Quench protected structured superconducting cable
AssigneeThe Texas A&M University System
InventorsPeter McIntyre, Akhdiyor Sattarov, Thomas Mann, James Gerity, Klaus Smit, Daniel Chavez, Nathaniel Pogue, Michael Tomsic
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Abstract
Quench protected structured (QPS) superconducting cables, methods of fabricating the same, and methods of bending the same are disclosed. The methods of bending the QPS superconducting cables can be employed to produce windings. The QPS superconducting cables can rapidly drive a distributed quench to a normal conducting state in a superconducting cable if a region of the cable spontaneously quenches during high current operation.
Claims6
A method of bending a QPS superconducting cable, the QPS superconducting cable comprising:
- a spring tube;
- a plurality of superconducting wires disposed around the spring tube;
- and a sheath surrounding the plurality of superconducting wires and the spring tube, wherein the spring tube comprises a plurality of perforations,
- wherein the method comprises the steps of:
- evacuating the spring tube to create at least a partial vacuum;
- filling the spring tube with water;
- cooling the QPS superconducting cable to freeze the water;
- bending the QPS superconducting cable;
- warming the QPS superconducting cable to room temperature;
- draining the water;
- and
- evacuating the QPS superconducting cable to at least a partial vacuum to remove any residual water.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.