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Integrated Coil Form Technology for Ultra High Magnetic Fields

Published June 23, 2020

The Integrated Coil Form REBCO-based test coil is cable wound onto a specialized tube with helical grooves that match the cross-section of a multi-tape, stacked cable. Stainless steel ribs between turns help reinforce the coil against high magnetic loads. The figure on the right shows a transition from superconducting to resistive state at around 700A, independent of the ramp rate that ranges from 5A/s to 100A/s.
The Integrated Coil Form REBCO-based test coil is cable wound onto a specialized tube with helical grooves that match the cross-section of a multi-tape, stacked cable. Stainless steel ribs between turns help reinforce the coil against high magnetic loads. The figure on the right shows a transition from superconducting to resistive state at around 700A, independent of the ramp rate that ranges from 5A/s to 100A/s.

Thomas Painter and Kwangmin Kim

Tests of the first Integrated Coil Form test coil wound using REBCO superconducting tape show promise for use in ultra powerful magnets of the future.

What did scientists discover?

Recent tests of the MagLab’s Integrated Coil Form (ICF) technology suggest that high-temperature superconducting (HTS) REBCO tape may enable simpler REBCO cables to be built and operate reliably than is possible with traditional low-temperature superconducting (LTS) cables.


Why is this important?

This work show that a compact, stacked-tape cable may be efficiently deployed in the extremely-well-reinforced ICF coil technology. This may play a central role in the MagLab’s quest to realize a 60T hybrid magnet, a national goal articulated in the 2005 COHMAG and 2013 MagSci reports issued by the National Academies of Science.


Who did the research?

Thomas Painter, Kwangmin Kim, Mike White, Robert Stanton

National MagLab, Florida State University


Why did this research need the MagLab?

The infrastructure and experienced staff at the MagLab were essential for conceiving and developing the ICF technology and building the test coils. The MagLab is unique in its collection of leading experts, not only in magnet materials science, but also in magnet design, fabrication and precision machining. The latest state of the art HTS tapes are extremely fragile. Knowledge and experience of mechanical design and winding practices developed in the MagLab’s 32T all-superconducting magnet were essential to building a damage-free ICF test coil.


Details for scientists


Funding

This research was funded by the following grants: G.S. Boebinger (NSF DMR-1157490); T.A. Painter (EPSRC EP/R016615/1)


For more information, contact Mark Bird.


Last modified on 29 December 2022