Portable, high magnetic field charging of bulk superconductors for practical engineering applications

本研究项目的主要目标是为实际工程应用开发便携式、高磁场的块状超导体充电，最终目标是通过利用块状高温超导体的显著材料特性，生产出便携式、商业上可行的高磁场磁铁系统。当冷却到低温时，大块超导体可以作为超强、稳定的永久磁铁使用，产生几个特斯拉的磁场，而传统的永久磁铁，如钕磁铁（Nd-Fe-B），只能产生1.5-2特斯拉的磁场。这使得它们对许多依赖高磁场的工程应用具有吸引力，包括具有前所未有的功率密度的紧凑型节能电机/发电机以及紧凑型便携式磁共振成像（MRI）和核磁共振（NMR）系统。现在科学家们也有可能利用高磁场来利用材料的磁性来控制化学和物理过程，例如，这对于磁分离和磁性药物输送系统（MDDS）是有吸引力的。随着传统超导磁体的不断发展和更高磁场的实现，甚至与抗磁性材料有关的化学和物理过程也受到了重大影响，而抗磁性材料是地球上发现的许多材料的组成部分。这导致了对摩西效应（水的自由表面被几个特斯拉的磁场变形）、抗磁性材料的磁悬浮、有机聚合物、凝胶和碳纳米管的磁性取向的观察，这对改善有机半导体和其他材料的晶体生长特别有吸引力。本项目旨在解决实际块状超导体磁化问题，项目的主要目标如下：1。1 .调整大块超导体和磁体几何形状的材料加工和性能，并进行必要的增强，以实现实际的高场应用；2 .扩展数值技术，以模拟块状超导体的性能并快速准确地预测其性能，包括对块状超导体的电磁力和力学性能进行模拟，以完成电磁-热-力学分析；3 .数值与实验相结合的PFM技术发展；4 .设计、建造和测试两种紧凑、高效的脉冲场充电系统，以生产一种便携式、商业上可行的高磁场系统；5 .实现块状超导体的捕获场实际达到5特斯拉以上的水平；为定制应用设计和开发工业主导的高磁场磁铁系统。该项目的成果将对许多高场工程应用产生重要影响，如旋转机械（电机和发电机）、磁选、便携式核磁共振成像仪和MDDS。这个项目将加速这种基于大块超导体的系统的发展和商业化。尽管存在一些演示设备，但由于迄今使用的不灵活、昂贵和/或低效的磁化装置，这种技术的潜在应用在商业上受到严重限制。便携式高磁场充电系统的成功开发将给目前使用永磁体的应用带来巨大的变化，同时也将使大块超导体的高磁场技术成为可能。

The primary objective of this research programme is to develop portable, high magnetic field charging of bulk superconductors for practical engineering applications, with an end goal of producing a portable and commercially-viable high-field magnet system, by exploiting the remarkable materials properties of bulk high-temperature superconductors.Bulk superconductors can be used, when cooled to cryogenic temperatures, as super-strength, stable permanent magnets generating fields of several Tesla, compared to the 1.5-2 Tesla limit for conventional permanent magnets, such as neodymium magnets (Nd-Fe-B). This makes them attractive for a number of engineering applications that rely on high magnetic fields, including compact and energy-efficient motors/generators with unprecedented power densities and compact and portable magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) systems. It is now also possible for scientists to use high magnetic fields to exploit the magnetism of a material for controlling chemical and physical processes, which is attractive for magnetic separation and magnetic drug delivery systems (MDDS), for example. With the continued development of conventional superconducting magnets and the achievement of higher magnetic fields, even the chemical and physical processes associated with diamagnetic materials, which make up many of the materials found on earth, are significantly influenced. This has led to observations of the Moses effect (where the free surface of water is deformed by a magnetic field of several Tesla), magnetic levitation of diamagnetic materials, and magnetic orientation of organic polymers and gels and carbon nanotubes, which is particularly attractive for improving crystal growth of organic semiconductors and other materials.This project aims to address to problem of practical bulk superconductor magnetisation and the major objectives of the project are as follows:1. Tailoring the material processing and properties of bulk superconductors and magnet geometry, with any necessary reinforcement, towards practical high-field applications;2. Extension of numerical techniques to model the bulk superconductor properties and predict their performance quickly and accurately, including simulation of electromagnetic forces and mechanical properties of bulk superconductors for complete electromagnetic-thermal- mechanical analysis;3. Development of PFM techniques by combining numerical and experimental results;4. Design, construction and testing of two types of compact and efficient pulsed field charging systems to produce a portable and commercially-viable, high-field magnet system;5. Achieving trapped fields in bulk superconductors practically to a level beyond 5 Tesla;6. Design and development of industrially-led, high-field magnet systems for bespoke applications.The outcomes of this project would have an important impact on many high-field engineering applications, such as rotating machines (motors and generators), magnetic separation, portable MRI machines and MDDS. This project will accelerate the development and commercialisation of such systems based on bulk superconductors. Potential applications of such technology have been severely limited commercially because of the inflexible, costly and/or inefficient magnetisation fixtures used to date, although some demonstrator devices exist. The successful development of a portable, high magnetic field charging system will bring about a step change in applications that currently use permanent magnets, as well as technology enabled by the high fields possible from bulk superconductors.