Liquid helium dump concept for a large scale superconducting magnetic energy storage plant

Conference · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1985

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-2213-9_13· OSTI ID:5062510

Schoenung, S M; Loyd, R J; Nakamura, T; Rogers, J D; Purcell, J R

Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES) is a potentially cost effective technology for electric utility load leveling. Design concepts and cost estimates of SMES plants capable of delivering 5000 MWh daily have been previously identified. An important feature of a large commercial plant is a system that will reliably shut down the magnet by thermally dissipating the stored energy in the event of an imminent or actual loss of superconductivity. To prevent damage to the coil during such a protective energy dump, the entire coil must be driven ''normal'', i.e., resistive rather than superconducting, in a short period of time. This requires rapid removal of the liquid helium coolant surrounding the coil. This paper describes a simple system that has been developed to rapidly remove the liquid helium from the helium vessel. The system requires only a small number of active components, no external helium storage, and is practical to reset and maintain.

• Research Organization: Bechtel, Inc., San Francisco, CA (USA); Los Alamos National Lab., NM (USA); GA Technologies, Inc., San Diego, CA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 5062510
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-85-3196; CONF-850814-23; ON: DE86000776
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

25 ENERGY STORAGE
250100* -- Energy Storage-- Magnetic
42 ENGINEERING
420200 -- Engineering-- Facilities
Equipment
& Techniques
COOLING
CRYOGENICS
ELECTRIC UTILITIES
ENERGY STORAGE
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
FLUIDS
HELIUM 4
HELIUM II
HELIUM ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
MAGNETIC ENERGY STORAGE
NUCLEI
PUBLIC UTILITIES
QUANTUM FLUIDS
REFRIGERATION
STABLE ISOTOPES
STORAGE
SUPERCONDUCTING COILS