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Investigating thermal hydraulic quenchback in a cable-in-conduit superconductor

Conference ·
OSTI ID:7196466

Quench propagation of a cable-in-conduit force-cooled superconductor plays a very important role in the protection of a magnet built with such a conductor as in a Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES) system. Some thermal analysis showed that the compressional and frictional heating exerted by the expanding hot helium could heat the helium away from the normal zone above the superconductor current sharing temperature. Thus an acceleration of the quench propagation could be realized. This phenomenon was termed thermal hydraulic quenchback (THQ). A setup has been built specifically to investigate this phenomenon. The test sample consists of a 50-m-long NbTi superconducting cable enclosed in a stainless steel conduit. Heaters 0.2 to 8 m long are provided to quench the conductor. This paper reports experimental finding of THQ and its dependence on the initial normal zone length, the conductor current, and the temperature.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
DOD; Department of Defense, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-84OR21400
OSTI ID:
7196466
Report Number(s):
CONF-920802-14; ON: DE92040864
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English