Experiment and Numerical Simulation on Quench Detection in Cryocooler-Cooled YBCO Coil for SMES Application

In the real application of high-temperature superconducting (HTS) coils to a superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) system, coated conductors are cyclically subjected to tensile strain due to electrical charging and discharging. A quench is not only caused by failure in the power supply and cooling system but also could be induced by local deterioration of the superconducting characteristics because of the cyclic strain during operation. In such a local deterioration case, the conventional detection method using voltage signal for low-temperature superconducting (LTS) coils is not applicable for the HTS coils because of the significantly slow velocity of normal-zone propagation. Furthermore, the voltage detection method is considered to be extremely difficult because the noise of the converters and other equipment is much larger than the local normal-zone voltage of the HTS coils. Therefore, a new quench-detection method for HTS coils is required. In our previous studies, a current detection method was developed for a cryocooler-cooled SMES coil wound with a kA-class laminated bundle conductor composed of four electrically insulated coated conductors. In the present study, experiments and numerical simulations were carried out on a double pancake model coil that assumes real SMES operation to verify the validity of the current detection method.