Thermal Runaway of Conduction-Cooled Monofilament and Multifilament Coated Conductors

Abstract

We experimentally studied the thermal runawayinitiating at a low critical current ( I c ) part. This low I c part is determined by the combination of two reasons in a real coil: (a) the unavoidable defects caused by the manufacturing process, which reduce local critical currents (and might not be uniform across the width of a coated conductor) and (b) the magnetic field distribution along the coated conductor. To simulate the thermal runaway using a short monofilament/multifilament REBa₂Cu₃Oy (RE-123) coated conductor, we artificially created a local defect (low I c part) in a short sample by pressing using a drill bit (creating a defect close to one edge of a coated conductor) or bending (creating a uniform defect across the width of a coated conductor). The sample of the coated conductor was conduction-cooled to 30 K, and a magnetic field was applied (μ₀ H up to 2 T) perpendicular to the wide face of the conductor to control its critical current. Transverse voltages in a multifilament coated conductor were measured to obtain the transverse currents among the filaments through the copper layer. Thermal runaway currents (operating currents above which thermal runaway initiates) of the monofilament sample and those of the multifilament sample with additional Joule loss due to the transverse currents were determined and compared to study the effect of the transverse currents on the initiation of thermal runaway in the multifilament coated conductor. Experiments on the protection against thermal runaway were conducted. When a normal voltage (over a preset threshold) was detected, the supplied current would be decreased exponentially. The thresholds for protecting monofilament and multifilament coated conductors from degradation after thermal runaway were compared.