Effect of electromagnetic force on the pressure drop and coupling loss of a cable-in-conduit conductor Original Research Article

In the central solenoid (CS) insert experiment performed with the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor CS model coil, significant changes in the pressure drop and coupling losses were observed during coil energization. This phenomenon was quantitatively analyzed from the viewpoint of the deformation of the cable shape in the CS insert conductor due to an electromagnetic force acting on the cable. A new calculation model was proposed to provide the relation between the electromagnetic force and hydraulic characteristics of the conductor. Calculation results indicated that there seemed to be a gap of 1.3 mm between the cable and jacket created by the electromagnetic force when the CS insert was operated at 40 kA and 10 T, which can cause the decrease of the pressure drop by 12% and also the decrease of the local void fraction of the cable from 36.3% to approximately 34%. The latter well explained the increase of coupling losses. A local void fraction of 34.5% is suggested from the calculation in order both to reduce the amount of deformation and to maintain the coupling losses at acceptable level for this type of large current-carrying conductor.