Twisted Superconducting Strip Conductor for Low-Resistance Contact
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Solution Overview
Problem
In superconducting coil devices, achieving low-resistance contacts on the contact side of strip conductors is challenging, leading to increased electrical losses and mechanical instability due to the need for complex production processes and additional normally conducting connections within the coil.
Innovation Solution
The superconducting coil device features a strip conductor twisted by 180 degrees within its turns, allowing the contact side to face the center on the inner side and away from the center on the outer side, eliminating the need for additional inner contacts and using packing blocks to enhance mechanical stability, thereby reducing electrical losses and simplifying the production process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a specially designed contact piece is inserted into the winding to create low-resistance contact on the contact side, then electrical contact resistance is reduced, but device complexity and production process complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of inserting a contact piece into the winding to achieve contact, the invention inverts the approach by twisting the strip conductor itself so that the contact side is naturally oriented toward the inner side of the winding where it can be directly contacted. This eliminates the need for additional contact pieces and complex insertion processes.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the orientation parameter of the strip conductor by twisting it 180 degrees within the turn. This parameter change (twist angle) transforms the contact side orientation from facing outward to facing inward, enabling direct contact without additional components.
2Reliability
If a contact piece is inserted into the winding to establish contact, then electrical contact is improved, but manufacturing precision and production time increase due to additional steps
Solution Approach 1:
The invention inverts the conventional approach by not inserting a contact piece but instead twisting the strip conductor to present its contact side inward. This inversion simplifies the manufacturing process by eliminating multiple precision steps (insertion, positioning, fixation of contact pieces).
Solution Approach 2:
The strip conductor is pre-twisted during the winding process itself, before final assembly and fixation. This preliminary action of twisting integrates the contact orientation step into the main winding process, avoiding subsequent precision operations.
3Reliability
If additional inner contacts are introduced to enable contact side accessibility, then contact quality improves, but electrical losses increase due to normally conducting connections
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of adding normally conducting contact pieces that interrupt superconductivity, the invention inverts by using the superconducting strip conductor itself, twisted to present its contact side inward. This maintains the superconducting path without introducing normal conducting connections.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts and eliminates the need for additional normally conducting contact pieces from the system. By twisting the strip conductor, the contact function is achieved using only the superconducting material, removing the harmful normal conducting elements.
4Reliability
If the contact side is oriented inward in all turns, then contact quality improves, but ease of manufacture deteriorates due to winding difficulty
Solution Approach 1:
The strip conductor is twisted locally within each turn rather than along its entire length. This localized twisting (only in the region where the turn contacts the inner side) maintains ease of winding while achieving the desired contact orientation where needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The strip conductor is made dynamically flexible to allow twisting within the turn during the winding process. This dynamic capability enables the contact side to be oriented inward without preventing the winding operation itself.
Data Source
AI summary
A superconducting coil device includes a superconducting flat conductor having one or more torsional turns. The flat conductor is wound around a winding support to define multiple turns of the conductor around the support. In at least one of the turns, the flat conductor is twisted through approximately 180 degrees about a longitudinal axis of the flat conductor, to thereby switch a contact side of the flat conductor from radially inwardly facing to radially outwardly facing, or vice versa. The contact side of the flat conductor at an inner turn faces a center of the winding and, and at an outer turn faces away from the center of the winding. The inwardly-facing contact side of the strip at an inner turn may be coupled to an inner contact element, and the outwardly-facing contact side at an outer turn may be conductively coupled to an outer contact element.