AC Loss Computation in Large-Scale Low-Temperature Superconducting Magnets: Multi-Scale and Semi-Analytical Procedures

TL;DR

This paper presents two complementary methods for accurately predicting AC losses in large-scale low-temperature superconducting magnets, considering temperature effects, with applications to a synchrocyclotron and validation against experimental data.

Contribution

It introduces a multi-scale coupled model and a semi-analytical approach for AC loss prediction in LTS magnets, accounting for temperature rise and providing options for accuracy and speed.

Findings

Multi-scale method yields accurate AC loss predictions.

Semi-analytical approach offers faster initial estimates.

Good agreement with experimental data.

Abstract

In this paper, we introduce two complementary approaches for the accurate prediction of AC losses in large-scale low-temperature superconducting (LTS) magnets. These methods account for the temperature rise within the LTS coil and its impact on AC losses. The first approach is multi-scale and relies on the coupling between a macroscopic homogenized model of the LTS coil and a mesoscopic model of a single conductor for loss prediction. The second approach is semi-analytical and is based on analytical approximations for the hysteresis losses, which are validated against a single filament model. The second approach offers a faster computation suitable for initial design considerations, while the multi-scale method is shown to provide more accurate results. We apply both methods to the prediction of AC losses generated in the LTS coil inside the IBA S2C2 synchrocyclotron during its ramp-up procedure. Additionally, we discuss the convergence properties of the multi-scale approach and demonstrate the good agreement between the numerical results and experimental data.