Stacked-Plate Superconducting Magnet Cooling for High Lorentz Loads
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Solution Overview
Problem
Non-insulated superconducting magnets face challenges with increased Lorentz loads and internal volumetric heating as they scale up, requiring improved cooling and conductive path arrangements to maintain structural integrity and prevent quench damage.
Innovation Solution
A spiral-grooved, stacked-plate design with aligned coolant and conducting channels within opposing faces of the plates, allowing direct contact with the superconducting material for efficient cooling and creating a strong mechanical structure that withstands high loads, without the need for dedicated cooling plates.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Power
If non-insulated superconducting magnets are scaled up to carry higher currents, then the current carrying capacity is improved, but Lorentz loads and internal volumetric heating increase, compromising structural integrity
Solution Approach 1:
The magnet is divided into multiple stacked plates, each carrying a portion of the total current. This segmentation distributes the Lorentz loads across many smaller structural units rather than concentrating them in a single large structure, thereby maintaining structural integrity while achieving high current carrying capacity through the cumulative effect of all plates
Solution Approach 2:
Coolant channels are integrated within the plate structure itself, with channels formed inside the plates and superconductor layers nested within grooves on the plate faces. This nested arrangement allows the cooling system to be embedded within the current-carrying structure, providing internal cooling pathways that directly address volumetric heating without adding external cooling complexity
2Temperature
If traditional cooling arrangements are used with separate cooling plates, then cooling capability is provided, but device complexity and structural requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The structural plates and cooling system are merged into a single integrated component. The plates serve dual functions: carrying superconducting current through grooves on their faces and providing internal coolant channels for thermal management. This eliminates the need for separate dedicated cooling plates and reduces overall structural complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The plates are designed as multi-functional elements that simultaneously provide mechanical structural support, electrical current conduction pathways, and thermal cooling channels. This universal design allows a single component to fulfill multiple critical functions, reducing the total number of parts and simplifying the overall magnet structure
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This design provides efficient cooling and enhanced mechanical stability, preventing quench damage by diverting current and reducing structural integrity issues in large-scale magnets.
Implementation Method 1
coolant channels formed in opposing faces of the plate stack, wherein the coolant channels are aligned such that coolant flowing through the coolant channels contacts the conductor
Implementation Method 2
the plate stack comprises a stack of conductive plates that each include a cooling channel and a conducting channel
Data Source
Figure 1
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Figure 2B
AI summary
Schemes are described for conductor and coolant placement in stacked-plate superconducting magnets, including arranging coolant channels and conducting channels within the plates on opposing faces. If the two types of channels are aligned with one another across the plate stacks, the plates may be stacked such that the cooling channel in one plate is adjacent to the conducting channel of the neighboring plate. By stacking a number of these plates, therefore, cooling may be supplied to each conducting channel through the cooling channels of each neighboring plate. Moreover, by aligning the two types of channels, the stacks of plates may have improved mechanical strength because mechanical load paths through the entire stack that do not pass through any of the channels may be created. This arrangement of channels may produce a very strong stack of plates that can withstand high Lorentz loads.