Characterizing thermal runaway in HTS current leads

Authors :: Pfotenhauer, J.M.
Lawrence, J.W.
Source :: IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity. June, 1999, Vol. 9 Issue 2, p424, 4 p.
Publication Year :: 1999
Abstract: The performance of a pair of 1500 A high-temperature superconducting (HTS) current leads during transient warm-up following a loss of intercept cooling has been examined by using the ANSYS finite element software. Results indicate that the HTS lead is thermally decoupled from the rest of the lead when the heat generated by the HTS superconductor exceeds convective cooling by a factor of 10. Experimental data reveal that it is possible to protect the HTS leads through the addition of sufficient helium mass flow.