Transient Stability Characteristics of a 1-m Single-Layer YBCO Cable

YBCO tapes are expected to be used in future high temperature superconductor (HTS) applications as they have better J_c characteristics at high temperatures and in high magnetic fields. For power applications such as transmission cables, YBCO tapes and a copper former are connected in parallel and they might be subjected to a short-circuit fault current that is 10 to 30 times the normal operating current. Therefore, the over-current behavior, including the hot-spot and the distribution of transport current between the copper-laminated YBCO tapes and the copper former, is very important to examine the stability and feasibility of the cable. This paper describes the experimental results for over-current pulses of a 1-m single-layer cable fabricated with five copper-laminated YBCO tapes and a copper former. Further, we performed numerical simulations by using a newly developed computer program based on the 3D finite element method.