As part of a study to develop thermally controlled switches for use in superconducting rectifiers operating at a few hertz and 1 kA, a theoretical model is presented of the thermal behavior of such a switch. The calculations are compared with experimental results of several switches having recovery times between 40 and 200 ms. A discussion is given of the maximum temperature T/sub N/ that occurs in the normal regions when the switch is in the resistive state. Once T/sub N/ is known, it is possible to predict the recovery time, activation energy, stationary dissipation and minimum propagation current. The calculated and measured results, in good agreement, show that T/sub N/ is approximately 12 K and largely independent of the thickness or material of the insulation layer. Mention is made of some problems, related to the room-temperature equipment which drives the rectifier, that so far have prevented the rectifiers from being used at their design specifications

Avest, D. ter

Kate, H.H.J. ten

Klundert, L.J.M. van de

Krooshoop, H.J.G.

Mulder, G.B.J.

English

ter Avest, D.

ten Kate, H.H.J.

van de Klundert, L.J.M.

NARCIS 

Experimental results of thermally controlled superconducting switches for high frequency operation

University of Twente Research Information

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 24, NO. 2, MARCH 1988 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS OF THERMALLY CONTROLLED SUPERCONDUCTING SWITCHES FOR HIGH FREQUENCY OPERATION . G.B.J. Mulder, D. ter Avest, H.H.J. ten Kate, H. J. G. Krooshoop and L. J.M. van de Klundert. University of Twente, Dept. of Applied Physics, Low Temperature Laboratory, Enschede, The Netherlands. Abstract thermally controlled switches which are to be used in super- conducting rectifiers operatid at a few hertz and 1 kA. Usually, the operating frequency of thermally controlled rectifiers is limited to about 0.1 Hz due to the thermal recovery times of the switches. The thermal switches have to satisfy two conditions which are specific for the application in a superconducting rectifier: a) they have to operate in the repetitive mode so beside short activation times, fast recovery times of the switches are equally important, b) the power required to effect and maintain the normal state of the switches should be low since it will determine the rectifier efficiency. To what extent these obviously conflicting demands can be satisfied depends on the material and geometry of the switch. The aim of our study is to develop This paper presents a theoretical model of the thermal behaviour of a switch. The calculations are compared with experimental results of several switches having recovery times between 40 and 200 ins, Also, the feasibility of such switches for application in superconducting rectifiers operating at a few hertz with an acceptable efficiency is demonstrated. Introduction con- sists of a composite of superconductor and heating element which is thermally insulated from the helium bath by means of an insulation layer. The switches considered here use the cylindrical geometry shown in Fig. 1 and have thermal insulation on both the inner and the outer side of the conductor. The switch conductor itself has either a round or a rectangular cross-sect ion. A thermally controlled switch basically Fig. 1. Cross-sectional view of the thermal switch. It is possible to discriminate three stages during the operation of a switch, each of which has some typical aspects that must be considered when designing the switch. As illustrated in Fig. 2 we have: (I) Thermal activation. The switch is opened by means of the heater. After supplying the heater with a pulse P, the temperature T, of the supercon- ductor rises, depending on the thermal conductivity of the material between the heater and superconductor. The pulse energy E, will be determined by the necessary increase of enthalpy AH of the switch to raise the temperature of the conductor above Tc. (11) Stationary situation. In the stationary situation the resistance of the switch, \,,, is constant, which implies a constant length of normally conducting superconductor. The electrical dissipation Pstat in this length keeps the temperature above T, so it is not necessary to use the heater. In fact, to keep the temperature above Tc, it is more efficient to dissipate in the conductor than in the heater. It is essential to note that rg, is not necessarily the maximum switch resistance. By operating the switch in a stationary situation in which the minimum propa- gation current appears, k,, becomes linearly dependent on the applied voltage for a specific voltage range, see Fig. 3. All normal regions then have the same maximum temperature, providing the switch has a con- stant insulation thickness. At the minimum propagation current the dissipated power is equal to the conducted heat and the normal-superconducting boundaries do not move. (111) Recovery of the switch. The switch is closed by making the voltage across the switch and thus the dissipation equal to zero. During recovery, heat will be conducted from the superconductor to the helium bath, the temperature will drop and the maximum current will increase with time as indicated in Fig 4. The recovery time T~~~ is determined mainly by AH and the thermal conductivity of the insulation. Fig. 2. Diagrams explaining the switch operation. 1 I " I N  I 0 Supported by F. 0. M. , The Netherlands Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter. Fig.3. The current through the switch as a function of the applied voltage in the stationary state. For fast recovery the voltage should not exceed V, which is equal to Imln.F&. 0018-9464/88/0300-0907S01.0001988 IEEE 908 Imin [AI 15.5 11.0 7.0 4.9 3.5 9.6 6.1 4.3 3.8 3.1 1.9 Pprod=pw( I/A)‘( 1-1, ( T)/Ic (4.2) 1, where I,(T) is the superconducting part of the transport current. The maximum temperature T, the normal zone follows from the thermal equilibrium Pprod=Pcon :T, [Kl A1 [mml 11.7 1.0 11.7 1.4 11.8 2.3 11.7 3.2 11.7 4.5 12.2 1.7 12.1 2.6 12.2 3.7 12.2 4.6 12.2 5.7 12.2 9.5 Fig.4. The temperature and maximum current of the switch versus time during the recovery stage. Theory When designing a thermally controlled switch, its properties such as %, trec and Pstat have to be adapted to the specifications of the rectifier, i.e. the required load current and power. For instance, the switch resistance and the current-carrying capacity, i.e. the required load current of the rectifier, will put a constraint on the volume of the switch and are therefore a measure for Eact and the stationary dissipation Pstat. The insulation material will be a compromise between a low Pstat and a short t,,,. It is advantageous to use a thin insulation layer with a low thermal conductivity so that Eact can be minimized. In order t o  obtain the shortest possible recovery time of a particular switch, we must ensure that the switch will not develop its full off- resistance. If the resistance would exceed F& the maximum temperature in a normal region T, would increase with Vsw. If on the other hand the switch is only partially open so that a situation of coexisting normal and superconducting regions occurs, T, and trec are minimized and independent of Vsw. It is interesting to note that AH is approxi- mately proportional to Ti whereas the de endence of Pstat on temperature lies between Ti and T,. T, is therefore an important parameter. In the case of a partially open switch, T, and Imin will be calculated as a function of the insulation material and thick- ness. With Imin and T, it is possible to determine Pstat and to give an estimate for AH and t,,,. For the calculation we shall consider the geometry of Fig. 1 with a conductor of rectangular shape. If the insu- lation has a poor thermal conductivity compared to the conductor we may assume the cross-section of the conductor to have a uniform temperature. To describe the temperature variation as a function of the length coordinate of the conductor in the normal-supercon- ducting transition region, we must solve: I: where x is the length coordinate, h,(T) the average longitudinal thermal conductivity of the composite, pprod (w/m3) the electrical dissipation 3per unit of volume of the conductor and P,, (W/m the heat conducted by the insulation per unit volume of the conductor. If we assume A(T)=h,T’ for the insulation we find: ’con (:;ydA [T‘”’”- T;’+l)] , (2) with A the cross-section of the composite, d the insulation thickness, b the width of the composite and T, the helium bath temperature (4.2 K). In the normal conducting region of the conductor Pprod satisfies Pprod=p,,( I/A)‘, where I is the current through the composite and pw the average longitudinal resistivity of the composite. In the superconducting region Pprod=O and in the current-sharing region we can write By substitution of Pprod and P,, in (1) we temperature). obtain 3 equations for the three regions coupled at T=T, and T=T,, (T,,=the current-sharing Using the transformation s=A,aT/ax and the boundary conditions s=O at T=T, and T=T,, eq. (1) can be solved uniquely. This calculation was performed for two different insulation materials, namely STYCAST 2850FT epoxy (h=0.0051.T1‘8) and KAPTON (h=0.0016.T1”). The data used for-$he conductor were A=6.2 m2, b=7 mm and pw=5.2 10 Rm, which corresponds to the conduc- tors of switches 5, 6 and 7 discussed further on. Table 1 gives the results for various insulation thicknesses. The length of the normal-superconducting transition region A1 is much smaller than the length of the normal zone itself and therefore the assumption that the first term in eq. (1) is zero at the hottest part of the normal zone is justified. The length of the current-sharing region is in turn much smaller than A1 (less than 1 X ) .  Therefore, current-sharing is of little significance to this problem and in fact the results hardly depend on whether a current-sharing region is taken into account or not [ l l .  Table 1 Imin, T, and the length of the normal- superconducting transition region Al. nsulat ior mat eri a1 STYCAST KAPTON insulation thickness 0.1 mm 0.2 mm 0.5 mm 1.0 mm 2.0 mm 20 pm 50 pm 100 pm 130 pm 200 pm 500 pm From Table 1 it becomes clear that T, is independent of the insulation thickness for a given insulation material. In fact, it was found [11 that also the geometry of the switch has no observable influence on T, and that T, is determined mainly by the power of T in the thermal conductivity, i.e. I. Experimental switches A summary of data and results of several experimental switches that have been tested is given in table 2. The purpose of the first four of them was to systematically investigate the influence of the insulation layer thickness d on the thermal behaviour. Except for d, these switches are almost identical. The recovery time T,~, is observed to be approximately proportional to d, whereas Imin  is proportional to l/&? . Theoretically, the linear relation between tree and d is expected only if the enthalpy increase of the insulation layers is a negligible fraction of the total enthalpy AH of the switch. The variation of Imin with l/&? is predicted by eq. (3) and is in agreement with the calculations. Switches 5 and 6 illustrate the effect of different insulation materials, namely STYCAST and KAPTON. The superiority of KAPTON is due to its extremely low thermal conductivity. Compared to STYCAST, the insulation thickness d can be made approximately 10 times smaller and consequently the heat capacity of this layer is also less. 909 no 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 The influence of V, during the stationary off-state on %, Pstat, and t,, respectively is illustrated in Fig. 5. In the low voltage range ( V s , < 0 . 8 ~ I , i n ~ x )  we do indeed observe the appearance of a constant minimum propagation current. As expected the recovery time tree is in this range independent of Vgw. The figure furthermore demonstrates that optimum performance of the switch cannot be achieved if V, exceeds the value 0.8.1,,,~,. In that case T, becomes substantially higher than 12 K and as a result T , ~ ~  is deteriorated. In some of the switches T, has been measured by means of thermocouples. At the minimum propagation current these measurements yield 11.6 K for STYCAST and 12.0 K for KAPTON, which is in Rood agreement with Table 1. Type of insulation: R s w  ',ax t r e c  I m i n  Eact conductor material thickness [ a ]  [AI [ m s l  [AI [J] MCA7' ,, STYCAST 1.75 mm 113 -180 215 0.13 - MCA7' STYCAST 1.3 mm 116 -180 190 0.14 - MCA7' STYCAST 0.9 mm 135 -180 100 0.20 - MCA7' STYCAST 0.6 mm 140 -180. 64 0.23 - MCA3' STYCAST 0.5 nun 0.84 1250. 80 5.3 0.5 MCA3' KAPTON 130 pm 0.84 1800. 40 4.0 0.3 MCA3' KAPTON 130 pm 0.84 1400 40 4.0 0.25 Implications for superconducting rectifiers Subsequently, the influence of the switches on the performance of superconducting rectifiers will be explained. The operating principles of such recti- fiers have been treated elsewhere [21 as well as their feasibility for powering superconducting coils [31. Figure 6 shows the circuit of a full-wave rectifier consisting basically of a superconducting transformer, two switches and a load coil. The average rectifier Type of conductor wire diameter [pml superconductor matrix material number of filaments fil. diameter [pml matrix : sc. ratio pw [ l o -  Rml 0 0 1 2 3 MCA3 MCA7 114 127 NbTi NbTi Cu Cu30Ni 1 114 74 7.8 1.4 1.35 52 36 vsy [VI - Fig. 5. The properties of switch 6 versus the voltage that is applied during the stationary state. power FL is proportional to the operating frequency The following relation holds: FL = a f k2(:L ? 2, = a f k2 Up , 2 p p  (4) where a = a constant typical for the control signals, f = operating frequency, k = coupling constant of the transformer, I-, = primary inductance of the transformer, I, = amplitude of the primary current. There are two obvious methods to scale up the average power of the rectifier. Firstly, by increasing the frequency, i.e. improvement of the control times of the switches. Secondly, by increasing the primary energy W,. Both methods have their own drawbacks and in practice a compromise should be made. 1) A consequence of the first method is that a thin insulation layer is required in order to achieve fast recovery times of the switches. As a result, Imin increases and Pstat becomes relatively high. 2) The disadvantages of the second method, are threefold: - The protection of the primary coil becomes more - The production costs of the transformer, the most - The losses in the transformer become relatively and more problematic as W, grows. expensive rectifier component, will increase. important. 300K I 4.2 K --+ Switch 2 .-- I S w i t c h  1 Resistance switch 1 Resistance swi tch  2 Fig. 6. The electric circuit of a full-wave supercon- ducting rectifier. The diagrams above clarify the operating cycle of the rectifier. 910 A 1 kA thermallv switched rectifier An aspect of raising f or W, is that the load voltage V, will increase accordingly. During the pump step of a full-wave rectifier, twice V, appears across one of the switches. In order to remain in the minimum propagation range, the following condition has to be satisfied: V, < 0.4.R,,,axImin. The implication is that R,, and thus the size of the switch, is proportional to the average power that can be delivered by the rect if ier. Let us now determine the effect of the control times of the switches on the maximum achievable rectifier frequency. Consider the four intervals of the operating cycle of a rectifier (Fig. 6 ) .  Every half-cycle we have to consecutively open a switch, perform a pump step, close a switch and commutate the secondary current from one secondary branch to the other. The time required to open and close a switch is Att+At,, which depends entirely on the control times of the switch. The lower limit of the pumping time is generally related to the maximum voltage (V,) or peak power ( e )  of the ayailable power supply for the primary coil, Atp > Lp21p/Vp = 4 W , / P .  In a well-designed rectifier the pump time Atp is comparable to the control times Att and At, or preferably even somewhat larger. The commutat ion t irne Atc can usually be qade small compared to the total period time because the effective primary inductance during the commutation is only (1-k2)Lp. The maximum frequency is ( 5 )  f =  2 2 At t+At,+At, +At, ' T~~ + r , , , + 4 W p / P  Efficiency Next, we determine how the reverse current through the switches during the pump steps contributes to the inefficiency of the rectifier system. The instantaneous power loss in the switch is 2V,I,,,, because the reverse currefit equals In in .  The delivered power to the load is also proportional to V, namely VLIL. It can easily be checked that when the coil is charged from zero current to I,, the integrated energy loss equals Wohm = 2 L, I, I m i n  = 4 * w, , ( 6 )  where W, is the stored energy in the load coil. The equation shows that W,,,/W, is independent of the operating frequency or the choice of the control signals. This is a consequence of the fact that reverse current during the pump intervals is constant (Imi,,).  Apparently, the ratio of minimum propagating current and maximum current-carrying capacity of the switch is an important parameter, since it is a measure for the ultimate efficiency that can be ac hi eved . A second source of dissipation in the switches is the activation energy Eact ,  which is lost to the helium bath each time the switch recovers. This occurs twice a cycle, so - Wact = 2 f Eact W,/P, . (7) Clearly, the activation loss is proportional to f and EaCt .  The required activation energy Eact is in turn linearly dependent on the volume (and thus the heat capacity) of the materials that constitute the switch, such as conductor, epoxy, heater and insulation layer. Note that the factors W,,,/W, and W,,,/W, are both independent of the primary energy content W,. The switches 6 and 7 mentioned in table 2 have been applied in the 1 kA thermally controlled rectifier described previously [41. The rectifier was tested succesfully up to 2 Hz at an average power of 100 W .  Above 2 Hz, the load voltage is such that the switches develop their full off-resistance and as a result rrec becomes too large t o  ensure a reliable operation. The integral losses of this rectifier have been determined calorimetrically for several values of I,. For example, at I, = 800 A, f = 2 Hz and P, = 100 W ,  the measured efficiency amounts to 95 %. The calculated efficiency for this particular example, is 96 %. The loss contributions can be specified as follows. - 2.0 % of the energy is lost as reverse current loss. - 1.1 % is used to activate the switches. - 0.9 % are eddy current and hysteresis losses in the It should be mentioned that the design value for the primary current 1, is 30 A whereas the currently available power supply generates only 20 A. If the primary current is raised to 30 A, the average power increases by a factor 2.25 and the calculated efficiency becomes well over 97 %, which is an excellent figure for most applications. transformer Conclusions The thermal behaviour of thermally controlled switches has been investigated from both a theoretical and an experimental point of view. A very important parameter of the switch is the maximum temperature T, that occurs in the normal regions when the switch is in the resistive state. Once T, is known it is possible to predict the recovery time T ~ ~ ~ .  the activation energy Eact, the stationary dissipation Pstat and the minimum propagation current Imin. The calculated and measured results, which are in good agreement, show that T, is approximately 12 K and hardly depen4s on the choice of the thickness or material of the insulation layer. Another result is that in order to combine a low value of Pstaf with a short thermal recovery time, which are in fact contradictory demands, the insulation material should have a very low thermal conductivity. One material having an extremely poor conductivity at cryogenic temperatures is KAPTON. Two "KAPTON-switches" have been applied with succes in a 1 kA superconducting rectifier with an efficiency of at least 95 %. Some problems which have so far prevented this rectifier from being used at its design specifications are related to the room temperature equipment which drives the rectifier. Full testing of the rectifier is expected at the end of 1987. References D. ter Avest, "Fast thermally activated switches for a superconducting rectifier", internal report (Dutch), 1987. H.H. J .  ten Kate and L. J.M. van de Klundert, "Fully superconducting rectifiers and flux pumps", Cryogenics, vol. 21, pp. 195 and 267, 1 9 8 7  H.H. J. ten Kate and L. J.M. van de Klundert, "Feasibility aspect of superconducting rectifiers", in Proceedings, of ICEC-10, Helsinki, 1984, pp. 809. G.B.J. Mulder, H.H.J. ten Kate, H.J.G. Krooshoop, L. J. M. van de KLundert, "Eff i- ciency aspects in superconducting recti- fiers", presented at CEC/ICMC, S t .  Charles, Illinois, June 14-18, 1987. 

Fast thermally activated switches for a superconducting rectifier&quot;, internal report (Dutch),

Fully superconducting rectifiers and flux pumps&quot;,

van de KLundert, &quot;Eff iciency aspects in superconducting rectifiers&quot;, presented at CEC/ICMC,

http://purl.utwente.nl/publications/55649

Experimental results of thermally controlled superconducting switches for high frequency operation

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University of Twente Research Information