Heat Propagation Improvement in YBCO-Coated Conductors for Superconducting Fault Current Limiters

D. M. Djokic[1], L. Antognazza[1], M. Abplanalp[2], M. Decroux[1]
[1]DPMC, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
[2]ABB Corporate Research Centre, Dättwil, Switzerland
Published in 2014

YBCO Coated Conductors (CCs), used for applications in Resistive Superconducting Fault Current Limiters (RSFCLs), are known to have insufficiently high Normal Zone Propagation Velocity (NZPV) during quench events. The improvement can be made by enhancing the thermal conductivity of YBCO-CCs with no decrease in the electrical resistivity. We studied the advantage of multilayered structures grown on a cheap fused silica with thickness of 90 µm. The multilayer is composed of: a several microns thick copper layer to enhance the thermal conductivity, a layer to prevent the inter-diffusion, and a Hastelloy top layer. We carried out 3D FEM simulations in COMSOL Multiphysics® on a meander configuration to calculate NZPV. The simulation results show a marked improvement as compared to the earlier cases.