Stacked Superconducting Current Limiter Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current superconducting current limiters face challenges in manufacturing efficiency, stability, and thermal management due to the need for winding machines and inefficient heat dissipation in pancake configurations, which complicates the expansion and insulation of superconducting wire modules.
Innovation Solution
A superconducting current-limiting element using bar-shaped wires stacked in layers with alternately located connection and insulation blocks, and a terminal at each end, allowing for expansion in series or parallel without a winding machine, and utilizing solders with a low processing temperature to bond the wires, along with clamps and support bars for pressure application and elastic support.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If pancake configuration with winding machine is used, then superconducting wire modules can be formed, but manufacturing complexity and difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The superconducting wire modules are divided into discrete pancake-shaped units that can be independently manufactured and then stacked. Each pancake module is a separate segment that can be produced without complex winding machinery, and the final current limiter is assembled by stacking these segmented modules with insulators between them.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical winding process with a simpler stacking process. Instead of using a winding machine to coil superconducting wires into complex shapes, the invention uses straight or slightly curved superconducting wire segments that are directly stacked and connected, substituting a complex mechanical winding system with a simpler assembly process.
2Productivity
If pancake configuration is used, then modules can be connected in series or parallel, but heat dissipation efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces cooling channels that extend through the stacked pancake modules in the vertical dimension. Instead of relying solely on heat dissipation from the outer surfaces of pancake modules, the cooling medium flows through internal channels that pass through multiple stacked modules, adding a third dimension to the heat dissipation pathway and significantly improving thermal management efficiency.
3Adaptability or versatility
If superconducting wires are stacked in layers with connection and insulation blocks, then expansion in series or parallel is facilitated, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent designs universal connection blocks and insulation blocks that can accommodate multiple superconducting wire configurations. These blocks serve multiple functions: providing electrical connection, mechanical support, thermal management interfaces, and alignment guidance. The standardized block design allows the same components to be used whether wires are stacked in series or parallel arrangements, reducing manufacturing precision requirements while maintaining expansion capability.
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 solution eliminates the need for winding machines, allows for easy expansion of the current-limiting element in series or parallel, maintains constant turn-to-turn voltage, and facilitates controlled gap management between wires, enhancing thermal management and stability while reducing insulation requirements.
Implementation Method 1
high-temperature superconductors are newly discovered, and thus the likelihood of the development of current limiters using the non-linear voltage-current characteristics thereof has come to the fore
Implementation Method 2
Resistance upon normal operation is almost ignored, and then instantly great resistance appears, thus causing joule heating. The joule heat thus generated is emitted by the peripheral cooling medium
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed are a superconducting current-limiting element for a current limiter and a method of manufacturing a superconducting current-limiting element for a current limiter, in which the current-limiting element is formed in series by stacking linear superconducting wires, or is formed in parallel by stacking superconducting wires so that one or more superconducting wires are disposed in the same layer, thus facilitating the formation of the current-limiting element in series or in parallel and obviating the use of a winding machine when manufacturing the current-limiting element.