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

这项研究计划的主要目标是为实际工程应用开发便携式、高磁场的块体超导体充电，最终目标是通过利用块体高温超导体的非凡材料特性来生产便携式和商业可行的高场磁体系统。块状超导体在冷却到低温时可以用作超强、稳定的永磁体，产生数特斯拉的磁场，而传统永磁体的极限是1.5-2特斯拉，如钕磁铁(ND-Fe-B)。这使得它们对依赖高磁场的许多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和高能效电机/发电机，以及紧凑型和便携式磁共振成像(MRI)和核磁共振(核磁共振)系统。现在，科学家还可以利用强磁场来利用材料的磁性来控制化学和物理过程，例如，这对磁分离和磁性药物输送系统(MDDS)很有吸引力。随着常规超导磁体的不断发展和更高磁场的实现，即使是构成地球上许多材料的抗磁材料的化学和物理过程也受到了重大影响。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)、抗磁材料的磁悬浮以及有机聚合物、凝胶和碳纳米管的磁性取向的观察，这对于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的块体超导体磁化问题，该项目的主要目标如下：1.对块体超导体和磁体几何形状的材料加工和性能进行裁剪，并进行必要的加固，以适应实际的高场应用；2.扩展数值技术以模拟块体超导体的性质并快速准确地预测其性能，包括模拟块体超导体的电磁力和力学性质以进行完整的电磁-热-机械分析；3.结合数值和实验结果发展PFM技术；4.设计、建造和测试两种紧凑和高效的脉冲场充电系统，以产生便携式和商业可行的高场磁体系统；5.实现块状超导体中的俘获场实际上达到5特斯拉以上的水平；该项目的成果将对旋转机械(电机和发电机)、磁分离、便携式核磁共振机和MDDS等许多高场工程应用产生重要影响。该项目将加快基于块状超导体的此类系统的开发和商业化。由于迄今使用的磁化夹具不灵活、昂贵和/或效率低下，这种技术的潜在应用在商业上受到严重限制，尽管存在一些演示设备。便携式高磁场充电系统的成功开发将使目前使用永磁体的应用以及由块状超导体可能产生的高场所带来的技术发生重大变化。

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.