Low AC loss in a 3 kA HTS cable of the Dutch project

Requirements for a 6 km long high temperature superconducting (HTS) AC power cable of the Amsterdam project are: a cable has to fit in an annulus of 160 mm, with two cooling stations at the cable ends only. Existing solutions for HTS cables would lead to excessively high coolant pressure drop in the cable, potentially affecting public acceptance of the project. A way out would be to substantially reduce AC losses from 1 down to about 0.1 W/m per phase at rated current of 3 kA(rms), frequency of 50 Hz and temperature of 77 K. In this paper we discuss a strategy towards this ambitious goal, a concept design of the single phase cable 3 kA conductor made of YBCO tapes and present corresponding experimental and simulation data supporting the developed approach leading directly to this goal. HTS cable model was made that show a drastically reduced AC loss. The low loss was achieved by using appropriate pitch angles for two-layer cable conductor of relatively large diameter, by minimizing the gaps between the HTS tapes, and by using narrow HTS tapes that conform well to the roundness of the underlying former. AC loss of 0.12 W/m at 3 kA(rms) was measured at a frequency of 60 Hz and at a temperature of 77 K. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier B. V. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of the Guest Editors.