High current DyBCO-ROEBEL Assembled Coated Conductor (RACC)

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a novel DyBCO-ROEBEL assembled coated conductor cable capable of carrying over 1 kA at 77 K, advancing high-current HTS cable technology for power applications.

Contribution

First feasibility study of a DyBCO-ROEBEL bar cable made from industrial coated conductors with detailed fabrication and testing results.

Findings

Single strand carried 157 A/cm-width DC

5-strand cable carried >300 A DC at 77 K

16-strand cable showed potential for >1 kA current capacity

Abstract

Low AC loss high transport current HTS cables (>1 kA) are required for application in transformers, generators and are considered for future generations of fusion reactors coils. 2G coated conductors are suitable candidates for high field application at quite high operation temperatures of 50-77 K, which is crucial precondition for economical cooling costs. As a feasibility study we present the first ROEBEL bar cable of approx. 35 cm length made from industrial DyBCO coated conductor (THEVA GmbH, Germany). Meander shaped ROEBEL strands of 4 mm width with a twist pitch of 180 mm were cut from 10 mm wide CC tapes using a specially designed tool. The strands carried in average 157 Amps/cm-width DC and were assembled to a subcable with 5 strands and a final cable with 16 strands. The 5 strand cable was tested and carried a transport current of > 300 Amps DC at 77 K, equivalent to the sum of the individual strand transport critical currents. The 16 strand cable carried 500 A limited through heating effects and non sufficient stabilisation and current sharing. A pulse current load indicated a current carrying potential of > 1 kA for the 16 strand cable.