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The magnetism of substrate has significant influence on the transport loss in high temperature superconducting (HTS) coated conductors (CCs). Taking three types of substrates (i.e., nonmagnetic, weakly magnetic, and strongly magnetic) into account, a study on the frequency dependence (in the range of 10–1000 Hz) of transport loss in HTS CCs with these substrates is performed numerically and experimentally. Different loss components and magnetic field profile are calculated individually to clarify the effect of substrate magnetism. Results show that HTS CCs with magnetic substrate exhibit higher transport loss than CCs with nonmagnetic substrate. Both hysteresis loss in HTS layer and eddy current loss in conventional metal increase with the enhancement of substrate magnetism.

Frequency dynamics, occurring due to the high penetration of the renewable energy in the microgrid (MG) are of great concern to the system dynamic stability. The battery energy storage systems are reported to have a good frequency regulating ability in the off-grid microgrid systems. However, to compensate the power irregularities, the battery is needed to charge and discharge at a high frequency, which degrades its lifetime significantly. In addition, in the primary frequency control (PFC) the battery needs to deal with the abrupt power changes, which will also accelerate the battery degradation process. In this regard, this paper presents a new concept of primary frequency control by integrating the superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) with battery, thus achieving the ability of not only performing a good frequency regulating function but also extending the battery service time. A novel power sharing method using the dynamic droop factors to control charge/discharge prioritization between the SMES and the battery is proposed and has been proved to have a better operation than the preceding droop control. A microgrid system based on the case of Uligam Island of Maldives is developed in the PSCAD, verifying the performance of PFC with the hybrid energy storage system (HESS) using the dynamic droop control. The results show that the HESSs have a better frequency regulating ability and the proposed dynamic droop control is capable of exploiting the different characteristics of both SMES and battery, forming a kind of complementary hybrid energy storage system. Moreover, the battery in the new control scheme is better protected from the short-term frequent cycles and abrupt currents, hence has been proved to have a longer lifetime extension.

Growing electricity demand from a range of sources and the changes of the power grid structures open the possibility of more frequent and much higher fault current. Traditional solutions to the fault are difficult to satisfy the requirement of the new power grid due to many factors, such as high cost, additional impact to power grid in normal loading condition, which leads to the research for an efficient alternative solution of interest to both academia and industry: Superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL). In this paper, two types of low-inductance solenoidal coils, the braid type and the nonintersecting type, are built with 2G high-temperature superconductors. The current limiting performance, the recovery characteristics, and the ac losses of both types of coils are tested and compared in detail. Experimental results show that both types of coils can effectively limit fault current and recover in several seconds. Furthermore, comparison between the ac losses of both types of SFCLs shows that the ac loss of the braid type coil is lower than that of the single tape by about an order of magnitude in low-current regions.

This study examines the use of superconducting magnetic and battery hybrid energy storage to compensate grid voltage fluctuations. The superconducting magnetic energy storage system (SMES) has been emulated by a high-current inductor to investigate a system employing both SMES and battery energy storage experimentally. The design of the laboratory prototype is described in detail, which consists of a series-connected three phase voltage source inverter used to regulate ac voltage, and two bidirectional dc/dc converters used to control energy storage system charge and discharge. "DC bus level signaling" and "voltage droop control" have been used to automatically control power from the magnetic energy storage system during short-duration, high-power voltage sags, while the battery is used to provide power during longer term, low-power undervoltages. Energy storage system hybridization is shown to be advantageous by reducing battery peak power demand compared with a battery-only system, and by improving long-term voltage support capability compared with an SMES-only system. Consequently, the SMES/battery hybrid dynamic voltage restorer can support both short-term high-power voltage sags and long-term undervoltages with significantly reduced superconducting material cost compared with an SMES-based system.

Electric Vehicles (EVs) have been suggested as alternatives to conventional vehicles for reducing petrol consumption and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions. When a large number of EVs connect to the grid, they can cause a large amount of power loss. Where to install multiple charge stations in the grid, so as to mitigate losses caused by EVs when providing energy to those EVs, is becoming vitally important. In this paper, a distribution test-network model is described. A new analytical method is proposed, using the stations’ cooperation in terms of optimal active and reactive power dispatch as well as power flow analysis for locating the optimal placement of charge stations, so as to reduce power losses. This method is compared with the previously developed current density method for single charge stations using system simulation results. It was demonstrated that the methods proposed in this paper are more accurate than the current density method, and that 17% of the average active power loss can be saved for three different types of load profile. In addition, 27% of the average active power loss was saved by installing two charge stations rather than no charge stations in the test-line. It is shown that this could represent a 2.6% annual yield above inflation for investing in installing and running such charge stations.

High capacity energy storage units are desirable to maintain power system stability in the presence of power disturbances produced by renewable energy sources and fluctuating load profiles. Battery energy storage systems may be used to smooth power flow, however, the frequent, deep charge and discharge cycling required dramatically reduces battery service life. A hybrid energy storage system (HESS) using battery energy storage with superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) is proposed to mitigate battery cycling while smoothing power flow. A HESS power sharing control method based on the novel use of droop control is proposed. This is able to control charge/discharge prioritization and hence protect the battery from high power demand and rapid transient cycling. A sizing strategy is proposed for the battery and SMES which overcomes the oversizing problem. A hardware implementation is used to assess the control and SMES sizing methods for short time scale HESS operation. A dynamic off-grid sea-wave energy conversion system is simulated to assess the performance of the HESS over a longer time scale. A battery lifetime model which takes into account both battery life cycles and discharge current rate is used to estimate battery lifetime extension. A lifetime increase of 26% is obtained for the HESS design example investigated.

The magnetic AC losses of monofilament Sr 0.6 K 0.4 Fe 2 As 2 /Ag tapes are measured in the temperature range between 20 K and 30 K both in perpendicular and parallel field. The loss, measured by the standard magnetization technique, is determined from the area of the hysteresis loop using a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) in a cyclic field of amplitude up to 7 T. The results in perpendicular field are compared to that of the parallel-field loss and theoretical calculation of magnetization loss at various temperatures. There is a reasonable agreement between the theoretical model and the experimental results even in high field. The magnetic critical current density ( J c ) of the tape, obtained by the magnetic hysteresis measurements M ( H ), are investigated in two field directions and in the temperature range from 5 K to 30 K. The comparison between the magnetic J c in both field directions and the transport J c of the tape are also done at various temperatures and fields. The anisotropy of J c ( Γ = J c a b / J c c ) is very small.

More efficient heat sinks are required due to the rapid increase of power density in microelectronic devices. In this study, a micro-array heat sink with stagger trapezoidal bumps was designed. Numerical simulations for the flow and heat transfer under various conditions were carried out to help us to fully understand the mechanisms of the heat transfer enhancement in such a heat sink. The effects of the structure of the heat sink, parameters of the bumps, and volume fraction of the nanofluid on the performance of heat sink were studied. The results show us that the bumps in the heat sink can result in chaotic convection, interrupting the thermal boundary layer and increasing the cooling area, subsequently improving the heat transfer performance. Furthermore, parametric investigations for trapezoidal bumps were conducted to obtain preferential values for parameters, such as the bump width, fore rake angle of the bump, bump height, and bump pitch.

AC losses in superconductors are essential for the design of cooling system for large scale power applications. Magnesium diboride (MgB 2 ) superconducting wires have been investigated and manufactured over the last decade due to cheap raw materials and flexibility for coil design. In addition, multifilamentary MgB 2 wires have been manufactured to reduce ac losses. In this paper, self-field ac losses of multifilamentary MgB 2 wires with magnetic barrier are investigated using both experimental and numerical methods. A short straight wire sample and a coil sample are tested under various temperatures and frequencies between 16-and 128-Hz. The test results show that the transportation loss is independent of the operating temperature. On basis of both theoretical and numerical study, it is found that hysteresis loss in superconductor accounts only for a small fraction of the transportation losses, ferromagnetic hysteresis loss in the magnetic barrier dominates when the transport current is low, whereas eddy current loss dominates when the transport current is close to the critical current.

ReBCO conductor-on-round-core (CORC) cable has become a promising candidate for high temperature superconducting (HTS) power applications, due to its great mechanical strength, high current carrying capacity, high flexibility, and low ac losses. However, ReBCO coated conductors are at risk of quenching, which significantly affects the thermal stability and reliability of the CORC cable. Three-dimensional (3-D) numerical study on the quench behavior of the CORC cable remains a challenge, for its complex geometry is difficult to cope with. In this paper, a 3-D time-dependent multi-physics quench model based on the T-A formulation has been developed. Three modules are coupled in this model; the T-A formulation model, a heat transfer model, and an equivalent circuit model. The quench behavior of a single-layer ReBCO CORC cable with non-uniform terminal contact resistances has been studied, when a hotspot is imposed on one of the tapes to induce a local quench. Results show that, the CORC cable has the highest MQE; in other words, it is the most stable situation, when the hotspot-induced quench occurs on the tape with the middle value of terminal contact resistance.

The increase in aircraft passengers and airfreight traffic has given rise to concerns about greenhouse gas emissions for traditional aircraft and the resulting damage to the environment. This has led several companies and organizations, including NASA, to set goals to enhance aircraft efficiency as well as reduce fuel burn, pollution, and noise for commercial aircraft. The most notable electric aircraft (EA) concept is the N3-X, which was developed by NASA to achieve environmental goals while maintaining the annual growth of the aviation industry. However, one of the main challenges that EA is facing is their overall weight. This paper proposes and explores an improved power system architecture for use in EA, based on the N3-X concept. The number of superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) and fault current limiter (FCL) devices required can be reduced by utilizing multifunctional superconducting devices that combine the functionalities of both a SMES and a FCL, thus reducing the weight and cost of the EA by eliminating a complete device. The proposed control technique offers greater flexibility in determining the appropriate size of coils to function as a FCL, based on the fault type. The proposed EA power system architecture including the SMES-FCL devices is modelled in Simulink/MATLAB to test the system performance under different failure scenarios.

Electric aircraft has already become a reality, with demonstration flights at power ratings of less than 1 MVA. Conventional machines and distribution technologies suffer from poor power densities when scaling to large power demands, leading to significant challenges in applying this technology from small (100-seater) planes. Superconducting devices could be an enabler for electric aviation due to their great potential for high efficiency and low weight. However, while the development of the superconducting components presents a significant challenge, the safe and effective combination of such components into a propulsion system also requires a significant area of research. For this purpose, a signal-based MATLAB-Simscape model for a dc network architecture in a turbo-electric aircraft has been established and the highly nonlinear models for the superconducting devices have been developed and integrated. This network model has been used to understand the fault current magnitude and rise time, as well as the stability behavior of the system utilizing the realistic electro-thermal models of superconducting devices in it. The derived network was investigated for a bus bar short circuit fault using both superconducting fault current limiter and fault current limiting high temperature superconducting (FCL HTS) cable. Based on the network characteristics, a fault tolerant dc network design was achieved by utilizing the FCL HTS cables. Similarly, the operation limits of the protection devices have been reduced greatly using superconducting components.

A Conductor on Round Core (CORC®) cable wound with a high temperature superconductor is an important cable concept for high current density applications. The design of a CORC cable makes understanding its electromagnetic performance—for example its AC losses—challenging. This paper presents a thorough study of CORC cables by combining experimental and numerical methods. In particular, it focuses on understanding how the cable structure influences the magnetization losses and on how these can be reduced. A novelty of this paper lies in the use of a new T-A formulation, which, for the first time, is employed for three-dimensional modelling of a CORC cable with real geometry. The use of the new T-A formulation in finite element software enables the study of how the winding direction and multiple-layer structure affect the magnetization losses of CORC cables. Moreover, influence of striation in CORC cables is studied as an effective way to reduce their losses. A CORC cable with striated tapes shows a significant magnetization loss reduction at high magnetic fields, in comparison to its counterpart without striated tapes. At low magnetic fields, tape striation leads to an increase in loss when the number of filaments is low, then the loss drops with a further increase in the number of filaments, but this loss reduction is much weaker than that at high fields. This paper provides an efficient tool for investigating the electromagnetic behaviour of CORC cables, which can provide valuable guidance in designing CORC cables with minimized losses for high energy physics and energy conversion applications.

Building a reliable and efficient network layer for large-volume content delivery over satellite is extremely challenging due to space circumstances of unreliable connectivity, long propagation delay and high dynamics. In this paper, we address those challenges in satellite networking and propose an information-centric data retrieval scheme to provide disruption-tolerant, low-delay and highly efficient content delivery. Our design, namely Coding-enabled Adaptive-Pull (CAP) scheme, is rooted in the concept of information-centric networking, transferring named contents rather than maintaining unreliable end-to-end connections in space. CAP retrieves data in one-to-many request-response model and adaptively adjusts the retrieval expectation according to network states. Meanwhile, the data retrieval scheme embeds with fountain-style erasure coding over its named packets for reliable transmission to reduce the needs of packet retransmission and utilizes in-network caching to tolerate possible link disruption. Evaluation results show that our scheme reduces delivery delay in most cases of unreliable links by nearly 82% and 75% compared with IP and NDN, respectively, and by 72% compared to delay-tolerant networking technique in a space-oriented scenario, with outstanding performance in tolerating delays and disruptions.

One of the most promising applications for high temperature superconducting (HTS) material is magnet. HTS magnet is considered to be used in a wide range of applications including MRI, particle accelerator, electrical machine, and etc. HTS rotating machines are mainly utilized for cryo-electrification, i.e. application of superconductivity for modern electrification. One of the main aspects of cryo-electrification is electric aircraft application which is recently enabled by continuous progress in design development of superconducting magnets and HTS machines. This paper discusses the challenges facing a newly developed magnet type, i.e. HTS ring magnet, that being considered in superconducting rotating machine in future electric aircrafts. HTS ring magnet is compact, easy to develop, fault tolerant, and light in weight, and it recently reached to a high level of magnetic field.

This paper investigates how the current distribution and ac losses of second-generation high-temperature superconducting (2G HTS) pancake coils are affected by the material anisotropy. The 2G HTS tape has a strong anisotropy, which means that its critical current densities are different at different magnetic field orientations. 2G HTS pancake coils with different anisotropies have different ac losses. We studies this phenomenon by both experimental and numerical methods. Three 2G HTS coils with different turns are fabricated and tested in liquid nitrogen. AC losses with different frequencies are measured and compared with simulation. We use the critical-state model to calculate the current distribution and ac losses. Our modeling results are well validated by experimental measurements. We apply this numerical model to pancake coils with different anisotropies and calculate the current distribution, magnetic field, and ac loss. We find that the anisotropy of 2G HTS affects the ac loss and current distribution. It is possible to decrease the ac loss by an advanced pinning technique.

This paper proposes a novel use of superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) hybridized with the battery into the electric bus (EB) with the benefit of extending battery lifetime. A new power control algorithm, which integrates a power grading strategy with the filtration control method, is introduced in this paper, achieving further improvement of battery lifetime. To demonstrate the performance of the SMES/battery hybrid energy storage system (HESS), a dynamic EB system is described with the advantage of considering more factors into the driving patterns. Simulation results show that the proposed HESS has successfully combined the SMES with the battery forming an optimal system that has the advantages of primary energy storage systems while complementing the disadvantages of each system. This paper also does the quantitative analysis of battery lifetime extension in the battery-only system, the filtration-based HESS, and the novel control-based HESS.

Growing electricity demand from a range of sources with higher loads and the industry structural changes open the possibility of more frequent and larger fault currents producible in liver power grids. Traditional solutions to the fault have difficulties in satisfying the requirement of the new power grid requirement due to many factors, such as high cost and additional impact to power grid in normal loading condition, which leads to the research for an efficient alternative solution of interest to both academia and industry: Superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL). Critical current Ic is used to describe the maximum current that a superconductor can transport and is one of the most important parameters to be considered while designing a SFCL. Guaranteeing the homogeneous distribution of the critical current density flowing in a superconductor is not possible due to manufacturing process limitations. In this paper, the impact of critical current inhomogeneity of coated high temperature superconductors (HTSs) during the quench process is studied experimentally. The results show that both the amount of Ic degradation and the size of Ic degraded segments have a great impact on the maximum temperature generated in the quench process of HTSs when the prospective fault current is low ( 1.13Ic to 1.51Ic. Higher amount of localized Ic degradation allows higher maximum temperatures under low voltage fault. Additionally, smaller Ic degraded segment allows higher maximum temperatures.

This paper demonstrates an efficient method to calculate the ac losses in multipancake coils. We use the front track line to analyze stacked pancakes by assuming that the current fronts are straight lines and using the critical state model. The current distribution is solved by minimization of total magnetic energy. The calculated ac loss results are compared with the well-accepted H-formula in COMSOL. We further apply this model to the design of a SMES with 2 kJ, which is under construction. The object of the design is to maximize the stored energy and decrease the ac loss. We discuss the detailed geometry parameters and operation temperature with the validated numerical model. Our model provides a fast calculation method of ac loss in stacked (Re)BCO pancakes and is useful to HTS applications in high field magnets, energy storage devices, and electric machines.

This paper focuses on the 2G HTS armature winding design for fully HTS machines. The main challenge for HTS armature windings is the ac loss calculation. This paper proposes an effective way to estimate 2G HTS armature efficiency. The originality of ac loss calculation is effectively coupling a machine model with a HTS model using boundary conditions to simulate machine environment while considering material anisotropy. The paper then uses H formulation to estimation the total armature ac loss for a 1-MW propulsion motor. The ac loss is calculated for different electrical loadings and magnetic loadings. A new double-layer armature winding is proposed to reduce the spatial harmonics of HTS armature.

Fully superconducting machines provide the high power density required for future electric aircraft propulsion. However, superconducting windings generate AC losses in AC electrical machine environments. These AC losses are difficult to remove at low temperatures and they add an extra burden to the aircraft cooling system. Due to heavy cooling penalty, AC losses in the HTS stator, is one of the key topics in HTS machine design. In order to evaluate the AC loss of superconducting stator windings in a rotational machine environment, we designed and built a novel axial-flux high temperature superconducting (HTS) machine platform. The AC loss measurement is based on calorimetrically boiling-off liquid nitrogen. Both total AC loss and magnetisation loss in HTS stator are measured in a rotational magnetic field condition. This platform is essential to study ways to minimise AC losses in HTS stator, in order to maximum the efficiency of fully HTS machines., Comment: 17 pages, 15 figures

Aircraft technology moves towards electrification in order to achieve environmentally friendly goals. However, one of the main challenges facing the electrification of aircraft technology is the weight of the electric devices necessary for operating a fully electric aircraft. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) proposed the use of the superconductive technology in electric aircraft (EA) to overcome this challenge in addition to its other benefits. The proposed EA is called N3-X and it has an on-board DC superconducting network including a superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL). The SFCL is a self-mechanism device that very effectively limits the current within a few milliseconds, thus improving the stability of the system. As the grounding of this network is different from traditional networks, analysing the behaviour of different fault types and how to manage them becomes critical. In this paper, one set of the EA’s systems (one generator, AC/DC rectifier and four motors with their DC/AC variable frequency drives) has been modelled in MATLAB/Simulink environment to carry out the fault analysis and to demonstrate the effect of the SFCL on this network under different types of faults.

Superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL) has been extensively applied for many application in electrical grids. In this paper, the overcurrent and overvoltage characteristics of a pancake-structured SFCL module are tested and evaluated. First, a single superconducting (SC) tape is tested for critical current and room temperature resistance. Then, a pancake coil is developed using the considered tape with a proper length to exhibit a resistance of 3 Ω. This resistance value was found effective by many researchers with either AC or DC systems. After winding the coil, its critical current is reevaluated and its inductance is measured at cryogenic temperature. The overcurrent test is done at different cases of supply voltage until the prospective current attained about four times of coil critical current. The prospective current and limited was measured for each case. Based on the results, it could be discriminated between inductive limit and resistive limit of the coil. The overvoltage test is done on a SC tape sample to assess the surface flashover withstand voltage and compare it to the maximum allowed electric field along the coil length. The flashover results are analyzed statistically using Weibull analysis.

With DC grids, the usage of PMSG becomes more feasible due to the saving of inverter stage. However, integration of PMSG with DC grids faces some technical problems. The most critical problem is voltage stabilization. Any sudden change in wind power is suddenly reflected on the output voltage and power. So, this paper aims to use Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES) for voltage stabilization of PMSG connected to DC grids. The proposed system was modeled using MATLAB software. The control scheme has been built so that SMES can be operated in charging mode, discharging mode, or freewheeling mode. A proportional integral (PI) controller is used to provide accurate pulse width modulation (PWM) for the switches to control SMES output voltage. Before using SMES, the output power of PMSG was fluctuated with an impact on voltage profile of the DC bus. After using SMES, a smooth power has been delivered to the load.

Integrating permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) wind turbines with DC microgrids have attracted a great attention due to the inherent merits of DC systems. However, under the fault conditions, the excessive energy during fault will be reflected on PMSG rotating parts causing overspeed, mechanical stresses, and fast aging. Also, large fault currents will force generator-side converter to disconnect making it not complied with grid codes. Accordingly, this paper aims to apply superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL) to enhance the performance of PMSG wind turbines with DC microgrids under the fault conditions. PSCAD/EMTDC software is used to build the system under study that includes PMSG, controlled AC/DC converter, SFCL, and DC bus. The behavior of SFCL in enhancing the DC output of the converter is first studied. Then, the impact of using SFCL on the speed, torque, and output current of PMSG is investigated and discussed. Finally, the suitable current limiting resistance is adopted considering DC output as well as PMSG speed.

High-temperature superconducting (HTS) triaxial conductor on round core (CORC) cable is a potential candidate for use in the transmission line of hybrid-electric aircraft because of its advantages in compactness, high power density, and reduced usage of HTS tapes. The harmonic currents generated by ac/dc converters, generators, and motors in the aircraft affect the ac loss of the transmission cable, thus influencing the efficiency of the cable. This paper analyzes the influence of harmonic current on the magnetization loss of a triaxial CORC HTS cable (10 MW, 3 kV/2 kA), which is designed for hybrid-electric aircraft. A finite element method model based on the T-A formulation has been developed for the HTS triaxial CORC cable, which calculates the losses induced both with and without applied harmonic currents. The results show that the magnetization loss has a significant nonuniform distribution among three phases even under a three-phase balanced rated load. The results also show that a small harmonic current (less than 10% of the rated load current) can lead to a considerable increase in the magnetization loss of the cable (up to 40%). In the triaxial CORC cable, harmonic currents lead to the highest increasing rate of magnetization loss with respect to frequency in the innermost phase.

This paper introduces a new scheme, which uses a multifunctional superconducting device that can be used as an energy storage and as a fault current limiter. It is denoted as a superconducting magnetic energy storage - fault current limiter (SMES-FCL) and is modeled as a number of pancakes. It is connected to a wind turbine power system via tertiary transformer and power converters. A complete control scheme is built to achieve effective power transfer between the superconducting coil and the power system during normal operation to smooth the wind turbine output power. The fault current limiting function is implemented using a new technique that inserts a few pancakes from the whole SMES coil into the main electrical system during the fault and isolates the remaining pancakes. The number of pancakes used to limit the fault is quenched and operates as a resistive fault current limiter. The whole system including the wind turbine, the SMES-FCL model, and the interface circuit are implemented using PSCAD/EMTDC computer package. Also, the control scheme of SMES-FCL is built based on a feedback current signal to enable its operation into the two modes.

This paper details the key outputs of the U.K.'s first feasibility study of implementing the high-temperature superconducting (HTS) cables in electricity distribution networks to solve capacity issues. This project is mainly aimed at studying the technical and economic aspects of using superconducting cables and comparing them with the existing approaches, to determine whether a demonstration project of the superconducting solution is feasible. The University of Bath in collaboration with Western Power Distribution (WPD) has conducted this study, considering a previous capacity issue in WPD's network using both conventional and superconducting solutions. The first part of the study investigated the different aspects (installation procedures, power capacity, capital, and operational costs, etc.) of superconducting cables, comparing them with conventional cables. This identified the unique benefit of the high power density of HTS cables, which could allow the usage of a low-voltage superconducting cable in place of a high-voltage conventional cable. In the second part of the study, a 132-kV site in WPD's network that required reinforcement has been chosen for performing the feasibility study. As part of this study, a detailed cost benefit analysis (CBA) was conducted, comparing the superconducting solution with the conventional solution. The outputs from the present value analysis that has been carried out as part of the CBA are discussed. The results of the CBA power system studies performed are presented, evaluating the impact that each solution has on the network power flows, losses, and fault levels. Finally, based on the outputs from the CBA and future projections in the costs of superconducting cables, recommendations were made for the usage of superconducting cables in U.K. electricity distribution networks to solve network capacity issues.

Superconducting devices have emerged in many applications during the last few decades. They offer many advantages, including high efficiency, compact size, and superior performance. However, the main drawback of these devices is the high cost. An option to reduce the high cost and improve the cost-benefit ratio is to integrate two functions into one device. This paper presents the superconducting fault current limiting transformer (SFCLT) as a superior alternative to normal power transformers. The transformer has superconducting windings and also provides fault current limiting capability to reduce high fault currents. The SFCLT is tested in two power system models: A 7 bus wind farm-based model simulated in PSCAD and on the 80 bus simplified Australian power system model simulated in real-Time digital simulator. Various conditions were studied to investigate the effectiveness of the fault current limiting transformer.

As the capacity of all-electric ships (AESs) increases dramatically, the sudden changes in the system load may lead to serious problems, such as voltage fluctuations of the ship power grid, increased fuel consumption, and environmental emissions. In order to reduce the effects of system load fluctuations on system efficiency, and to maintain the bus voltage, we propose a hybrid energy storage system (HESS) for use in AESs. The HESS consists of two elements: a battery for high energy density storage and a superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) for high power density storage. A dynamic droop control is used to control charge/discharge prioritization. Maneuvering and pulse loads are the main sources of the sudden changes in AESs. There are several types of pulse loads, including electric weapons. These types of loads need large amounts of energy and high electrical power, which makes the HESS a promising power source. Using Simulink/MATLAB, we built a model of the AES power grid integrated with an SMES/battery to show its effectiveness in improving the quality of the power grid.

The AC superconducting power transmission cable projects are being carried out around the world, while the DC superconducting cable is also proven to be very competitive for power transmission in electrical grid due to the negligible AC losses. The critical current and current distributions are two important factors to improve the performance of DC HTS cable for large transmission capacity. In this paper, we proposed an experimental method to investigate the behavior of critical current affected by various gap distances between the individual HTS tape and transverse tape width. The results show that the critical current of the HTS tape in the cable field can be increased by about 10% if the gap distance is less than 1 mm. Finite element method (FEM) is used to calculate the magnetic field distribution to verify the experimental results. A short HTS cable has been constructed to investigate the influence of contact resistance on the current distribution among the HTS tapes. The results show that the contact resistances have significant influence on the current sharing of each HTS wire in the cable structure.

Concept design and optimization for a high-temperature superconducting (HTS) rotor of a 100-kW generator is studied in this paper. The rotor has eight HTS magnets constructed by air-cored racetrack coils. The HTS magnets with a unique circular cross-sectional shape can produce a gap field over 2.0 T. The present design is based on a new graphical method developed to estimate the maximum operating current of an HTS magnet that takes both I c -B characteristics and angular dependence into consideration. The optimized stepped shape design saved more than 8% of the HTS material compared with the rectangular one without sacrificing the gap field.

Using a high-temperature superconducting (HTS) coil as the transmitting coil is an optional way to increase the efficiency and the distance of a wireless power transfer (WPT) system. In practical cases, receiving coils might be not only one, or not convenient to get a low-temperature environment, or not in the same sizes with the transmitting coil. Thus, we constructed a WPT system from one HTS coil to two copper coils, and one of the copper receiving coils had a different size from the HTS transmitting coil. In addition, we placed one HTS relaying coil between the transmitting coil and the receiving coils to increase the efficiency and the distance. Based on this system, we conducted several experiments and analyzed the results. We found that a denser coil could obtain more power in an HTS WPT system and that WPT from one HTS coil to two copper coils was more efficient than WPT from the same HTS coil to one of the two copper coils. We also demonstrated that an appropriate layout of the HTS relaying coil can increase the HTS WPT efficiency.

In off-grid wind energy systems, batteries often undergo frequent charge/discharge cycles, which reduce battery service life. In addition, due to motor start and other high ‘inrush current’ loads batteries undergo high rates of discharge which also degrade battery life. In this paper, a superconducting magnetic energy storage and battery hybrid energy storage system is proposed, which is beneficial in reducing battery short term power cycling and high discharge currents. To demonstrate system performance, a representative off-grid wind power system model is described in detail which incorporates turbulent wind variations, load variations and energy storage systems. To estimate battery lifetime improvement, a novel battery lifetime model is described, which quantifies the impact of both the number of charge/discharge cycles and also the effect rate of discharge. The model is validated using previously reported data. This work advances previous studies by describing the estimated improvement in terms of battery life in a wind energy conversion application by use of superconducting energy storage and by presenting a novel method for doing so. In addition, the proposed battery lifetime model can be potentially used in other applications.

Since high temperature superconducting magnetic energy storage system (HT SMES) has attracted significant attention for their fast response in milliseconds, high efficiency (cyclic efficiency over 95%) and unlimited times of charging and discharging cycles, it can be used for system stabilizing – damping out low frequency power oscillations. A voltage source converter (VSC) based HTS SMES has been optimal designed for achieving a high efficiency and has been constructed by China Electric Power Research Institute (CEPRI). This SMES can store the maximum energy, while for the first time used two states of art high temperature superconductors, YBCO and BSCCO tapes. It has been tested in a 110 kV transmission power system by a dynamic power fluctuation compensation experiment using three different controlling strategies in CEPRI. The experimental output powers with these three strategies are compared and the results show that the SMES can trace the power variation and provide the required power to restrain the power fluctuation in milliseconds successfully. Finally, the application planning of SMES with the equivalent capacity in a practical renewable power system at Zhangbei wind power test base is evaluated by a case study based on the PSCAD/EMTDC simulation. An optimal switch time of the SMES in wind power system is presented using the real transmission parameters of Zhangbei power grid. This study can provide a reference for the demonstration of large-scale SMES systems in renewable power system.

The second generation high temperature superconductor, specifically REBCO, has become a new research focus in the development of a new generation of high-field (>25 T) magnets. One of the main challenges in the application of the magnets is the current screening problem. Previous research shows that for magnetized superconducting stacks and bulks the application of an AC field in plane with the circulating current will lead to demagnetization due to vortex shaking, which provides a possible solution to remove the shielding current. This paper provides an in-depth study, both experimentally and numerically, to unveil the vortex shaking mechanism of REBCO stacks. A new experiment was carried out to measure the demagnetization rate of REBCO stacks exposed to an in-plane AC magnetic field. Meanwhile, 2D finite element models, based on the E–J power law, are developed for simulating the vortex shaking effect of the AC magnetic field. Qualitative agreement was obtained between the experimental and the simulation results. Our results show that the applied in-plane magnetic field leads to a sudden decay of trapped magnetic field in the first half shaking cycle, which is caused by the magnetic field dependence of critical current. Furthermore, the decline of demagnetization rate with the increase of tape number is mainly due to the cross-magnetic field being screened by the top and bottom stacks during the shaking process, which leads to lower demagnetization rate of inner layers. We also demonstrate that the frequency of the applied AC magnetic field has little impact on the demagnetization process. Our modeling tool and findings perfect the vortex shaking theory and provide helpful guidance for eliminating screening current in the new generation REBCO magnets.

In this paper, the properties of current capacity and ac transport loss of striated high temperature superconductor (HTS) coil is compared with ordinary HTS coil by using both experimental and simulation methods. The measurements were carried out by transporting a sinusoidal varying current at 77 K, with an amplitude range of 10-50 A in frequency from 70 up to 300 Hz. Measurement facilities and methods are explained in more detail in the paper. The critical current of the 4-mm width multifilament coil made with four filaments at a spacing 0.03 mm was found to be lower than that of the nonstriated coil. The frequency dependent characteristics agreed well in both experimental and simulated results. Reducing ac loss of HTS is one enabling factor for widespread adoption of the technology, and therefore, understanding its characteristics is important and discussed in this paper. Future plans based on this preliminary work are the testing of multifilament tapes in an axial flux motor field environment.

Voltage source converter based HVdc (VSC-HVdc) systems are prone to high short-circuit current during transmission line faults. The situation for multiterminal HVdc (MTDC) systems is worse. The characteristics of superconducting material are ideal to limit the fault current in HVdc systems. This paper presents a novel use of the resistive type of superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL) in the MTdc network with the function of limiting the high current. The working principles of fault current limiter and a three-terminal HVdc system are modeled in detail using PSCAD/EMTDC software. The hybrid operation of the SFCL in the three-terminal HVdc system is tested in this paper for the fault response of the MTdc system. The performances of SFCL under different fault conditions are analyzed. The simulation results show that the fault current is effectively restrained and the SFCL can act as an efficient protective device for VSC-based multiterminal HVdc systems.

An MJ-class superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) system has a wide range of potential applications in electric power systems. The composite high-temperature superconducting HTS conductor, which has the advantages of carrying large critical currents and withstanding high magnetic fields, is suitable for winding an MJ-class magnet coil. However, the Lorentz force of an HTS wire is so large that its induced mechanical stresses should be examined to ensure that the magnet is in good condition. By means of the equivalent material properties method and the sequential coupling method, this paper studies the mechanical properties of a three MJ toroidal SMES magnet wound by a composite HTS conductor. Based on the electromagnetic-structural coupling analysis, the Von-Mises stress, the radial stress, and the hoop stress of a magnet coil are calculated and employed to validate the stability of the MJ-class toroidal SMES magnet.

A single pancake coil without turn-to-turn insulation was tested in this paper to investigate the transient responses under different situations. We performed charging and discharging test, AC current test, and regional quench emulation test on the non-insulated (NI) coil. The experimental test results show a significant time delay for charging and discharging characteristics of NI coil and can be validated by a simple proposed equivalent electrical circuit. Under the AC operating current, the NI coil can bypass nearly all the AC current from the coil spiral path to the radial path such that it is not possible for NI coil to store or be affected by the AC magnet field. Additionally, while carrying AC current, the AC loss dissipation of NI coil is inversely proportional to the frequency of the AC operating current. When a regional quench occurs, the NI coil can bypass the current in the regional quench zone to avoid further temperature accumulated and protect the NI coil itself.

The energy balancing problem is the main challenge for the effective application of micro combined heat and power (m-CHP) in a residential context. Due to its high energy density and relative robustness, the lead-acid battery is widely used for power demand management to compensate the mismatch between the m-CHP electrical output and domestic demand. However, batteries are not suited to respond effectively to high frequency power fluctuations, but when coupled to the m-CHP, they experience frequent short-term charge/discharge cycles and abrupt power changes, which significantly decreases their lifetime. This paper addresses this problem by hybridising the lead-acid battery storage with superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) to form a hybrid energy storage system (HESS) that is coordinated by a novel sizing based droop control method. The control method for the first time considers both the capacity sizing of the HESS technologies and the droop control method of the battery and the SMES. A hardware in the loop test circuit is developed coupling with the real time digital simulator (RTDS) to verify the performance of the HESS with the new control algorithm. The experimental results show that control method is able to exploit the different characteristics of the SMES and the battery to meet the mismatch of m-CHP power generation and domestic demand. In addition, the lifetime analysis is implemented in this paper to quantify the battery lifetime extension in the HESS, which further proves the validity of the proposed control strategy.

HTS cable is an emerging technology for electricity power transmission. It is very important to set up an accurate and easy-to-build measurement system to characterize HTS cables. In this paper, a novel measurement system has been developed to measure the ac losses for a prototype HTS cable using cancelation coil technique. This system is based on the National Instrument Data Acquisition card. It can also be used to measure the critical current and current distribution in the prototype cable. The prototype cable has been innovatively designed using an improved particle swarm optimization algorithm which is more computationally efficient than conventional methods. The measurement system will be improved further by introducing an elaborate pre-amplifier prior to data collection process and the result will be compared with theoretical calculations for validation.

A heat-shrink tube insulation for second-generation high-temperature superconducting (2G HTS) coils is studied experimentally in this paper. The insulation can be used to prevent the delamination of 2G HTS due to epoxy impregnation. According to the experiment results, the insulated coil shows no degradation before and after the epoxy impregnation. To validate the performance of 2G HTS coils with the heat-shrink insulation, we measured the transport loss, magnetization loss and total loss of a 2G HTS coil. The study demonstrates the feasibility of the heat-shrink tube insulation method for electrical applications.

With the increasing number of Electric Vehicles (EVs) in modern society, a number of challenges and opportunities are presenting themselves. For example, how to choose charging station locations to minimize the Distribution Network's (DN) power loss when a large number of EVs are connected to the DN. How impact factors, such as different load patterns, EVs’ charging locations and network topology, affect charging station location is becoming vital. In this paper a new charging station location methodology informed by impact factor analysis is proposed by using the Active and Reactive Power Dispatch of charging stations in terms of power loss minimization. Results for the 36 DN with three different scenarios are presented. In addition, a more realistic model based on EV's daily travel patterns is built to illustrate how these impact factors affect charging station location. It is demonstrated that the optimal charging station location in terms of power loss minimization can be found by using the new methodology, and it is not affected by the EVs’ charging location and load patterns, it is affect by the network topology.

This paper proposes a novel control scheme for a hybrid energy storage system (HESS) for microgrid applications. The proposed two-stage control method is used to control the HESS to stabilize a microgrid’s voltage level and extend battery service lifetime during the coupling/decoupling of a microgrid from the main power grid. The conventional HESS control method (the filtration method) is not suitable to compensate for a microgrid’s power demand when it is decoupled from the main grid. This research focuses on using a superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) and battery HESS to assist with the microgrid coupling/decoupling process. To compensate for the instantaneous high power demand during decoupling, the battery will need to rapidly discharge. Moreover, batteries have difficulty supporting high discharging rates, which results in ineffective compensation of the power demand. In this paper, the high power density of the SMES system combined with the high energy density of a battery shows good performance on stabilizing microgrid bus voltage during the decoupling process. A novel energy management method for the HESS is proposed to improve the battery performance when the microgird coupled/decoupled from main grid. The sizing design is simplified based on the control methodology. Moreover, a SMES and battery HESS experimental platform is built to validate the proposed control methodology and its reliability.

The high-temperature superconductor (HTS) (RE)Ba 2Cu 3O x (REBCO) conductor on round core (CORC) cable has great advantages with its high current capacity and power density. In REBCO CORC cables, current is redistributed among tapes through terminal contact resistance (TCR) when a local quench occurs. Therefore, its quench behavior is different from the single tape situation. To better understand the underlying physical process of local quenches in CORC cables, a new 3D multi-physics modeling tool for CORC cables is developed and presented in this paper. In this model, the REBCO tape is treated as a thin shell without thickness, and four models are coupled: a T-formulation model, an A-formulation model, a heat transfer model, and an equivalent circuit model. The T-formulation model is applied to the conductor shell only to calculate current distribution, which will be input into the A-formulation model; the A-formulation model is applied to the whole 3D domain to calculate the magnetic field, which is then fed back to the T-formulation model. The hot spot-induced quenches of CORC cables are analyzed. The results show that the thermal stability of the CORC cable can be considerably improved by reducing the TCR. The minimum quench energy (MQE) increases rapidly with the reduction of TCR when the resistance is in a middle range, which is about in this study. When the TCR is too low () or too high (), the MQE shows no obvious variation with TCR. With a low TCR, a hot spot in one tape may induce an overcurrent quench on other tapes. This will not happen in a cable with high TCR. In this case, the tape with a hot spot will quench and burn out before inducing a quench on other tapes. The developed modeling tool can be used to design CORC cables with improved thermal stability.

Introduction: Granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA), formerly known as Wegener granulomatosis, is a multisystem disorder that mainly involves airways and kidneys. Oral GPA may present as ulcerations or strawberry gingivitis. Early diagnosis and intervention are crucial for overall prognosis.Case Presentation: An unusual case of oral GPA manifested by chronic localized inflammation, leading to failure of dental implants in an elderly woman, is presented. Diagnosis was based on antineutrophil cytoplasmic testing and histopathologic evidence of necrotizing vasculitis. Disease remission was achieved with cyclophosphamide and steroids.Conclusion: Familiarity with oral manifestations of GPA will help dentists and oral surgeons diagnose and treat early or incipient GPA without delay.