Parametric design studies of toroidal magnetic energy storage units

Conference · Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1990

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/IECEC.1990.716322· OSTI ID:7092079

Herring, J S

Superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) units have a number of advantages as storage devices. Electrical current is the input, output and stored medium, allowing for completely solid-state energy conversion. The magnets themselves have no moving parts. The round-trip efficiency is higher than those for batteries, compressed air or pumped hydro. Output power can be very high, allowing complete discharge of the unit within a few seconds. Finally, the unit can be designed for a very large number of cycles, limited basically by fatigue in the structural components. A small systems code has been written to produce and evaluate self-consistent designs for toroidal superconducting energy storage units. The units can use either low temperature or high temperature superconductors. The coils have D' shape where the conductor and its stabilizer/structure is loaded only in tension and the centering forces are borne by a bucking cylinder. The coils are convectively cooled from a cryogenic reservoir in the bore of the coils. The coils are suspended in a cylindrical metal shell which protects the magnet during rail, automotive or shipboard use. It is important to note that the storage unit does not rely on its surroundings for structural support, other than normal gravity and inertial loads. This paper presents designs for toroidal energy storage units produced by the systems code. A wide range of several parameters have been considered, resulting in units storing from 1 MJ to 72 GJ. Maximum fields range from 5 t to 20 T. The masses and volumes of the coils, bucking cylinder, coolant, insulation and outer shell are calculated. For unattended use, the allowable operating time using only the boiloff of the cryogenic fluid for refrigeration is calculated. For larger units, the coils have been divided into modules suitable for normal truck or rail transport. 8 refs., 5 tabs.

• Research Organization: EG and G Idaho, Inc., Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE/ER
• DOE Contract Number: AC07-76ID01570
• OSTI ID: 7092079
• Report Number(s): EGG-M-89521; CONF-900801-15; ON: DE90013086; TRN: 90-020311
• Resource Relation: Journal Volume: 3; Conference: 25. intersociety energy conversion engineering conference, Reno, NV (USA), 12-17 Aug 1990
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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