Measurements of retractable gas-cooled 6061 aluminum electrical leads operating in a vacuum

Conference · Sat Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1991

OSTI ID:5638136

Green, M A; Aguiar, H; Bensadoun, M J; Gibson, J H; Heine, D L; Levin, S; Limon, M; Smoot, G F; Witebsky, C

To charge and discharge the ASTROMAG superconducting magnet in space requires retractable gas-cooled leads which must operate in a vacuum. This report describes the design and test of 500 ampere retractable gas-cooled leads made from 6061-T4 aluminum tubes. Aluminum is attractive for gas-cooled electrical leads in space because of its low mass density and the desire for short leads. Initial tests showed that retractable gas-cooled leads could operate in a vacuum from a source of normal helium. The pressure drop through the leads was low enough to permit a superconducting magnet to be charged and discharged while the leads vent into space. The leads were stable at currents above 700 amperes. The voltage drop across the contact between the upper and lower leads was as low as 1.2 mV per lead out of a total voltage drop of 42 mV per lead when the leads carried 714 amperes. The gas required for cooling was comparable to the more conventional copper gas-cooled current leads. In a second test seven months later, the contact resistance between the lead sections had increased considerably. In the second test, the contact resistance was repeatable for one lead but not for the other. 6 refs., 2 figs.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); USDOE, Washington, DC (USA); National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC03-76SF00098
• OSTI ID: 5638136
• Report Number(s): LBL-30785; CONF-910635-3; ASTROMAG-035; ON: DE91014617
• Resource Relation: Conference: Cryogenic engineering conference and international cryogenic materials conference, Huntsville, AL (United States), 11-14 Jun 1991
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
SUPERCONDUCTING MAGNETS
COOLING
ALUMINIUM ALLOYS
CRYOGENICS
CRYOPUMPS
FEASIBILITY STUDIES
FLUID FLOW
HEAT TRANSFER
HELIUM
TESTING
TUBES
ALLOYS
ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT
ELECTROMAGNETS
ELEMENTS
ENERGY TRANSFER
EQUIPMENT
FLUIDS
GASES
LABORATORY EQUIPMENT
MAGNETS
NONMETALS
PUMPS
RARE GASES
SUPERCONDUCTING DEVICES
VACUUM PUMPS
420201* - Engineering- Cryogenic Equipment & Devices
360104 - Metals & Alloys- Physical Properties