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At least 109 records · Page 6

Rheological behavior and cryogenic properties of cyanate ester/epoxy insulation material for fusion superconducting magnet

In a Tokamak fusion reactor device like ITER, insulation materials for superconducting magnets are usually fabricated by a vacuum pressure impregnation (VPI) process. Thus these insulation materials must exhibit low viscosity, long working life as well as good radiation resistance. Previous studies have indicated that cyanate ester (CE) blended with epoxy has an excellent resistance against neutron irradiation which is expected to be a candidate insulation material for a fusion magnet. In this work, the rheological behavior of a CE/epoxy (CE/EP) blend containing 40% CE was investigated with non-isothermal and isothermal viscosity experiments. Furthermore, the cryogenic mechanical and electrical properties of the composite were evaluated in terms of interlaminar shear strength and electrical breakdown strength. The results showed that CE/epoxy blend had a very low viscosity and an exceptionally long processing life of about 4 days at 60 °C.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Spin echo small-angle neutron scattering using superconducting magnetic Wollaston prisms

Here, we show the implementation of superconducting magnetic Wollaston prisms for spin echo small-angle neutron scattering. Two calibration methods for the spin echo length are presented: one utilizing spin echo modulated small-angle neutron scattering and the other based on the neutron refraction by quartz wedge crystals. Our experimental results with polystyrene nano-particle colloids showcase the system’s efficacy in measuring both dilute and concentrated colloidal systems. Additionally, investigations into the pore diameter and pitch of a nano-porous alumina membrane demonstrate its capability in analyzing nano-porous materials. Furthermore, we discuss potential optimizations to further extend the accessible spin echo length.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

A passive bearing system using superconducting magnets

A passive radial bearing concept is presented using superconducting magnets which can generate a bearing pressure as high as 360 N/sq cm, comparable to a conventional active bearing system. The system consists of a number of solenoidal superconducting coils of alternating current direction. These coils are stacked axially over the bearing length and connected in series. The currents in stator and rotor coils are in the opposite directions, generating repulsive forces. This system, in comparison with an active system, has the advantage of much smaller power dissipation in the coils since the coil currents are mostly dc currents. The cooling for the superconducting coils is therefore simpler, and the coils are more stable. An optimization study seeking the maximum bearing pressure was conducted. Details of the design, pressure calculations, and results are presented.

Huang, X.↗

A Cryogenic Magnetostrictive Actuator Using a Persistent High Temperature Superconducting Magnet: Concept and Design - Part 1

Cryogenic magnetostrictive materials, such as rare earth zinc crystals, offer high strains and high forces with minimally applied magnetic fields, making the material ideally suited for deformable optics applications. For cryogenic temperature applications the use of superconducting magnets offer the possibility of a persistent mode of operation, i.e., the magnetostrictive material will maintain a strain field without power. High temperature superconductors (HTS) are attractive options if the temperature of operation is higher than 10 degrees Kelvin (K) and below 77 K. However, HTS wires have constraints that limit the minimum radius of winding, and even if good wires can be produced, the technology for joining superconducting wires does not exist. In this paper, the design and capabilities of a rare earth zinc magnetostrictive actuator using bulk HTS is described. Bulk superconductors can be fabricated in the sizes required with excellent superconducting properties. Equivalent permanent magnets, made with this inexpensive material, are persistent, do not require a persistent switch as in HTS wires, and can be made very small. These devices are charged using a technique which is similar to the one used for charging permanent magnets, e.g., by driving them into saturation. A small normal conducting coil can be used for charging or discharging. Because of the magnetic field capability of the superconductor material, a very small amount of superconducting magnet material is needed to actuate the rare earth zinc. In this paper, several designs of actuators using YBCO and BSCCO 2212 superconducting materials are presented. Designs that include magnetic shielding to prevent interaction between adjacent actuators will also be described. Preliminary experimental results and comparison with theory for BSCCO 2212 with a magnetostrictive element will be discussed.

Horner, Garnett↗

Strain control of composite superconductors to prevent degradation of superconducting magnets due to a quench: II. High-strength, laminated Ag-sheathed Bi-2223 tapes

In article I of this series, we described a spiral coil quench technique for probing the influence of the superconductor stress and strain state during normal operation on its margin to degradation during a quench and applied to a Bi-2212 round wire. Here we extend this technique to study the failure mechanisms and limits of high-strength Bi-2223 tapes experiencing a quench while carrying a large current in a high magnetic field. In contrast to Bi-2212 magnets made via a wind-and-react technique for which bending strains can be ignored, Bi-2223 magnets are made with a react-and-wind technique for which bending strain is significant. The critical tensile stress of Bi-2223 tapes (type HT-NX) decreases from >440 MPa for straight samples to 185 MPa after being bent to a diameter D of 50 mm. For HT-NX tapes with D = 50 mm, the quench degradation limit, measured using maximum allowable temperature during a quench T allowable , is greater than 300 K for axial tensile stress ${\sigma }_{a}$ < 94 MPa; it decreases with increasing tensile axial stress ${\sigma }_{a}$ nonlinearly, dropping to 230 K for ${\sigma }_{a}$ = 125 MPa. T allow able $({\sigma }_{a})$ experimental data at D = 50 mm is consistently predicted by a general strain model that assumes that quench degradation in NX/Bi-2223 is driven by axial tensile strain in Bi-2223 filaments exceeding the irreversible strain limit. The T allowable $({\sigma }_{a})$ is then predicted for various D including D = 80 mm important for NMR magnets. In conclusion, the given T allowable $(D,{\sigma }_{a})$ is easy to use and important for finding the balance between operation stress, and therefore magnetic field generation efficiency, and operation margin when designing a superconducting magnet using Bi-2223 tapes.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Dielectric properties of neutron and proton irradiated polymeric nanocomposite insulation for superconducting magnets of fusion power plants

Studies on radiation-resistant electrical insulation for superconducting magnets of nuclear fusion power plants are discussed. Metal oxide nanoparticle-incorporated organic polymer composite (MONAP) insulation films were manufactured and studied for their dielectric breakdown strength after exposure to neutrons and proton radiation at varying levels. Samples with up to 5 wt% of nanoparticles (NPs) of SiO 2 , MgO, and ZrO 2 were studied. The samples were exposed to radiation of up to 2 × 10 16 neutrons/cm 2 and 200 Mrad of protons. The addition of the nanoparticles improved the radiation resistance of the MONAP, and the performance depended on the type of NPs and the radiation exposure. Dielectric breakdown measurements at 77 K showed little degradation. Enhancement of dielectric strength was observed in some instances.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Overview of Nuclear Integration Activities for Mitigation of Radiation Loads to ITER Superconducting Magnets

The Nuclear Integration Unit (NIU) is a trans-departmental team from the ITER Organization and Domestic Agencies, responsible for all nuclear integration aspects of the facility and for ensuring that systems and components are suitable for their radiation environment and satisfy all related performance requirements. This is a very challenging task namely due to the large number of systems, their still evolving designs, the intricate and far-reaching impacts of these in nuclear responses everywhere, and the complex world-wide distribution of procurement responsibilities. A sound systems engineering approach that involves all relevant experts and stakeholders, and trades-off between different performance requirements in an optimum way, needs to be taken and sustained during design evolution and construction, always with the objective of final overall project success. One of the most important current occupations of the NIU is the evaluation of, and protection from, radiation conditions to superconducting magnets during plasma operations, and particularly nuclear heating. This requires neutronic analyses in massive computer resources, with state-of-the-art methods and complex, extensive computer models. The main ITER superconducting magnet systems subject to significant nuclear loads are the toroidal field coils (TFCs) and the poloidal field coils (PFCs). These are illustrated in Fig. 1. Nuclear responses in these depend mostly on the design of all in-vessel (blankets, manifolds, divertor, in-vessel coils, port plugs), vessel and thermal shield components. Sources to consider are the 500 MW DT burning plasma (14.1 MeV neutrons) and the activated water in the in-vessel cooling system (photons up to 7 MeV from N-16 and neutrons up to 3.5 MeV from N-17). This paper discusses a snapshot of the present understanding of nuclear heat conditions in both the TFC and PFC magnets. This includes integral values and distributions, as well as best estimates from computations and conservative upper estimates by consideration of systematic effects and random uncertainties. The computer models, methods and assumptions used for evaluation of these responses are described. Nuclear integration aspects and ongoing efforts to study and implement additional shielding and other mitigating measures are also discussed.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Conceptual Design of DUNE Near Detector Superconducting Magnet System

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) has formed a near detector design group (NDDG) tasked with delivering a CDR by the end of 2019. The DUNE Near Detectors will be housed in an underground hall on the Fermilab site. The two main detector systems are a liquid argon detector and a high-pressure gas time projection chamber (HPgTPC). The HPgTPC requires a magnet that generates a 0.5 T solenoidal magnetic field in a large volume of 6 m diameter, and 5 m length. Herein, we present a superconducting magnet system design. We investigated: an open air core magnet with three coils, and a five coils system having two active fringe field shielding coils. Coils positions were optimized to obtain the specified field homogeneity in the magnet good field region, while minimizing the Lorentz forces and the superconductor volume. We discuss the magnetic, mechanical, and thermal conceptual designs.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

A Cryogenic Magnetostrictive Actuator using a Persistent High Temperature Superconducting Magnet, Part 1: Concept and Design: Concept and Design - Part 1

Cryogenic magnetostrictive materials, such as rare earth zinc crystals, offer high strains and high forces with minimally applied magnetic fields, making the material ideally suited for deformable optics applications. For cryogenic temperature applications, such as Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST), the use of superconducting magnets offer the possibility of a persistent mode of operation, i.e., the magnetostrictive material will maintain a strain field without power. High temperature superconductors (HTS) are attractive options if the temperature of operation is higher than 10 degrees Kelvin (K) and below 77 K. However, HTS wires have constraints that limit the minimum radius of winding, and even if good wires can be produced, the technology for joining superconducting wires does not exist. In this paper, the design and capabilities of a rare earth zinc magnetostrictive actuator using bulk HTS is described. Bulk superconductors can be fabricated in the sizes required with excellent superconducting properties. Equivalent permanent magnets, made with this inexpensive material, are persistent, do not require a persistent switch as in HTS wires, and can be made very small. These devices are charged using a technique which is similar to the one used for charging permanent magnets, e.g., by driving them into saturation. A small normal conducting coil can be used for charging or discharging. Very fast charging and discharging of HTS tubes, as short as 100 microseconds, has been demonstrated. Because of the magnetic field capability of the superconductor material, a very small amount of superconducting magnet material is needed to actuate the rare earth zinc. In this paper, several designs of actuators using YBCO and BSCCO 2212 superconducting materials are presented. Designs that include magnetic shielding to prevent interaction between adjacent actuators will also be described. Preliminary experimental results and comparison with theory for BSSCO 2212 with a magnetostrictive element will be discussed.

Horner, Garnett C.↗

Performance of a superconducting magnet system operated in the Super Omega Muon beam line at J-PARC

A superconducting magnet system, which is composed of an 8 m long solenoid for transportation and 12 short solenoids for focusing, has been developed for Muon Science Establishment facility of J-PARC. The transport solenoid is composed of a 6 m straight section connected to a 45 degree curved section at each end. Muons of various momenta and of both electric charges are transported through the solenoid inner bore with an effective diameter of 0.3 m, where 2 T magnetic field is induced. There are 12 focusing solenoids with an effective bore diameter of 0.6 m and a length of 0.35 m arranged on a straight line at suitable intervals. The maximum central field of each focusing solenoid is 0.66 T. All solenoid coils are cooled by GM cryocoolers through their own conductions. The magnet system has been installed into the beam line in the summer of 2012, and its performance has been checked. Beam commissioning has been carried out since October 2012. During beam operation, temperature rise over 6 K in the transport solenoid due to a nuclear heating from the muon production target is observed at beam intensity of about 300 kW.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Exploration of signal processing methods for superconducting magnet and quench data

Quenching is the phenomenon of a superconducting magnetic material carrying current transitioning into a regular conducting material. This may cause severe and irreparable damage to the superconductor due to Joule heating. The Magnet Department at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL) has acquired experimental data through quench antenna arrays that are recorded when the quench is detected. These data are in terms of voltage signals that are sampled at 100kHz for several minutes. There are multiple channels and each channel provides a data set of more than 20 million observations, while there is one channel, called the trigger channel which shows the time when quench is detected. Despite some advancements that were made including machine learning, data complexity still shadows the progress. In this work, we studied a multi-resolution analysis of the quench antenna data through the Haar wavelet transform. In particular, we applied the maximally overlapped discrete w avelet transform (MODWT) of a suitable level L to the given data and then projected it onto the wavelet basis. This decomposes a given signal (Original data) $x ϵ \mathbb{R}^N$ into $L + 1$ subspaces of $\mathbb{R}^N$. One of the subspaces called the approximation, captures the trend of the signal, and the others, called the details, capture the fluctuations at different frequency bands. This decomposition provides a clear trend of the data at a suitable level and also various activities (spikes) are seen in the details of the decomposition at every level. These spikes might reveal some information about the quench under investigation but in any case, give information about magnet behavior. Also, this decomposition is seen to be very useful in removing noise present in the data due to the source or mechanism of the experiment.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

The University of Virginia superconducting magnetic suspension and balance facility

A prototype facility comprising a superconducting magnetic suspension and balance and a supersonic wind tunnel was developed with the objectives of (1) establishing the feasibility of applying the 3-component magnetic balance concept to dynamic stability studies, and (2) investigating design concepts and parameters that are critical for extrapolation to large-scale systems. Many important design and operational aspects as well as safety considerations are dictated by the cryogenic nature of this advanced-technology facility. Results of initial tests demonstrate that super-conductors can be utilized safely and efficiently for wind tunnel magnetic suspensions. At the present stage of development of this facility, controlled one-dimensional support of a spherical model was achieved.

Zapata, R. N.↗

Superconducting magnets for space flight

The operating principle and application of superconducting magnetic spectrometers for cosmic ray analysis are described. Magnetic spectrometer experiments are thought to be possible in the areas of charge composition and its possible energy dependence, isotopic separation up to several GeV/n, electrons and positrons energy spectra, galactic secondary antiprotons, searches for primordial antimatter, searches for substructure in energy spectra, and gamma ray astronomy. Operational problems associated with the magnets are discussed, and a possible shuttle payload is also described.

Golden, R. L.↗

High temperature superconducting magnetic energy storage for future NASA missions

Several NASA sponsored studies based on 'conventional' liquid helium temperature level superconductivity technology have concluded that superconducting magnetic energy storage has considerable potential for space applications. The advent of high temperature superconductivity (HTSC) may provide additional benefits over conventional superconductivity technology, making magnetic energy storage even more attractive. The proposed NASA space station is a possible candidate for the application of HTSC energy storage. Alternative energy storage technologies for this and other low Earth orbit missions are compared.

Faymon, Karl A.↗

NASA superconducting magnetic mirror facility

The design details and initial test results of a superconducting magnetic mirror facility that has been constructed at NASA Lewis Research Center for use in thermonuclear research are summarized. The magnet system consists of four solenoidal coils which are individually rated at 5.0 T. Each coll is composed of an inner, middle, and outer winding. The inner winding is wound of stabilized Nb3Sn superconducting ribbon, and the middle and outer windings are wound of stabilized Nb-Ti superconducting wire. When arranged in the mirror geometry, the four coils will produce 8.7 T at the mirrors and a 1.8 mirror ratio. The magnet has a 41-cm diameter clear bore which is open to atmosphere. Distance between the mirrors is 111 cm. Presently there are only three magnets in the facility; the fourth magnet is being rebuilt.

Reinmann, J. J.↗