Development of HTS conductor on round core (CORC®) cables for high field magnets

Danko vande Laan

Advanced Conductor Technologies LLC and the University of Colorado

Monday, June 27, 2016

11:00am

NW17-218

PSFC Seminars

Abstract: The next generation of high-field superconducting magnets, operating at fields beyond 20 T, need to be constructed from high-temperature superconductors (HTS), because low temperature superconductors like NbTi and Nb3Sn are fundamentally limited to operation at fields below 20 T. Other magnets, such as those for compact fusion machines, can greatly benefit from the much higher temperature margin that HTS offers, allowing for operation in the range from 20 K to 30 K. 

More specifically, future particle accelerator magnets that operate at fields of 20 T and beyond, or at temperatures significantly above 10 K, require both high cable currents of 10-20 kA and high overall current densities on the order of 300-600 A/mm2 at 20 T. At the same time the cable needs to be flexible enough to survive winding into coils that 30-50 mm diameter bends. On the other hand, fusion magnets don’t require very high current densities or tight cable bending diameters, but instead may require very high cable currents, on the order of 60-100 kA.

Advanced Conductor Technologies is developing Conductor on Round Core (CORC®) cables for the next generation of high-field magnets for fusion and particle accelerators. CORC® cables are wound from high-temperature superconducting (HTS) RE-Ba2Cu3O7-δ (REBCO) tapes and have shown superior performance with respect to cable flexibility, current density and mechanical strength.

An overview of the CORC® cable development for accelerator magnets in which a current density of 344 A/mm2 at 17 T has been achieved will be presented. ACT’s effort to develop 60-100 kA CORC® Cable in Conduit Conductor (CICC) for use in fusion magnet applications will be outlined, including the planned test of a 60 kA CORC®-CICC in the EPIDO test facility at Paul Scherrer Institute. Finally, development of reliable, low-resistance CORC® cable joints that would potentially enable compact demountable fusion magnets will be discussed.

Bio: Danko van der Laan holds a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Twente in the Netherlands. In 2009 he introduced the Conductor on Round Core (CORC®) technique as a means to fabricate high-current capacity HTS cables. He founded Advanced Conductor Technologies in June 2011 to commercialize high-temperature superconducting CORC® cables for high-field magnet and power transmission applications, and is currently the President and Chief Executive Officer of the company. He is also a Senior Research Associate at the University of Colorado and a Guest Researcher at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
In 2014 Danko was awarded the Roger W. Boom award by the Cryogenic Society of America. The award is given to young professionals (under 40 years of age) who “show promise for making significant contributions to the fields of cryogenic engineering and applied superconductivity.”