Mayekawa Mfg. Co., Ltd.

Ryusuke Ono

Naoko Nakamura

Shunsuke Komatsu

Masahiro Shimoda

Hiroharu Yaguchi

A low-cost and space-saving cooling apparatus for a superconductor that prevents a function of the superconductor being compromised when a refrigerator is faulty. A cooling apparatus for a superconductor forms a circulation path in which a coolant, having been used for cooing the superconductor, is pumped by a circulation pump to a heat exchanger unit so that the coolant is cooled by a refrigerator, and the coolant is supplied to the superconductor. The cooling apparatus for a superconductor includes: a sub-cooling tank which is disposed on a downstream side of the superconductor and on an upstream side of the heat exchanger unit in the circulation path and which is configured to store a secondary coolant for cooling the coolant; a secondary heat exchanger unit which is disposed in the sub-cooling tank and which is configured to cool the coolant, having been used for cooling the superconductor, through heat exchange with the secondary coolant; a depressurizing unit configured to reduce pressure in the sub-cooling tank to cool the secondary coolant; a temperature detection unit for detecting temperature of the secondary coolant; a fault detection unit capable of detecting a fault state of the refrigerator; and a control unit configured to determine whether the refrigerator is faulty, based on information detected by the fault detection unit, and to control, upon determining that the refrigerator is faulty, an operation of the depressurizing unit so that the temperature of the secondary coolant, detected by the temperature detection unit, becomes a predetermined temperature at which the secondary coolant is capable of cooling the superconductor through the coolant.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Ryusuke Ono