A new paradigm for quench protection of high-temperature superconducting magnets for future energy-frontier accelerators

用于未来能源前沿加速器的高温超导磁体失超保护的新范例

• 批准号: SAPPJ-2022-00036
• 负责人: Sirois, Frédéric
• 金额: $ 3.64万
• 依托单位: École Polytechnique de Montréal
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Subatomic Physics Envelope - Project
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=754032
• 关键词: new; paradigm; quench; protection; temperature

Circular colliders are unique tools to deepen our understanding of the Universe. To further push our knowledge, it is mandatory to increase the beam energy to explore the behavior of fundamental (also unknown) particles. However, a higher beam energy requires increasing the radius of the collider ring or the magnetic field strength produced by the dipole magnets (also called "accelerator magnets") that bend the beam. Most of the time, the dipole field is generated by superconducting magnets based on low temperature superconductor (LTS) compounds. Superconductors are materials that have the unique property of carrying lossless DC currents below a given critical current, critical temperature or critical magnetic field. To increase the beam energy without making the accelerator bigger than they already are, stronger magnetic fields are required. One very serious option in this direction is to move towards High Temperature Superconductor (HTS) materials, which have a much higher critical and critical field than LTS and can generate fields above 20 telsa. This would be a major game changer in accelerator magnet technology. The relevant building block here is the HTS tape technology. An HTS tape is the elementary wire that we used to form flexible cables. Then, we can wind these cables in the shape of an accelerator magnet. HTS tapes are currently produced by ~10 to 12 companies worldwide in kilometric lengths, and they are quite mature. However, due to the particular nature of HTS materials, it is not yet clear how the electric current is shared between multiple tapes when the latter are arranged in a cable configuration, and even less when winded in a magnet. In addition, if a "hot spot" (local loss of superconductivity) arises for any reason (this can happen), it is not clear neither what is the best protection strategy to use for the magnet. In this project, we will take advantage of a patented technology developed at Polytechnique, which consist in a robust HTS tape architecture called "CFD tape", which has a great potential to help detect hot spots and homogenize the temperature distribution the HTS tapes affected by the hot spot. We will explore how cables made of CFD tapes react under a hot spot, in particular Conductor On a Round Core (CORC) cables, currently considered for the fabrication of future accelerator magnets by the U.S. Magnet Development Program, which will be a close collaborator of us all along this project. The final goal of this project is to demonstrate than the CFD tape technology is as expected the enabler sought for the protection of future accelerator magnets, which would then speed-up their development. Note that some experiments planned in this project and requiring major infrastructures will be performed at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). This project represents a perfect opportunity to train highly qualified personnel in sciences and engineering in a highly inter-disciplinary environment.

圆形对撞机是加深我们对宇宙理解的独特工具。为了进一步推动我们的知识，必须增加光束能量来探索基本（也是未知的）粒子的行为。然而，更高的束能量需要增加对撞机环的半径或由使束弯曲的偶极磁体（也称为“加速器磁体”）产生的磁场强度。大多数时候，偶极场是由基于低温超导体（LTS）化合物的超导磁体产生的。超导体是具有在给定临界电流、临界温度或临界磁场以下承载无损耗DC电流的独特性质的材料。为了在不使加速器比现有的更大的情况下增加束流能量，需要更强的磁场。在这个方向上，一个非常严肃的选择是转向高温超导体（HTS）材料，它具有比LTS高得多的临界和临界场，可以产生20泰尔萨以上的场。这将是加速器磁铁技术的一个重大改变。这里的相关构建块是HTS磁带技术。高温超导带是我们用来形成柔性电缆的基本导线。然后，我们可以将这些电缆缠绕成加速器磁铁的形状。目前，全球约有10至12家公司生产长度为千米的HTS带，并且它们相当成熟。然而，由于高温超导材料的特殊性质，目前尚不清楚当多个带以电缆配置布置时，电流如何在多个带之间共享，并且当缠绕在磁体中时甚至更少。此外，如果由于任何原因出现“热点”（超导性的局部损失）（这可能发生），也不清楚什么是用于磁体的最佳保护策略。在这个项目中，我们将利用Polytechnique开发的专利技术，该技术包括一个强大的HTS磁带架构，称为“CFD磁带”，它具有很大的潜力，可以帮助检测热点并均匀化受热点影响的HTS磁带的温度分布。我们将探索由CFD胶带制成的电缆在热点下的反应，特别是圆芯导体（CORC）电缆，目前美国磁体开发计划正在考虑制造未来的加速器磁体，该计划将成为我们沿着这个项目的密切合作者。该项目的最终目标是证明CFD磁带技术是为保护未来加速器磁体而寻求的推动者，这将加速其发展。请注意，本项目中计划进行的一些实验需要主要基础设施，这些实验将在劳伦斯伯克利国家实验室（LBNL）进行。该项目是在高度跨学科的环境中培养高素质科学和工程人才的绝佳机会。