Thirty years after discovery of high-temperature superconductivity in LaBaCuO (Lanthanum-Barium-Copper-Oxide), technical high-temperature superconductors (HTS) with engineering current densities exceeding 1500 A/mm² at 77 K, self-field are available with prices close to copper. Even though superconductors need to be cooled to cryogenic temperatures, their unique properties enable a wide variety of applications in space, power, transportation and industrial applications.
In this presentation, I will give an overview on a selection of superconductor-application projects in which the Institute for Technical Physics of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) has been involved in recent years. I will show, how different applications benefit from the unique properties of HTS. Especially the high current carrying capability enables a wide variety of applications at different current and power levels.
As an example, thin current leads for superconducting ADR magnets on satellites for a nominal current of 2 A benefit from the high current-carrying capability of REBCO (Rare Earth-Barium-Copper-Oxide) HTS tapes due to the small cross section which reduces thermal losses to a minimum. Five orders of magnitude higher DC currents up to 200 kA will be transferred in a 600 m long busbar system which will be installed in an aluminum smelter at the TRIMET site in Hamburg, Germany. Even though the required cooling power for compensation of current-lead, joint and cryostat losses is high, a loss reduction of up to 90 % compared to the existing Al-busbar is expected due to the vanishing losses in the 600 m long superconductor section of the busbar.
In addition, I will present selected magnets projects in which the high current carrying capability of REBCO superconductors is used to produce high magnetic fields. The projects range from magneto hydrodynamic plasma shielding experiments for heat flux mitigation during space reentry to magnetic billet heating in metal industry and development of demountable fusion coils.