• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.7-16
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• 2014

Rare-earth barium copper oxide (REBCO) coated conductor (CC) tapes have already been commercialized but still possess some issues in terms of manufacturing cost, anisotropic in-field performance, $I_c$ response to mechanical loads such as delamination, homogeneity of current transport property, and production length. Development on improving its performance properties to meet the needs in practical device applications is underway and simplification of the tape's architecture and manufacturing process are also being considered to enhance the performance-cost ratio. As compared to low temperature superconductors (LTS), high temperature superconductor (HTS) REBCO CC tapes provide a much wider range of operating temperature and a higher critical current density at 4.2 K making it more attractive in magnet and coil applications. The superior properties of the REBCO CC tapes under magnetic field have led to the development of superconducting magnets capable of producing field way above 23.5 T. In order to achieve its optimum performance, the electromechanical properties under different deformation modes and magnetic field should be evaluated for practical device design. This paper gives an overview of the effects of mechanical stress/strain on $I_c$ in HTS CC tapes due to uniaxial tension, bending deformation, transverse load, and including the electrical performance of a CC tape joint which were performed by our group at ANU in the last decade.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.57-61
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• 2022

One of the major applications of REBCO coated conductor (CC) tapes is in superconducting magnets or coils that are designed for high magnet fields. For such applications, the CC tapes were exposed to a high level of stresses which includes uniaxial tensile or transverse compressive stresses resulting from a large magnetic field. Thus, CC tapes should endure such mechanical load or deformation that can influence their electromechanical performance during manufacturing, cool-down, and operation. It has been reported that the main cause of critical current (I_c) degradation in CC tapes utilized in coil windings for superconducting magnets was the delamination due to transversely applied stresses. In most high-magnetic-field applications, the operating limits of the CC tapes will likely be imposed by the electromechanical properties together with its I_c dependence on temperature and magnetic field. In this study, we examined the influence of the transverse compressive stress on the I_c degradation behaviors in various commercially available CC tapes which is important for magnet design Four differently processed REBCO CC tapes were adopted to examine their I_c degradation behaviors under transverse compression using an anvil test method and a newly developed instantaneous I_c measurement system. As a result, all REBCO CC tapes adopted showed robustness against transverse compressive stresses for REBCO coils, notably at transverse compressive stresses until 250 MPa. When the applied stress further increased, different Ic degradation behaviors were observed depending on the sample. Among them, the one that was fabricated by the IBAD/MOCVD process showed the highest compressive stress tolerance.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.14-19
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• 2012

Shimming, active and/or passive, is indispensable for most MR (magnetic resonance) magnets where homogeneous magnetic fields are required within target spaces. Generally, shimming consists of two steps, field mapping and correcting of fields, and they are recursively repeated until the target field homogeneity is reached. Thus, accuracy of the field mapping is crucial for fast and efficient shimming of MR magnets. For an accurate shimming, a "magnetic" center, which is a mathematical origin for harmonic analysis, must be carefully defined, Although the magnetic center is in general identical to the physical center of a magnet, it is not rare that both centers are different particularly in HTS (high temperature superconducting) magnets of which harmonic field errors, especially high orders, are significantly dependent on a location of the magnetic center. This paper presents a new algorithm, based on a field mapping theory with harmonic analysis, to define the best magnetic center of an MR magnet in terms of minimization of pre-shimming field errors. And the proposed algorithm is tested with simulation under gaussian noise environment.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.40-45
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• 2022

The electrical/thermal stabilities and magnetic field controllability of a no-insulation (NI) high-temperature superconducting magnet are characterized by contact resistance between turn-to-turn layers, and the contact resistance characteristics are determined by properties of conductor surface and winding tension. In order to accurately predict the electromagnetic characteristics of the NI coil in a design stage, it is necessary to control the contact resistance characteristics within the design target parameters. In this paper, the contact resistance and critical current characteristics of a rare-earth barium copper oxide (REBCO) conductor were measured to analyze the effects of surface treatment conditions (roughness and oxidation level) of the copper stabilizer layer in REBCO conductor. The test samples with different surface roughness and oxidation levels were fabricated and conductor surface analysis was performed using scanning electron microscope, alpha step surface profiler and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Moreover, the contact resistance and critical current characteristics of the samples were measured using the four-terminal method in a liquid nitrogen impregnated cooling environment. Compared with as-received REBCO conductor sample, the contact resistance values of the REBCO conductors, which were post-treated by the scratch and oxidation of the surface of the copper stabilizer layer, tended to increase, and the critical current values were decreased under certain roughness and oxidation conditions.

• 한국초전도학회:학술대회논문집
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• v.9
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• pp.27-32
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• 1999

We developed a 40-channel superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) system for neuromagnetic measurements. The main features of the system are use of double relaxation oscillation SQUID (DROS), and planar gradiometer for measuring tangential field components. The DROSS with high flux-to-voltage transfers enabled direct readout of the SQUID output by room-temperature electronics and simple flux-locked loop circuits could be used for SQUID operation. The pickup coil is an integrated first-order planar gradiometer with a baseline of 40 mm. The average noise of the 40 channels is around 1.2 fT/cm/${\sqrt{Hz}}$ at 100 Hz, corresponding to the field noise of 5 fT/${\sqrt{Hz}}$ at 100 Hz, operated inside a magnetically shielded room. The 40-Channel system was applied to measure auditory-evoked neuromagnetic fields.

• Progress in Superconductivity
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.20-26
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• 2000

A 40-channel superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) system was constructed for measuring neuromagnetic fields. Main features of the system are the use of double relaxation oscillation SQUIDs (DROSs), and planar gradiometers measuring magnetic field components tangential to the head surface. The DROSs with high flux-to-voltage transfers enabled direct readout of the SQUID output by room-temperature dc preamplifiers and simple flux-locked loop circuits could be used for SQUID operation. The pickup coil is an integrated first-order planar gradiometer with a baseline of 40 mm. Average noise level of the 40 channels is around 1.2 $fT/cm/{\surd}Hz$ at 100 Hz, corresponding to a field noise of 5 $fT/{\surd}Hz$, operated inside a magnetically shielded room. The SQUID insert was designed to have low thermal load, minimizing the loss of liquid helium. The constructed system was applied to measure auditory-evoked neuromagnetic fields.

• Proceedings of the KSMRM Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.103-105
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• 2003

After fifteen years of development, Magnetic Resonance (MR) technology for human imaging and spectroscopy is reaching a refined state with FDA approved 3T clinical products from Siemens, GE, and Philips. Broker has cleared CE approval with a 4T system. Varian supports a 4T system platform as well. Shielded magnets are standard at 3T from GE, Oxford, Magnex, and IGC. A shielded 4T whole body magnet is available from Oxford. Stronger switched gradients and dynamic shim coils, desired at any field, areespecially useful at higher static magnetic fields B0. In addition to the higher currents required for higher resolution slice or volume selection afforded by higher SNR, whole body gradient coils will be driven at increasing slew rates to meet the needs of new cardiac applications and other requirements. For example 3T and 4T systems are now being equipped with 2kV, 500A gradient coils and amplifiers capable of generating 4G/cm in 200msec, over a 67+/-cm bore diameter. High field EPI applications require oscillation rates at 1 kHz and higher. To achieve a benchmark 0.2 ppm shim over a 30cm sphere in a high field magnet, at least four stages of shimming need to be considered. 1) A good high field magnet will be built to a homogeneity spec. falling in the range of 100 to 150 ppm over this 30cm spherical "sweet spot" 2) Most modern high field magnets will also have superconducting shim coils capable of finding 1.5 ppm by their adjustment during system installation. 3) Passive ferro-magnetic shimming combined with 4) active, high order room temperature shim coils (as many as five orders are now being recommended) will accomplish 0.2 ppm over the 30cm sphere, and 0.1 ppm over a human brain in even the highest field magnets for human studies. Safety concerns for strong, fast gradients at any B0 field include acoustic noise and peripheral nerve stimulation. One or more of the mechanical decoupling methods may lead to quieter gradients. Patient positioning relative to asymmetric or short gradient coils may limit peripheral nerve stimulation at higher slew rates. Gradient designs combining a short coil for local speed and strength with a longer coil for coverage are being developed for 3T systems. Local gradients give another approach to maximizing performance over a limited region while keeping within the physiologically imposed dB0/dt performance limits.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2009.07a
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• pp.599_600
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• 2009

In superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) systems, the current leads are usually divided into two parts. Normal metals like brass or copper are often used in the first part from the room temperature to the 1st stage of the cryocooler. Their dimensions were decided to minimize the conduction heat penetration and Ohm's heat generation. The second part down to the cryogenic coil is made of high temperature superconductor (HTS). HTS current leads can reduce the conductive heat penetration because they have poor thermal conductivity and generate no Ohm's heat generation. The brass current lead and the HTS current lead were designed and fabricated for application to the 10kJ class SMES system. The HTS current lead is 300A class. The HTS current lead was stacked with 2 HTS layers using the $Bi_2Sr_2Ca_2Cu_3O_x$ (BSCCO)/Ag. In this paper, we introduce the design procedure of the current leads and discuss the test results of the current leads.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.44-48
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• 2017

Current lead is a device that connects the power supply and superconducting magnets. High temperature superconductor (HTS) has lower thermal conductivity and higher current density than normal metal. For these reasons, the heat load can be reduced by replacing the normal metal of the current lead with the HTS. Conventional HTS current lead has same cross-sectional area in the axial direction. However, this is over-designed at the cold-end (4.2 K) in terms of current. The heat load can be reduced by reducing this part because the heat load is proportional to the cross-sectional area. Therefore, in this paper, heat load was calculated from the heat diffusion equation of HTS current leads with uniform and non-uniform cross-sectional areas. The cross-sectional area of the warm-end (65K) is designed considering burnout time when cooling system failure occurs. In cold-end, Joule heat and heat load due to current conduction occurs at the same time, so the cross-sectional area where the sum of the two heat is minimum is obtained. As a result of simulation, current leads for KSTAR TF coils with uniform and non-uniform cross-sectional areas were designed, and it was confirmed that the non-uniform cross-sectional areas could further reduce the heat load.