Analysis of Temperature Dependent Quench Characteristics of the YBCO Coated Conductor

Studies on (YBCO) coated conductor (CC) are actively underway for the practical application of high temperature superconducting (HTS) devices such as magnets, cables and fault current limiting devices because the CC has higher critical current characteristics under high temperature and magnetic field. However, it is hard to make a long-length of YBCO CC tape with uniform critical current density using the present processing techniques. The hot spot will emerge in a local region if the critical current is non-uniform along the HTS tape, and eventually, the hot spots may cause serious damage to the HTS tape. Therefore, it is important to examine the thermal stability characteristic of the YBCO CC tape from the quench protection point of view. In this paper, the segmental critical current of a YBCO CC sample tape is measured in liquid nitrogen, and a heater is installed at the center of the sample tape in order to examine the normal zone propagation characteristics in the longitudinal direction under the adiabatic condition with a Gifford-McMahon cryocooler. Measurements are performed as a function of heat input and transport current for the operating temperatures of 77 K, 65 K and 40 K, respectively, and the results are discussed in detail.