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Title: Quench propagation in a cable-in-conduit force-cooled superconductor---Preliminary results

Conference ·
OSTI ID:5550924

Cable-in-conduit force-cooled superconductor is being considered for use in a superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) system. The quench behavior of such a conductor plays a very important role in the protection of this system and of other magnets having similar cooling environments. In particular, the existence of the thermohydraulic quenchback effect predicted recently by numerical analysis and theoretical calculation has been investigated experimentally. The test sample consists of a 50-m-long single triplex NbTi superconductor enclosed in a stainless steel conduit. Heaters 0.2 to 8 m long are provided both at the center and one end of the sample, and the heated end can be closed off to stimulate quenching centered in a 100-m-long conductor. The quench behavior of the conductor (e.g., the propagation velocity and the temperature profile) was measured as a function of initial normal zone length, conductor current density, helium temperature, etc. This paper reports the test results and the comparison with the predictions.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOD; Department of Defense, Washington, DC (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-84OR21400
OSTI ID:
5550924
Report Number(s):
CONF-900944-49; ON: DE91014080
Resource Relation:
Conference: Applied superconductivity conference, Aspen, CO (USA), 24-28 Sep 1990
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English