Speaker
Description
High current superconducting CORC® cable or wire is composed of spiraled HTS REBCO tapes in multiple layers. The cable combines isotropic flexibility and high resilience to electromagnetic and thermal loads. The flexibility of the cable is limited by the critical strain value damaging the REBCO layer in the tape. In order to optimize the manufacture conditions and operating performance, the mechanical behavior of CORC® cable must be understood for the different relevant loading conditions. A set of bending experiments is performed on simplified CORC® cable and wire configurations. The impact of non-bending factors such as current conduction through the copper core, thermal cool-down cycles, and position of voltage taps are studied experimentally. These influences are accounted for proper comparison with the FEM analysis. Bending on insulated core samples is also performed to avoid the current conduction through the copper core. The flexibility of the CORC® cable and wires are highly influenced by the friction between tapes and cable core. Experimental analysis is performed to determine the effect of lubrication on electrical contact resistance between tapes. A simplified electrical network model is used to analyze the effect of current sharing with the core. High current CICCs made from CORC® cables and wires experience transverse compressive stresses during operation. A FEM analysis on multilayered CORC® cable and wires is carried out to check the influence of various design factors in the overall operational performance.
