Stability and quench protection of high-temperature superconductors

In the design and operation of a superconducting magnet, stability and protection are two key issues that determine the magnet's reliability and safe operation. Although the high-temperature superconductor (HTS) is considered much more stable than the low-temperature superconductor (LTS), it is susceptible to damage caused primarily by three events that can occur in large-scale "real" devices: 1) overheating; 2) high voltage; and, 3) overstressing. In this thesis, we have investigated the first two issues as well acoustic emission (AE) technique as a possible mean for an early detection of a quench. For most of the experimental work reported here, we used "pancake" coils wound with coated YBCO conductor, the HTS of choice by those currently developing HTS-based electric power devices, though, YBCO itself to date is still in the development phase. For protection against overheating, an HTS magnet assembled with pancake coils may be made self-protecting through speedy 2-D or even 3-D normal zone propagation (NZP) within its winding, aided by good thermally-diffusive turn-to-turn spacers.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Ang, Ing Chea

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Yukikazu Iwasa.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/35665

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/35665