feasibility of YBCO power transmission cables, it is important to demonstrate the redistribution of the transport current and the electromagnetic coupling between the YBCO tapes and the Cu former during a short-circuit fault current. We constructed a 1 m long superconducting model cable and subjected it to an overcurrent with a peak of 31.5 kArms for a duration of 2.0 s, as established by JEC (Japanese Electrotechnical Committee), in a liquid nitrogen bath. We examined the redistribution of the transport current between the YBCO sample tapes and the Cu former by using Hall probes. In addition, we developed a novel computer code based on the finite element method and an equivalent circuit in order to clarify the characteristics of the redistribution of the transport current and the thermal behaviour within the cable. Finally, we designed a 10 m long cable that would reach the degradation temperature of the YBCO tape due to the fault currents.

YBCO tapes are expected to be used in future high temperature superconductor (HTS) applications because they have excellent Jc characteristics at high temperatures and in high magnetic fields. For application to electric power devices such as transmission cables, transformers, and fault current limiters, the YBCO tapes might be subjected to a short-circuit fault current that is 10–30 times the normal operating current. In a worst-case scenario, YBCO tapes may degrade and burn. Therefore, it is important to clarify the mechanism of the degradation caused by an over-current pulse. This paper describes the experimental results of the degradation of the YBCO tapes through a series of over-current pulse tests. We focussed on the degradation temperature and carried out the experiments with different bending strains. Measurements were performed as a function of the amplitude of an over-current pulse for an operating temperature of 80 K (Gifford-McMahon cryocooler was adopted) in a self-field. We also examined a tape after the experiments with magneto-optical (MO) imaging, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and electron diffraction patterns.