5900804 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON APPLIED SUPERCONDUCTIVITY, VOL. 23, NO.

3, JUNE 2013

AC Loss Analysis of Striated HTS Compact

Cables for Low Loss Cable Design
Ji-Kwang Lee, Yungil Kim, Seyeon Lee, Woo-Seok Kim, Sang-Ho Park, Chan Park, and Kyeongdal Choi

Abstract—Although the shape of high-temperature supercon-

ducting (HTS) tape is not good for cables, many researches are
being progressed like Roebel conductors, compact cables, and
HTS cable in conduit conductors. These cables can show good
performances for dc application. However, the ac loss problem due
to the shape of HTS tape has not been solved yet. In this paper,
the ac loss characteristics of the striated HTS compact cable were
analyzed. We made striations on the HTS tapes that composed the
compact cable. The surface of the tape was scribed by laser. The
magnetization loss was measured by the method using pick-up and
cancel coils. We confirmed the effect of striation for reduction of
the loss from the measured loss in straight and spiral samples.
Index Terms—Compact cable, magnetization loss, spiral wind- Fig. 1. Experimental set-up configuration.
ing, striated high-temperature superconducting (HTS) tape,
YBCO coated conductor. by the perpendicular external magnetic field mainly occurred
and should be reduced. The magnetization loss can be reduced
by making fine superconductor (i.e., filamentary) and twisting
I. I NTRODUCTION the superconductor filaments (i.e., decoupling). YBCO coated
conductor has the shape of very thin tape, so, it is difficult
O NE OF the most important impacts of the superconductor
is it can carry a very large current through a very small
cross-section without severe Joule losses. Low temperature
to make the multifilamentary and twisted YBCO plate. To
reduce the magnetization of thin plate, the striation and the
superconductors or cables have been developed to be able to transposition can be adopted instead of multifilament and twist,
carry hundreds of thousand amperes. But high temperature respectively. Striated conductor is being researched in several
superconductors (HTS) just start to be developed for large laboratories for low AC loss [3]–[5]. We have investigated
currents. For large power application using HTS tape, the the effect of striated HTS tape in Roebel conductors, but loss
conductor packing a several number of HTS tapes should be reduction effect for the conductor is not clear [6]. The HTS
used because single tape is limited in current capacity [1], [2]. compact cable concept has been proposed by a research group
Many researches are being progressed like Roebel conductors, of NIST and University of Colorado for large current conductor
compact cables, and HTS cable in conduit conductors for large [7]. In this research, the measured magnetization losses of
current. In application stage with the large current conductors, striated YBCO CC and spiral winding samples for the compact
the AC loss is very important theme because it is closely related cable conductor are presented and the possibility for low loss
with operation efficiency. Among the AC losses of the YBCO conductor is discussed.
coated conductor in power application, the magnetization loss
II. M EASUREMENT
A. Experimental Set-Up
Manuscript received October 5, 2012; accepted January 7, 2013. Date of
publication January 11, 2013; date of current version March 28, 2013. This re-
The magnetization loss is measured using a linked pick-up
search was supported by Basic Science Research Program though the National coil (LPC) method proposed by Z. Jiang and N. Amemiya
Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, [8]. Schematic experimental configuration for measurement of
Science and Technology(2012R1A1A4A01012300), Republic of Korea.
J.-K. Lee is with the Fire Protection and Safety Department, Woosuk Uni-
magnetization losses generated in samples is shown in Fig. 1.
versity, Samrye, Wanju, Jeonbuk 565-701, Korea (e-mail: jikwang@woosuk. In Fig. 1, the magnet which applies the external magnetic
ac.kr). field to the sample has the shape of race track. This magnet
Y. Kim, S. Lee, S.-H. Park, and K. Choi are with the Energy and Electrical
Engineering Department, Korea Polytechnic University, Shiheung, Gyeonggi
has the magnetic field uniformity within 1.0% in the region
336-745, Korea (e-mail: mart24hi@gmail.com; eon0225@gmail.com; of pick-up and cancel coil. The dimension of a single turn
sanghop@kpu.ac.kr; choidal@kpu.ac.kr). of the LPC and cancel coil is 30 mm × 30 mm × 30 mm,
W.-S. Kim is with the Korea Electric Power Research Institute, Daejeon 305-
760, Korea (e-mail: wskim612@gmail.com) and the number of turns is 600 with a single layer and fine
C. Park is with Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Korea (e-mail: copper wire of 50 μm diameter. The samples are placed in the
pchan@snu.ac.kr). center of the pick-up coil. The magnetization loss is measured
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. by detecting the voltage v(t) (induced electric field) from the
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TASC.2013.2239340 LPC and cancel coil connected in anti-series and the current
1051-8223/$31.00 © 2013 IEEE
LEE et al.: AC LOSS ANALYSIS OF STRIATED HTS COMPACT CABLES FOR LOW LOSS CABLE DESIGN
TABLE I
S PECIFICATION OF YBCO CC
Fig. 2. Measured critical current of SuNAM 2G wire in short sample.
TABLE II
S PECIFICATIONS OF S AMPLES
i(t) (applied external magnetic field) from feeding line to the
magnet expressed as (1),
T
Cpu k
Qm = v(t) · i(t)dt
VS
0 of the screening current to shield the external magnetic field.
where the VS and T are the sample volume in the box of
the LPC and one cycle period, respectively. k is the magnet
constant which is the magnetic flux density generated at the
sample position per the magnet current which the value is
4.79 × 10−3 mT/A in the experimental system used in this
study, and Cpu is the pick-up coil calibration factor which is
calculated by the method explained in [8].
B. Samples
A specification of 2G HTS wire for samples which was sup-
plied by SuNAM Corporation in Korea is shown in Table I. The
width of the YBCO CC is 4 mm and the thickness is 0.19 mm
with 20 μm copper stabilizer. The measured critical current
in short sample is 153 A as shown in Fig. 2. Several samples
having different geometries are prepared to investigate the loss
reduction effect by the striation as shown in Table II. The
photographs and cross-sectional views of samples are shown
in Fig. 3. In Table II and Fig. 3, the character “F” means
filamentary by striation. The straight and spiral samples are
manufactured with striated YBCO CCs. The striated YBCO
CCs are made by cutting the YBCO layer with laser. The
5900804
Fig. 3. Photographs and cross-sectional views of samples: (a) straight sam-
ples, (b) spiral samples, and (c) spiral samples (2-layer).
straight samples is shown in Fig. 3(a). The straight samples are
(1) with different uncut end region lengths to inspect the influence
The striated length is 120 mm and non-striated end lengths
are 0, 4, 20 mm, respectively. Also, the striation number is
0(single YBCO CC), 1(2-filamentary CC), 2(3-filamentary CC)
and 3(4-filamentary CC). The spiral samples are manufactured
by winding the striated YBCO CCs on the round FRP former
as shown in Fig. 3(b).
The samples length is 120 mm, and non-striated end lengths
are 0, 10 mm, respectively. The number of winding is 2, and the
pitch length is 60 mm. The 2-layer spiral samples are prepared
to examine the influence of winding direction as shown in
Fig. 3(c). The character “S” and “Z” means counterclockwise
and clockwise, respectively.
All the samples are placed in the center of the LPC. The
length of a sample in the box made by the LPC was 60 mm,
and this region is the central part of the sample.
III. R ESULTS OF E XPERIMENT AND A NALYSIS
Magnetization losses per cycle as the unit of losses and 60 Hz
as the frequency of applied external magnetic field are used in
this paper. According to previous researches, it is well known
that striation is effective in reduction of magnetization loss
[3]–[5]. However, loss reduction effect is not clear in case of
5900804 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON APPLIED SUPERCONDUCTIVITY, VOL. 23, NO. 3, JUNE 2013
Fig. 4. Measured magnetization losses of no, 1, 2, 3-striated straight samples.
The nonstriated end length is 20 mm.
Fig. 5. Measured magnetization losses of no, 1, 2, 3-striated straight samples.
The nonstriated end length is 4 mm.
Fig. 6. Measured magnetization losses of no, 1, 2, 3-striated straight samples.
The nonstriated end length is zero (complete striated sample).
incomplete striation. In order to investigate the influence of
incomplete striation on loss reduction, the magnetization losses
are measured at samples with different non-striated lengths. The
measured losses of samples having 20 mm, 4 mm and zero
non-striated end length are shown in Figs. 4–6, respectively. As
shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the non-striated region length give no
difference on the magnetization loss. Also, the striation effect
do not appear at low field below 30 mT. The results can be ex-
plained as screening current against applied external magnetic
field is induced at outermost loop consisted of uncut end region
and outside filament of the samples, but is not induced around
each slit. At applied magnetic field above 30 mT, the losses of
samples differ from each other because the screening current is
induced around each slit. Fig. 6 is the measured loss of complete
striated YBCO CCs(zero end length). The striation is effective
at whole field range. At low field, striation effect is not so
large because of the screening current in neighbor filaments,
Fig. 7. Normalized magnetization losses of no, 1, 2, 3-striated straight sam-
ples. The nonstriated end length is 20 mm.
Fig. 8. Loss ratio of 4-filamentary straight sample having zero, 4, 20 mm
nonstriated end length to single YBCO CC.
Fig. 9. Measured magnetization losses of no, 1, 2, 3-striated spiral samples.
The nonstriated end length is zero (complete striated sample).
that is, magnetic coupling exist strongly between the filaments.
Fig. 7 shows the normalized loss divided by energy density. The
losses have large discrepancy at the field region greater than
the maximum point related to full field penetration, and it is
related the losses do not have large difference at low field region
below 30 mT in Fig. 4. Loss ratio of 4-filamentary straight
samples having zero, 4, 20 mm non-striated end length to single
YBCO CC is shown in Fig. 8. From the results, we can see that
incomplete striation (4, 20 mm non-striated end length samples)
as well as complete striation (zero non-striated end length
sample) has an effect of loss reduction in field region above
30 mT (that is, magnetic field value of the maximum point in
Fig. 7). As the applied field increase, the loss reduction effect
grows for the incompletely striated samples and slightly goes
down for samples with complete striation. Loss ratio decrease
to 60% in incomplete striation. In case of complete striation,
loss ratio is about 45%. This means the magnetic coupling exist
LEE et al.: AC LOSS ANALYSIS OF STRIATED HTS COMPACT CABLES FOR LOW LOSS CABLE DESIGN
Fig. 10. Measured magnetization losses of no, 1, 2, 3-striated straight sam-
ples. The nonstriated end length is 10 mm.
Fig. 11. Measured magnetization losses of 2-layer spiral samples (SS).
Fig. 12. Measured magnetization losses of 2-layer spiral samples (SZ).
Fig. 13. Loss ratio of 4-filamentary spiral samples having zero, 10 mm
nonstriated end length and 2-layer spiral samples (SS, SZ) to single YBCO CC.
between the filaments despite of finished striation. Complete
magnetic decoupling will give the value 25% as loss ratio.
The loss examination of spiral winding is needed for loss es-
timation of compact cable conductor for large current capacity.
5900804
Figs. 9 and 10 shows the measured losses of no, 1(F2), 2(F3),
3(F4)-striated spiral winding samples. The non-striated end
length is zero (complete striated sample, Fig. 9) and 10 mm
(incomplete striated sample, Fig. 10). The results are similar,
and this means spiral shape has the effect of reducing loss even
with incomplete striation. The measured losses of 2-layer spiral
winding samples SS and SZ are shown in Figs. 11 and 12,
respectively. The results are very similar, so, winding direction
is not a significant factor in determining AC loss. Fig. 13 shows
loss ratio of 4-filamentary spiral samples having zero, 10 mm
non-striated end length and 2-layer spiral samples to single
YBCO CC. As the applied field increase, the loss ratio grows
slightly for both complete and incomplete striation.
Loss ratio is about 25% ∼ 40% in spiral samples. This value
is smaller than for the straight samples, that is to say, the effect
of striation is greater for spiral wound samples. We think the
reason is the transposing effect of the spiral winding.
IV. C ONCLUSION
It is well known that striation on the coated conductor is
effective in reduction of magnetization loss, but it is not well de-
fined in case of incomplete striation. We execute the experiment
to estimate the effect of reduction in complete and incomplete
striated YBCO CCs. The magnetization losses are measured in
samples of straight and spiral shape with different incomplete
region lengths. The spiral shape is to apply the compact cable
conductor for large current capacity. From the measured results,
we verified striation (incomplete as well as complete) give the
effect of AC loss reduction in straight and spiral samples. The
incomplete region lengths give no difference on the magneti-
zation loss. The loss reduction effect is larger in spiral shape
than straight shape because of transposing effect by the spiral
winding.
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