Repository logo
 

Forced flow He vapor cooled critical current testing facility for measurements of superconductors in a wide temperature and magnetic field range

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Change log

Authors

Hopkins, SC 
Bader, J 
Glowacki, BA 

Abstract

As superconducting materials find their way into applications, there is increasing need to verify their performance at operating conditions. Testing of critical current with respect to temperature and magnetic field is of particular importance. However, testing facilities covering a range of temperatures and magnetic fields can be costly, especially when considering the cooling power required in the cryogenic system in the temperature range below 65 K (inaccessible for LN2). Critical currents in excess of 500 A are common for commercial samples, making the testing of such samples difficult in setups cooled via a cryocooler, moreover it often does not represent the actual cooling conditions that the sample will experience in service. This work reports the design and operation of a low-cost critical current testing facility, capable of testing samples in a temperature range of 10–65 K, with magnetic field up to 1.6 T and measuring critical currents up to 900 A with variable cooling power.

Description

Keywords

Superconductors, Critical current measurement, Vapor cooled

Journal Title

Cryogenics

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0011-2275
1879-2235

Volume Title

79

Publisher

Elsevier BV
Sponsorship
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/P000738/1)
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council