Tokamak Energy Ltd.

Baker Hughes Corporation

Oxford Instruments (uk) Ltd.

Oxford Instruments Molecular Biotools Limited

Other

Siemens Corporation

Oxford Instruments, Inc.

University of Nottingham

Oxford Instruments Superconductivity Limited

Robert Andrew Slade

Greg Brittles

Thomas Kruspe

Bas Van Nugteren

Marcel Kruip

Robert Carter Hawkes

Rod Bateman

Ian Leitch McDougall

Peter Hanley

Paul Noonan

Daniel Robert Strange

Alun J Lucas

Volker Krueger

Martin Blanz

Marcel Jan Marie Kruip

Peter Rottengatter

Hugh Alexander Blakes

Russell Peter Gore

David Kingham

Hartmut Schrader

Graham Hutton

Alun Down

Tony Langtry

Martin Charles Townsend

Enrique Ruiz De Villa Valdés

Gary Stables

Walter Friedrich Kockenberger

Francis John Brown

Rob Hawkes

Alun Lucas

Daniel Inglesias

Graham Mark Hutton

There is described a central column for a toroidal field coil of a tokamak plasma chamber. The central column comprises a support member extending vertically along a central axis of the central column made from material with high compressive strength, and current carrying elements located radially outward of the support member. The support member is in structural contact with the current carrying elements so as to support them radially against compressive Lorentz stress.

Central column designs for tokamaks

A cable for carrying electrical current in a coil of a magnet. The magnet comprises an HTS transport tape and a shunt assembly comprising two or more HTS shunt tapes arranged side-by-side across a face of the transport tape. Each of the transport and shunt tapes comprises a substrate layer and an HTS layer of high temperature superconductor (HTS) material, the layers of the shunt tapes extending parallel to the layers of the transport tape.

High temperature superconductor cable

A cable for carrying electrical current in a coil of a magnet. The cable comprises a stack of tape assemblies. Each tape assembly has a length and a width, such that the length is much larger than the width, and each tape assembly comprises an HTS layer of anisotropic high temperature superconductor. HTS material, wherein a c-axis of the HTS layer is at a non-zero angle to a vector perpendicular to the plane of the HTS layer. The tape assemblies are stacked as a series of pairs, each pair comprising first and second HTS tape assemblies and a copper layer therebetween. The tape assemblies in each pair are arranged such that the c-axis of the HTS layer of the first HTS tape assembly of each pair have reflective symmetry to the c-axis of the HTS layer of the second HTS tape assembly of each pair about a plane which is parallel to and equidistant from each HTS layer.

Alignment of HTS tapes

A method of manufacturing an HTS coil is provided. The method comprises winding an ITS coil cable to produce a coil having a plurality of turns. During winding of a turn of the coil, one or more HTS shunt cables are placed adjacent to the previous turn of the coil along a first arc of the coil, and then the turn is wound such that the HTS shunt cable is sandwiched between the turn and the previous turn of the coil such that current can be shared between the HTS shunt cable and the HTS coil cable.

Wound HTS magnet coils

A superconducting magnet comprising: a field coil comprising high temperature superconducting material and having a joint; a bypass resistance comprising a non-superconducting conductive material, wherein the bypass resistance is electrically connected to the field coil on both sides of the joint; wherein the joint is openable to break the field coil such that current flowing in the superconductor flows though the bypass resistance in order to dump energy from the field coil, and wherein the superconducting magnet is configured to open the joint in response to detection of a quench in the magnet.

Quench protection in high-temperature superconducting magnets

A method of detecting pre-quench conditions in a superconducting magnet comprising an HTS field coil. The field coil comprises a plurality of turns comprising HTS material and metallic stabilizer; and conductive material connecting the turns such that current can be shared radially between turns via the conductive material. Strain is monitored for the HTS field coil and/or support structures of the HTS field coil. The monitored strain is compared to an expected strain during normal operation of the magnet. In response to the comparison, it is determined whether the field coil is in pre-quench conditions. A similar method is provided where the magnetic field of the HTS field coil is monitored to detect pre-quench conditions, instead of the strain.

Strain&#x2014;or magnetic field-based quench detection

A device comprising a high temperature superconductor, HTS, circuit; wherein the HTS circuit comprises: a quenchable section comprising HTS material and connected in series to other elements of the HTS circuit, the HTS material comprising a stack of HTS takes comprising at least one HTS tape; the device further comprising: a quenching system configured to quench the HTS material in the quenchable section; a quench protection system configured to detect temperature rises in the HTS circuit and, in response to detection of a temperature rise, cause the quenching system to quench the superconducting material in the quenchable section in order to dump stored magnetic energy from the HTS circuit into the quenchable section; wherein the HTS circuit is configured such that, when in use, the magnetic field on the or each HTS tape is substantially parallel to a a-b plane of the HTS tape, and the quenching system is configured to quench the HTS material by producing an additional magnetic field along the length of the or each HTS tape within the quenchable section, such that the additional magnetic field has a component perpendicular to the a-b plane of the HTS tape.

HTS magnet quench initiation system

A partially insulating layer for use in an HTS magnet coil. The partially insulating layer comprises an insulating bodyhaving within it a set of linking tracks and a set of pickup tracks. Each linking track is electrically conductive and is electrically connected to first and second surfaces of the partially insulating layer, in order to provide an electrical path between said first and second surfaces. Each pickup track is electrically conductive and is inductively coupled to a respective linking track, and electrically isolated from the first and second surfaces. Each of the pickup tracks is configured for connection to a current measuring device in order to measure a current induced in the pickup track by a change in current flowing in the respective linking track.

Partial insulation with diagnostic pickup coils

A method of manufacturing an HTS coil is provided. The method comprises winding an HTS coil cable to produce a coil having a plurality of turns. During winding of a turn of the coil, one or more HTS shunt cables are placed adjacent to the previous turn of the coil along a first arc of the coil, and then the turn is wound such that the HTS shunt cable is sandwiched between the turn and the previous turn of the coil such that current can be shared between the HTS shunt cable and the HTS coil cable.

There is described a magnet assembly comprising a superconducting coil, a cryogenic system, a DC voltage source, an SMPS, current leads, and a controller. The cryogenic system comprises a cryostat and is configured to maintain the superconducting coil at an operating temperature below the critical temperature of the superconductor. The DC voltage is source located outside the cryostat. The SMPS is located inside the cryostat and configured to supply power from the DC voltage source to the superconducting coil. The SMPS comprises a voltage step-down transformer having a primary and a secondary winding. The current leads connect the DC voltage source to the SMPS. The controller is configured to cause the SMPS to supply a first amount of power to the magnet in order to ramp up the magnet to operating current, and a second amount of power to the magnet during steady state operation of the magnet, wherein the first amount of power is greater than the second amount of power.

Cryogenic magnet power supply

A toroidal field coil comprising a central column, a plurality of return limbs, a quench protection system, and a cooling system. The central column comprises IITS material. Each return limb comprises a quenchable section, two IITS sections, and a quenchingsystem. The quenchable section comprises superconducting material, and is configured to contribute towards a magnetic field of the toroidal field coil. The IITS sections comprise IITS material. The IITS sections electrically connect the quenchable section to the central column and are in series with the central column and the quenchable section. The quenching system is associated with the quenchable sectionand configured to quench the quenchable section. The quench protection system is configured to detect quenches in the toroidal field coil and, in response to detection of a quench, cause the quenching system to quench the superconducting material in one or more of the quenchable sections in order to dump energy from the toroidal field coil into the one or more quenchable sections. The cooling system is configured to cool eachquenchable section to a temperature at which the superconducting material is superconducting. Each quenchable section has a heat capacity sufficient to cause a temperature of the quenchable section to remain below a first predetermined temperature when energy is dumped from the toroidal field coil into the quenchable section, and a resistivity sufficient to cause decay of the magnet's current quicklyenough that the temperature of the quenched part of the HTS section remains below a second predetermined temperature.

Quench protection in superconducting magnets

A monitoring device for use in a cryogenic system. The monitoring device comprises first and second conducting elements and a current detector. The first conducting element comprises high temperature superconducting, HTS, material and is configured for connection to a current source and insertion into the cryogenic system. The second conducting element comprises HTS material and is connected in parallel to the first conducting element by first and second joints. The current detector is configured to detect a current in the second conducting element. When the HTS material in each of the first and second conducting elements is in a superconducting state, the resistance, R, of the first conducting element between the first and second joints, is less than the sum, R, of the resistance of the second conducting element between the first and second joints and the resistances of the first and second joints.

Monitoring device for cryogenic device

A high temperature superconducting, HTS, field coil. The HTS field coil comprises a plurality of turns and a partially insulating layer. The plurality of turns comprises HTS material and metallic stabilizer. The partially insulating layer separates the turns, such that current can be shared between turns via the partially insulating layer. The partially insulating layer comprises an electrically conducting layer, and first and second insulating layers. The electrically conducting layer is coated on one side with the first insulating layer and on the other side with the second insulating layer. Each insulating layer has one or more windows through which electrical contact can be made between the turns and the electrically conducting layer. The windows in the first insulating layer are offset in the plane of the electrically conducting strip from the windows in the second insulating layer.

Partially-insulated HTS coils

A high temperature superconductor, HTS, tape () for detecting a quench in a superconducting magnet. The HTS tape comprises an HTS layer () of HTS material supported by a substrate (). The HTS layer is divided into a plurality of strips (). The strips are connected () in series along an open path.

Quench detection in superconducting magnets

An HTS assembly for use in a toroidal field coil having a central column is described. The HTS assembly comprises a plurality of parallel arrays of HTS tapes arranged to pass through the central column, each array comprising a plurality of HTS tapes arranged such that c-axes of all tapes in an array are parallel to each other, and such that planes of the HTS layers of the HTS tapes are perpendicular to a first radius of the central column. Each HTS tape has a c-angle which is an angle between a perpendicular to a plane of an HTS layer of the HTS tape and the c-axis of the tape. The plurality of arrays comprises first and second sets of arrays. Each array within the first set of arrays comprises HTS tapes of a first type having a first c-angle, and each array within the second set of arrays comprises HTS tapes of a second type having a second c-angle which is greater than the first c-angle. The first set of arrays are arranged closer to the first radius than the second set of arrays.

Growing community of inventors

Oxon, United Kingdom

Robert Andrew Slade