Superconductor Bus Bar Cooling With Integrated Heat Pipes
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional busbars for high-current direct current applications face challenges with electrical losses and inefficient cooling, particularly due to the need for complex mechanics and expensive cooling techniques like liquid nitrogen, which pose safety risks and logistical issues.
Innovation Solution
The use of a busbar system with a superconductor cooled by a plurality of heat pipes, where the heat pipes are thermally connected along the entire length to the housing, eliminating the need for refrigerant pipes and allowing for efficient heat dissipation without the use of circulating liquids, thereby reducing thermal resistance and enabling lighter constructions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If a thick-walled pipe with circulating liquid nitrogen is used to cool the superconductor, then the superconductor can be cooled to operating temperature, but the system becomes complex and poses safety hazards
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the cooling function from the complex liquid circulation system and integrates it directly into the pipe structure itself. The pipe wall serves dual purposes: structural containment and heat dissipation pathway, eliminating the need for separate cooling circuits and circulating fluids.
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling function is merged with the pipe structure. The pipe wall itself becomes the heat dissipation element, combining the mechanical containment function with the thermal management function into a single integrated component.
2Loss of energy
If liquid nitrogen circulation is used for cooling, then effective heat removal is achieved, but maintenance requirements and safety risks increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention removes the maintenance-intensive liquid circulation system and replaces it with a passive solid-state heat dissipation structure. The pipe wall itself conducts heat away without requiring fluids, pumps, or seals that need maintenance.
Solution Approach 2:
The pipe structure performs self-cooling through its inherent thermal conductivity. The pipe wall automatically conducts heat from the superconductor to the external environment without requiring active cooling systems, fluids, or external intervention.
3Temperature
If conventional cooling circuits are used, then cooling is achieved, but the system requires expensive equipment and infrastructure
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling function is merged into the pipe structure itself, eliminating the need for separate cooling circuits, pumps, and infrastructure. This integration dramatically reduces manufacturing costs while maintaining effective cooling.
Solution Approach 2:
The pipe structure provides self-cooling through its inherent thermal properties, eliminating the need for expensive external cooling equipment and infrastructure.
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 significantly reduces thermal resistance, maintains a constant temperature along the busbar, and simplifies construction and maintenance by eliminating the need for complex refrigerant systems, making it suitable for high-current applications like data centers and electrolysis systems.
Implementation Method 1
the cooling device comprises several heat pipes (4) extending along the busbar, which are thermally connected along their entire length to the housing (3)
Implementation Method 2
Superconductors (SL) are known for their zero electrical losses and high current densities in direct current applications
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3a~3b
AI summary
The invention relates to a bus bar (1) for high-current consumers, comprising a superconductor (2) for conducting an electrical current, extending along the bus bar, and a housing (3) comprising a heat pipe (4) for cooling the superconductor to a temperature below the transition temperature of the superconductor, the heat pipe (4), the housing (3) and the superconductor (2) extending along the bus bar (1), and the heat pipe being connected along the length thereof to the housing in a thermally conducting manner, the heat pipe (4) comprising: an evaporable heat transfer medium (44), a cold end (41), a warm end (42) and a conduction region (43) between the cold end and the warm end for circulating the heat transfer medium between the warm and the cold end; and a cooling unit (5) for cooling the heat pipe (4), which is connected to the cold end (41) of the heat pipe in a thermally conductive manner, the housing (3) being designed such that a plurality of the housings can be connected to each other in the axial direction, on the ends thereof (31), such that the superconductor (2) extends through the plurality of interconnected housings (3) and can be cooled to a temperature below the transition temperature. According to the invention, the housing (3) comprises a plurality of heat pipes (4). The use of many small-volume heat pipes instead of the systems known from prior art, which have a single sufficiently large and long heat pipe, allows the compulsory complex documentation or recurrent pressure tests to be dropped.