Current Sharing of Parallel Connected Bi-2223 High- Superconducting paths

Bi-2223 wire, the first-generation high temperature superconducting (HTS) wire, was successfully commercialized and various electrical machinery and equipment are actively being developed in many countries. Because its critical current is too small to realize the lossless conducting part of electric power system with a HTS wire, multi-HTS paths are used to enlarge the critical current of HTS system. Though the resistance generated in HTS wire by transport current is very small, the difference of it in multi-path is the additional reason which causes the non-uniform current sharing in multi-HTS path except the well known reason, the difference of inductance between each path. In this paper, experimental research on current sharing of multi-strand and multi-stacked HTS wire was implemented. The whole critical current of multi-HTS paths is not equal to sum of critical current of each path because of non-uniform current sharing occurred in this paths. It was verified experimentally that Bi-2223 wires have different resistance generated by same transport current even if they was manufactured in same progress of work. Current sharing phenomenon was affected by difference of resistance and self and mutual inductance.