IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON APPLIED SUPERCONDUCTIVITY, VOL. 24, NO.

3, JUNE 2014 1

Analysis of Alternating Overcurrent

Response of 2G HTS Tape for SFCL
D. Czerwinski, L. Jaroszynski, T. Janowski, M. Majka, J. Kozak

Abstract—The scope of this article was to find the transient paper, an experiment and a numerical study on transient of the
response of the 2G HTS tape under alternating overcurrent. The voltage and thermal behavior of HTS tape have been carried
authors performed the series of measurements for the SF12050 out. In the numerical simulation, the nonlinear dependence of
HTS tape produced by SuperPower Inc. The tape was fed by the
E-J characteristic of the tape was assumed [5].
50 Hz AC voltage source with adjustable amplitude. The
temporal dependences of the tape current and voltage drops in The numerical analysis versus measurements of quenches in
each test segment were recorded simultaneously. The the coated conductors was analyzed in [6]. The influence of
measurements were performed for the current amplitudes phenomenological formulas on the outputs of a developed
exceeding the critical value specified by the manufacturer finite element model was analyzed. The results were compared
(Ic=270 A @77 K, self-field). The instantaneous values of the tape against experimental voltage curves. The measurements were
temperature during overcurrent transient period were also
carried out for pulsed transport currents between 80 A and
determined. Additionally, the numerical analysis of the SF12050
tape was performed. Numerical model was build using PSPICE 160 A and external magnetic fluxes of 0 mT to 350 mT. The
environment. The model assumes the nonlinear dependence of authors conclude that the solution may still be inaccurate at
tape parameters in the function of temperature, as well as the low field values and high current amplitudes, where the
variable cooling conditions during transient state. The curvature of the simulated E-J curves is more pronounced [6].
constructed model was verified with measurement results. In our previous research we developed the PSpice model for
 bulk HTS components and 1G tapes used for SFCLs. In this
Index Terms— coated conductors, high temperature
article we propose the modified model which is suitable for
superconducting tapes, superconducting fault current limiters,
quench propagation. 2G HTS coated conductors. In this model the emphasis was
put on the temperature dependent material parameters and the
heat exchange in LN2 bath for currents higher than the critical
I. INTRODUCTION value. The model was verified with measurements.
ROGRESS in the manufacturing of the second generation
P (2G) high temperature superconducting tapes, allows for
the production of superconducting fault current limiters
II. MEASUREMENTS
The series of tests of SF12050 2G HTS tape produced by
(SFCL) of unprecedented characteristics. The analysis of the SuperPower Inc. were made. The HTS layer thickness in the
phenomena in YBCO coated conductors during transient state SF12050 tape is 1 μm and the tape has high critical current
is very important for the stable operation of superconducting TABLE I
SECOND GENERATION SF12050 HTS TAPE PARAMETERS
device. A study of transient voltage responses in HTS
materials has been performed in the past twenty years; Parameter Value
transitions of thin YBCO films from superconducting to Producer SuperPower
resistive state and back induced by a current pulse have been Tape width 12 mm
observed in this study [1]-[3]. Tape thickness 0.055 mm
Critical current at 77 K (self-field) 200-300 A
Simulation of a magnetic shield type high superconducting
Critical temperature 93 K
FCL was carried out by Zhang using Simulink, the parameters Critical flux above 5 T
were based on the equivalent circuit of a power transformer. HTS (Re)BCO thickness in tape 1 µm
Transient response calculation, especially pertaining to the Substrate – hastelloy C276 thickness 50 µm
Silver overlayer thickness (upper/lower if exists) 2/1.8 µm
primary short circuit current was presented in [4]. Buffer stack 0.2 µm
The transient over-current behavior of the BSCCO silver Joint/splice resistance ~40 nΩ/cm2
stabilized HTS tape was examined by Hemmi et al. [5]. In that Substrate resistivity 125 µΩcm

Manuscript received July 13, 2013; accepted September 4, 2013. value that ranges from 200 A to 300 A. This tape has no
D. Czerwinski and L. Jaroszynski are with Institute of Electrical En- copper stabilizers. Substrate is usually a nonmagnetic stainless
gineering and Electrotechnologies, Lublin University of Technology, Lublin,
20-618 Poland (e-mail: d.czerwinski@pollub.p; l.jaroszynski@pollub.pl).
steel and in the case of SF12050 it is Hastelloy C276. Tape
T. Janowski, M. Majka and J. Kozak are with the Electrotechnical parameters are shown in Table I.
Institute, Warsaw-Laboratory of Superconducting Technologies in Lublin,
Lublin 20-618, Poland (e-mail: t.janowski@iel.waw.pl, m.majka@iel.waw.pl,
j.kozak@iel.waw.pl).
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TASC.2013.2281494

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON APPLIED SUPERCONDUCTIVITY, VOL. 24, NO. 3, JUNE 2014 2

Test stand consisted of three main elements: examined tape,

data acquisition stand and supplying system. The SF12050
tape with soldered measuring probes was placed in the liquid
nitrogen bath. Computer controlled supplying system allowed

Fig. 1. The measurement system to determine the overcurrent response of the Fig. 2. Supplying current and voltage across chosen segments of tape versus
HTS 2G tape. time (Ipeak=425 A, Ipeak/Ic=1.57).
TABLE II
OVERCURRENT RESPONSE MEASUREMENT RESULTS FOR DIFFERENT
SUPPLYING CURRENT PEAK VALUES
Supplying current peak value, Largest oscillations
Ipeak/Ic ratio
Ipeak (A) recorded in segment
280 1.04 2
378 1.40 4, 5, 6
380 1.41 1, 2, 3
400 1.48 2
422 1.56 1, 2
425 1.57 4, 5, 6

for automatic switching on and off of the power supply and for
introducing changes in the amplitude by the use of software.
Data acquisition stand consisted of National Instrument DAQ
Card, PC computer and software written in LabView
environment.
The experiment relies on measuring the voltage on the Fig. 3. Supplying current and voltage across the ends of a 12 cm piece of
probes soldered to the HTS tape (7 probes spaced 2 cm, 6 tape tape versus time.
segments) when it is supplied for a short period of time (about
60 ms) with AC current greater than the critical current. The
tape was immersed in liquid nitrogen bath (LN2) under
atmospheric pressure. The voltages were measured
differentially on each segment of the tape. The segments of the
tape and voltages of these segments were numbered as shown
in Fig. 1.
Before the current increase, current of low value was
flowing through the SF12050 wire for observation of
waveforms in the steady state. After this, the overcurrent
switch is turned on automatically by computer controlled
supplying system. The amplitude of the quench current is also
set in the supplying system. Current and voltage waveforms
were recorded for supplying current higher than critical value.
For this batch of wire the manufacturer reported the critical
current value equal to Ic=270 A. The measurement results
Fig. 4. Instantaneous power and temperature in measured piece of tape
were presented in Table II and Fig. 2.
versus time.
Registered supplying current and voltages waveforms show
resistive zone propagation in whole tape is almost uniform, i.e.
that the tape does not lose superconductivity in the same way
voltage oscillations appear in the first sine-period and have the
for Ipeak/Ic ratio from 1 to 1.57. For the Ipeak=425 A only for
similar value.
segment No. 5 of the tape the largest voltage oscillations in the
To verify the numerical model the voltage across the end of
first sine half-period can be observed (Fig. 2). It is important
12 cm piece of SF12050 tape and supplying current were
for superconducting fault current limiter applications that

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON APPLIED SUPERCONDUCTIVITY, VOL. 24, NO. 3, JUNE 2014 3

registered. Measurement results are shown in Fig. 3. The For known superconductor layer geometry, the resistance of
quench start time and duration were equal to: 88 ms and 64 ms the superconductor can be derived from (1) in the form (4)
respectively. [16]
During this experiment, in three 50 Hz sine periods, n ( T ) 1
transport current amplitude dropped from 425 A to 190 A and RHTS (i, T )  ECl i I C (T )  n (T )
(4)
voltage risen to over 10 V. The temperature of the examined
piece of tape can be determined indirectly from current and where: l – tape length, i – HTS layer current, IC(T) – HTS
voltage waveforms [7]. layer critical current.
Thermal properties of HTS tape in the liquid nitrogen
III. NUMERICAL MODELING cooling bath can be described by the equivalent circuit shown
in Fig. 6.
Thin layer HTS tape simulations for SFCL devices can be
led with the use of FEM method [8]-[10]. In this paper
computer simulation of the SuperPower 2G HTS tape was
completed using PSPICE and its analog behavioral modeling
blocks. Non-linear components were built of voltage- and
current-controlled sources [11]-[13].
Electric properties of the tape may be described in
a simplified form as shown in Fig. 5.

Fig. 6. Equivalent circuit of the heat accumulation and exchange of the single
section of HTS tape.
TABLE III
SIMULATION PARAMETERS

parameter section I section II

l 2 cm 10 cm
IC0 at T0=77 K 240 A 280 A
EC 1 μV/cm
Fig. 5. Equivalent circuit of the single section of HTS tape. β 1.5
n0 20
Equivalent circuit of a single tape section consists of two ρSUB, ρHTS, ρAg 8890, 6300, 10490 kg/m3
non-linear resistances representing high temperature
superconductor and silver over-layer and the linear resistance In this simplified approach, uniform temperature
of Hastelloy substrate. Resistivity of the silver over-layer is distribution is implied. Tape temperature can be calculated
considered as temperature-dependent [14]. Hastelloy using formula
resistivity is stable in wide temperature range and its
t1
temperature dependence is ignored here [15]. YBCO buffer
T  T0   (u  i  qLN2  Ath )dt
stack was not considered. t0
Neglecting magnetic field dependence in over-current
/(  SUBVSUB cpSUB   HTSVHTScpHTS   SUBVAg cpAg )
regimes, HTS properties can be described by (1) [16] (5)

E( J )  EC J / J C (T ) where: T0 – cooling bath temperature, u – voltage of the

n (T )
(1)
where: E – electric field strength, EC – constant (transition
criterion), J – current density, JC – superconductor critical
current density, n – power law n-exponent.
Temperature dependence of the HTS critical current in the
T0 to TC range may be described as (2) [16]
J C (T )  J C0 (TC  T ) /(TC  T0 )
 considered as temperature-dependent [14], [15], [17].
(2)
where: JC0 – critical current density at temperature T0,
β – constant, TC – superconductor critical temperature.
Temperature dependence of the power law n-exponent may
be defined by (3) [16]
T0
n(T )  n0
T (3)
tape section, ρSUB, ρHTS, ρAg – densities of substrate,
superconductor and silver, VSUB, VHTS, VAg – volumes
of substrate, superconductor and silver,
cpSUB, cpHTS, cpAg – substrate, superconductor, silver specific
heats, qLN2 – cooling heat flux, Ath – heat exchange area.
Specific heat coefficients of the tape materials are
Liquid nitrogen heat exchange simulation takes into
consideration free convection, nucleate boiling, unstable and
stable film boiling [18], [19].
Computer simulation was made for a serial connection of
two tape section. Tape sections are described in Table I and
Table III.
Simulation results selected for the comparison with
laboratory measurements are depicted in Fig. 7 and 8.

where: n0 – exponent value at temperature T0.

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON APPLIED SUPERCONDUCTIVITY, VOL. 24, NO. 3, JUNE 2014
Fig. 7. Simulated HTS tape voltage and current versus time (ltape=12 cm,
Ipeak=425 A).
Fig. 8. Simulated instantaneous power in kW, tape average temperature and
section I temperature in K versus time (Ipeak=425 A).
Fig. 9. Calculated and measured tape average temperature versus quench
time (Ipeak=425 A).
Results from circuit model were compared with
measurements (Fig. 9). Good convergence of the results can
be observed, however the simulations gave slightly higher
values, after first sine period, comparing to measurements.
The maximum relative error reaches the value of 3.5% at the
end of the quench time.
IV. CONCLUSION
The cooling rate was determined by the different modes of
liquid nitrogen boiling i.e.: nucleate, transition and film
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4
boiling. This simplified approach makes the model fast but
also reliable. The numerical results were compared with the
measurements. Applied model is wide-ranging and may
represent, after minor modifications, other types of YBCO
coated conductors and superconducting coils built of 2G HTS.
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