Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “coil design”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 109 records · Page 6
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

A New Magnetic Measurement System for the Future Low Emittance NSLS-II Storage Ring

A new magnetic measurement system is under construc-tion at BNL for accurate field harmonic measurements and fiducialization of magnets for a future upgrade of the NSLS- II storage ring. The entire storage ring is envi-sioned to be replaced with a new lattice concept, known as Complex Bend, which superimposes dipole and high-gradient quadrupole fields. The magnetic measurement system will use rotating wire and a PCB rotating coil specifically designed for small-aperture (< 15 mm) high gradient magnets. In this paper we describe in detail the mechanical design and the data acquisition hardware and software.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Magneto-Mechanical Optimization of Cross-Sections for $ \text{cos}(\theta)$Accelerator Magnets

The cross-section design of cos (θ) superconducting magnets is historically developed in a two-step process: initially, the coil geometry is defined on the basis of magnetic optimizations; then, the structure is designed around the coil. The first step searches for the best coil cross-section maximizing the magnetic field, margin, field quality and conductor efficiency. The latter step aims at limiting the coil stresses and deformations. However, the coil design, defined with the initial magnetic optimization, can influence the mechanical behaviour of the magnet, altering, for example, the peak stress during operation. As the critical current is a function of the applied strain, the mechanical implications of the coil cross-section design can limit the achievable performance. In this paper we propose an integrated optimization process that targets the peak stress on the conductor in addition to the magnetic objectives. Here the results are presented for a sample high-field Nb 3 Sn dipole: a 4-layer design aiming at ultimate conductor performance.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2022

Stellarator coil optimization supporting multiple magnetic configurations

Abstract We present a technique that can be used to design stellarators with a high degree of experimental flexibility. For our purposes, flexibility is defined by the range of values the rotational transform can take on the magnetic axis of the vacuum field while maintaining satisfactory quasisymmetry. We show that accounting for configuration flexibility during the modular coil design improves flexibility beyond that attained by previous methods. Careful placement of planar control coils and the incorporation of an integrability objective enhance the quasisymmetry and nested flux surface volume of each configuration. We show that it is possible to achieve flexibility, quasisymmetry, and nested flux surface volume to reasonable degrees with a relatively simple coil set through an NCSX-like example. This example coil design is optimized to achieve three rotational transform targets and nested flux surface volumes in each magnetic configuration larger than the NCSX design plasma volume. Our work suggests that there is a tradeoff between flexibility, quasisymmetry, and volume of nested flux surfaces.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Conceptual Design of A 20 T Dipole Based on Hybrid REBCO/Nb 3 Sn Cos-theta Coil

This paper presents a design concept of an HTS/LTS hybrid dipole with 50 mm aperture and 20 T nominal field based on a cos-theta coil and a cold iron yoke. The HTS part of magnet coil uses REBCO Twisted Stacked Tape cable. The LTS part is graded and made of two Nb3Sn Rutherford cables. Due to high sensitivity of HTS/LTS coils to large stresses and strains at high fields, a Stress Management (SM) concept combined with the cos-theta coil geometry is used. The results of magnet magnetic analysis are presented and discussed.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2026

A flexible and differentiable coil proxy for stellarator equilibrium optimization

Balancing plasma performance and coil cost is a significant challenge when designing a stellarator power plant. Most current stellarator designs are produced through two-stage optimization: stage-1 for the equilibrium and stage-2 for a coil design that reproduces its magnetic configuration. Because few proxies connect both stages, two-stage optimization can produce plasmas that have high-quality physical properties but overly complex coils. In recent years, single-stage optimization has increasingly been used to optimize the plasma and coils simultaneously in order to improve the plasma–coil balance. However, all existing single-stage tools are specialized for filament coils, cannot model coil systems containing permanent magnets or dipole arrays, and continue to be challenged by numerical problems. The quasi-single-stage optimization finds a middle ground by integrating a coil optimization subproblem into stage-1 optimization. We present a flexible, differentiable coil complexity proxy based on the newly developed QUADCOIL coil optimization code. QUADCOIL is fast and can target realistic coil metrics and constraints that are unavailable to codes with comparable speed. We demonstrate the effectiveness and flexibility of the QUADCOIL proxy by presenting two QSS optimization studies. The first study produces a permanent magnet solution for the MUSE stellarator with 34% fewer magnets than previous solutions. The second study produces a coil solution for the ARIES-CS stellarator with 30% reductions in both peak and root-mean-square force.

Fu, Lanke [Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PP↗
DOE OSTI2024

Fourier Analysis and Loss Modeling for Inductive Wireless Electric Vehicle Charging with Reduced Stray Field

With the growth of electric vehicle (EV) popularity, different charging options to increase user convenience and reduce charging times are being considered and researched. Among these, inductive wireless power transfer (WPT) systems for EVs are being designed to meet specifications such as stray field, power level, efficiency, misalignment tolerance, and ground clearance, which are all heavily influenced by the coil geometry. The proposed Fourier Analysis Method (FAM) is an analytical method to directly design coil geometries to meet stray field and power level requirements through an optimization of Fourier basis function coefficients. The outputs of the optimization are complex, planar coil geometries that meet the power level and stray field constraints with minimized loss factors. Contours of these potentials determine the coil conductor paths and loss models predict the system efficiency and performance over misalignment. The Fourier representation of the geometry is used to conveniently calculate the coupling over misalignment, external proximity effect loss, and ferrite loss. A 6.6 kW prototype WPT system with low stray field and high efficiency is built from the optimization results to validate the models and showcase the usefulness of the FAM design approach.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Development of a Small-Aperture Cos-theta Dipole Insert Coil Based on Bi2212 Rutherford Cable and Stress Management Structure

The U.S. Magnet Development Program (US-MDP) is developing high-field accelerator magnets with magnetic fields beyond the limits of Nb3Sn technology based on high temperature superconductor Bi 2 Sr 2 CaCu 2 O 8-x (Bi2212). However, Bi2212 wires and cables are sensitive to transverse stresses and strains, which are substantial in high-field accelerator magnets. To prevent large degradation of the Bi2212 coils and achieve the required field quality, an innovative design which provides turn positioning during coil fabrication and operation and manage azimuthal and radial strains/stresses in the coil has been proposed at FNAL. This paper describes the development of a small-aperture two-layer Bi2212 dipole coil with stress management. The main parameters of the Bi2212 wire and Rutherford cable, the design of coil stress management structure and its plastic model, the coil mechanical analysis in the dipole mirror configuration are presented and discussed.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2021

Superconducting Magnet Qualification Methodology for the Material Plasma Exposure Experiment

The Material Plasma Exposure eXperiment (MPEX), currently under design, is a new linear plasma device to advance the understanding of plasma-material interactions through the generation and delivery of plasmas as they are expected in future fusion reactor divertors. MPEX will be a steady-state device to study high-fluence exposures of plasma-facing materials and components. The requirements for the magnetic field at the target and the heating stages make the application of superconducting coils necessary. Conceptual designs for the superconducting magnets have been developed, and multiple cryostats with warm bore diameters of either 65 cm or 156 cm are envisioned to facilitate their integrated and timely assembly with other systems such as vacuum, water cooling, and RF power. Although design, fabrication, and testing for the magnets as stand-alone units are straightforward, challenges will arise during the integration of the system. Two different field profiles will be used during operation. The magnetic field where the electron cyclotron heating occurs needs to operate at both 1.25 and 2.5 T. It is critical that the magnets all share the same magnetic axis and alignment. The mutual inductance between cryostats will affect the quench behavior of the system. Also, cryostat-to-cryostat forces can be as large as 700 kN, and the magnitude and direction will change depending on which coils are energized. The design of the system must take those characteristics into account along with the quench scenarios. This paper describes the qualification approach that will be used to determine whether stand-alone tests can be used to ensure the success of the integrated system. Fiducials will be used to define the location of the magnetic axis for each cryostat to ensure proper alignment. Quench tests of a single magnet will be performed at a current above the normal operating current to account for additional stored energy from the mutual inductance to adjacent cryostats. Also, a 1018 steel plate will be mounted on either end of a cryostat to simulate the cryostat-to-cryostat forces. Requirements for the size and location of the steel plates are described.

Burkhardt, Earle↗
DOE OSTI2022

HTS Dipole Magnet Model for the Persistent Current Operation

Recent advances in the fabrication of high-temperature superconducting (HTS) coils allow the design of superconducting accelerator magnets that work in a persistent current mode. Many various, rather low-field magnets in particle accelerators operate in the DC current mode. Fermilab designed, fabricated, and tested an HTS dipole magnet model that has 20-mm air gap and a magnetic field up to 0.5 T. The magnet has a primary copper coil that for a short period pumps the energy in the short-circuited secondary HTS coil. Here, the current paper presents the design, fabrication, and testing of this magnet at liquid-nitrogen temperature.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2026

The High Rigidity Spectrometer at the FRIB: Magnet Development Status

This paper presents the 2025 progress of the High Rigidity Spectrometer (HRS) project at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB). We report on the construction and testing of the first-article HRS-High Transmission BeamLine (HTBL) magnets. An HTBL dipole magnet has successfully completed cold testing, achieving full magnetic performance without quenching, and is now ready for field mapping at FRIBs offline test bench. HTBL quadrupole triplet coils have been fabricated and tested, with all coils reaching their design currents, some following initial training quenches. Furthermore, the preliminary design of the large-scale, large-aperture SPectrometer Section (SPS) magnets has progressed to determine the baseline of the downstream HRS-SPS subproject in 2025. This includes the introduction of novel magnet designs, such as the sweeper dipole magnet, the sector dipole magnet, and iron-free coil-dominated quadrupole magnets, representing a significant scale breakthrough and a first for FRIB.

Choi, Yoonhyuck↗
DOE OSTI2026

A Low Loss, Fast Ramp HTS Solenoid Prototype for Compact Spherical Tokamaks

To explore AC loss characteristics of commercial Bi-2212 conductors made in the USA, a small ohmic heating (OH) prototype coil is being developed for compact tokamaks using high performance Bi-2212 wires newly manufactured by Bruker EST. Here, the goal is to build and test Bi-2212 prototype coils for fast ramp central solenoid (CS) operation of spherical tokamaks (ST). For a ST pilot plant, one of the key challenges is the tight space available for CS in a center column where in-board legs of the toroidal field (TF) and OH coils are assembled into a cryostat with a few millimeters clearance. A high current density Rutherford cable consisting of 17 legacy Bi-2212 wires, a contribution of the US Magnet Development Program (MDP), was fabricated at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) for the development of fast ramp CS magnets in the ST Advanced Reactor (STAR) designed by PPPL. Characterization of the new and legacy HTS wires is presented, along with the coil design wound directly with new wire, and a Rutherford cable-wound solenoid using the legacy wire. A comparison of AC losses is made based on expected performance for a fast ramp ST operation. The HTS cable and cabled coil fabrication issues such as the heat treatment, coil mandrel design, assembly and 2212 quench characteristics are discussed, along with a test plan for CS design validation.

Zhai, Yuhu [Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (P↗
DOE OSTI2025

Elliptic Aperture CCT Coils for HTS Dipole Magnets

High-temperature REBa$_{2}$Cu$_{3}$O$_{7-x}$ (REBCO) superconductors are a route to increase the field of accelerator magnets beyond the 15-16T practical limit of Nb$_{3}$Sn. REBCO cabled in a CORC geometry is a promising fit for this application, enabling the design of low inductance magnets with conductor transposition. However, the use of CORC in coils with the tight conductor bending radii typical of accelerator magnets remains a key challenge, with on-going research both on the conductor development and coil design fronts seeking to address this issue. Here, in this work we explore the tradeoffs between circular and elliptic aperture canted-cosine-theta (CCT) coils when the conductor minimum bending radius is a key consideration, concluding that aperture ellipticity is an important free parameter in the optimization of magnetically efficient CORC dipole magnets. In particular, we show that elliptic bore designs enable a regime of smaller aperture HTS coils, an important result for LTS-HTS hybrid magnets and more generally for accelerator applications benefiting from non-circular magnet apertures. To this end we present an elliptic aperture dipole design optimized for hybrid testing within the US Magnet Development Program (US-MDP) and share 77 K test results of a prototype coil which provides first experimental confirmation of the advantages.

Brouwer, L. [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory↗
DOE OSTI2023

Final Technical Report: Innovative Magnetron Power Sources for Superconducting RF (SRF) Accelerators

In this project, MUONS is designing and building custom magnetrons at Richardson Electronics (RELL) to test the predictions of the models and make improvements to the designs to match the needs of NP SRF accelerators and their life-cycle costs. To increase lifetime, the filament temperature is controlled by a feedback circuit that includes a model of back streaming of electrons. The gain of the magnetron is optimized by the design of an input port. A permanent magnet design with trim coil for amplitude adjustment reduces energy consumption. Moving the construction of the magnetron from prototype to manufacturing includes the utilization of RELL processes and designs. To the extent that outgassing of materials influences the lifetime of the magnetron, methods for minimizing outgassing was explored. Further experimentation of the potential of sub-critical voltage operation continues to be explored. The commercialization goal of the project will be naturally achieved as RELL already has world-wide marketing, sales, and support to exploit the assembly-line capabilities generated by this project to enable magnetron technologies for NP accelerators.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Discrete modeling of a transformer with ALEGRA

We report progress on a task to model transformers in ALEGRA using the “Transient Magnetics” option. We specifically evaluate limits of the approach resolving individual coil wires. There are practical limits to the number of turns in a coil that can be numerically modeled, but calculated inductance can be scaled to the correct number of turns in a simple way. Our testing essentially confirmed this “turns scaling” hypothesis. We developed a conceptual transformer design, representative of practical designs of interest, and that focused our analysis. That design includes three coils wrapped around a rectangular ferromagnetic core. The secondary and tertiary coils have multiple layers. The tertiary has three layers of 13 turns each; the secondary has five layers of 44 turns; the primary has one layer of 20 turns. We validated the turns scaling of inductance for simple (one-layer) coils in air (no core) by comparison to available independent calculations for simple rectangular coils. These comparisons quantified the errors versus reduced number of turns modeled. For more than 3 turns, the errors are <5%. The magnetic field solver failed to converge (within 5000 iterations) for >10 turns. Including the core introduced some complications. It was necessary to capture the core surfaces in thin grid sheaths to minimize errors in computed magnetic energy. We do not yet have quantitative benchmarks with which to compare, but calculated results are qualitatively reasonable.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2021

Inverse Biot–Savart Optimization for Superconducting Accelerator Magnets

Superconducting (SC) magnets for accelerator concepts are often synthesized by numerically optimizing magnetic field waveforms, a process that requires a subsequent solution of a constrained inverse problem to identify suitable SC magnet windings. When the desired field distribution is intuitive, the inverse process is facilitated by seeding preconceived coil distributions into design optimization methods for refinement. With more complex magnetic field distributions, an initial design may be unknown, and topology optimization tools are required to synthesize current distributions without a priori guidance from a subject matter expert. In this work, we develop a constrained inverse Biot-Savart topology optimization methodology that synthesizes optimal distributions of current density in racetrack-like SC coils. The problem structure is exploited through a computationally efficient quadratic programming formulation, and the method is applied to recently published magnetic field waveforms for a recirculating proton phase shifter, a proton therapy gantry, and dipole magnets with sharp field transitions. The method and results herein identify novel winding configurations that can help magnet designers bring accelerator concepts to fruition.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2022

Magnetic Shield Design for the Double-D Coil-Based Wireless Charging System

In this work, magnetic field emission (MFE) of the high-power double-D (DD) coil-based wireless charging system is investigated and a shielding technique is proposed. The MFE pattern produced by the DD coils is significantly different from the MFE of the unipolar (e.g., circular, square, or rectangular) coils, and the traditional aluminum shield does not suppress the MFE from the DD coils. This study shows that a conventional aluminum shield increases the MFE, and a magnetic shield effectively suppresses the MFE of the DD coils. Therefore, a magnetic shield consisting of high-permeability magnetic material, such as ferrites, nanocrystalline, etc., is proposed for the DD pads. The shielding effectiveness of the proposed shield is evaluated through finite element analysis and verified through experiments. An 11 kW DD coil-based wireless charging system was used to test the proposed shielding technique. The experimental results show that a traditional aluminum shield increased the MFE by 29.8%, and the proposed magnetic shield suppressed the MFE by 50.5%.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2023

Final Design and Analysis of the Superconducting Magnets for the Material Plasma Exposure Experiment

The Material Plasma Exposure eXperiment (MPEX), which has completed its final design, is a new linear plasma device to advance the understanding of plasma-material interactions through the generation and delivery of plasmas as they are expected in future fusion reactor divertors. MPEX will be a steady-state device to study high-fluence exposures of plasma-facing materials and components. The requirements for the magnetic field at the heating stages and the target make the application of superconducting coils necessary. The final designs for the superconducting magnets have been developed using three cryostat designs with warm bore diameters of 65 cm and 156 cm. The large bores are required to for other systems such as vacuum, water cooling, and RF power. There are 19 superconducting coils in MPEX that are contained in six cryostats. Although design, fabrication, and testing for the magnets as stand-alone units are straightforward, challenges will arise during the integration of the system. Various field profiles will be used during operation. The magnetic field where the electron cyclotron heating occurs needs to operate at both 1.25 and 2.50 T. Analyses that have been performed on the final design include designing the coils and determining operating currents to meet field requirements, forces between cryostats, the effects of coil and/or cryostat movement, and quench analysis. To ensure that the magnetic field requirements are met, a plan for monitoring the magnetic field at specified locations has been developed which includes the effect of coil and/or cryostat movement.

Burkhardt, Earle↗
DOE OSTI2020

Modeling plasma toroidal flow profile control via NTV torque with n = 2 3D fields in MAST-U

Toroidal modeling utilizing the MARS-Q code shows that large (compared to electromagnetic torque) neoclassical toroidal viscous (NTV) torque can be achieved in the plasma core region in reference MAST(-U) L-mode plasmas, by applying the n=2 (n is the toroidal mode number) 3-D fields generated by the magnetic coils used for controlling the edge localized mode and/or by the error field correction coils. Large NTV torque, occurring at relatively slow plasma flow, in combination with strong variation of the torque amplitude versus the coil phasing of the 3-D coils, offers a tool to control the plasma toroidal rotation profile in spherical tokamaks. To effectively employ the toroidal NTV torque, the potentially fast initial flow needs to first be damped by 3-D fields. In conclusion, MARS-Q quasi-linear initial value simulations demonstrate that this is achievable in MAST-U, within the designed 3-D coil current capability for the device.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗