Proceedings of the National Conference on Cryogenics for Space (NCCS-2019)

December 12-14, 2019, LPSC, Thiruvananthapuram, India.

NCCS-2019-1084

Development of a Closed Cycle Cryogenic (30 K) Test Facility for

Characterization of High Temperature Superconducting (HTS)
Field Coils for HTS Synchronous Machine Applications
V A S Muralidhar Bathula1,2*, D K Sharma1, Abhay S Gour2, U K Choudhury1, V V Rao2

1BHELCorporate R&D Division, Vikasnagar, Hyderabad 500 093, India

2Cryogenic Engineering Centre, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, West Bengal - 721 302, India
*Corresponding Author: bmuralidhar@bhel.in

ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION

Development of HTS field coils is one of the main
technological challenges in realising compact HTS
synchronous machines. The cryogenic testing of HTS field
coils at the operating temperature is essential for estimation of
its performance. This paper presents an in-house developed
closed cycle cryogenic (30 K) test facility for testing and
characterizing HTS based field coils of 200 kVA HTS
synchronous machine. This paper also discusses the design
considerations and heat load estimation for development of
closed cycle cryogenic test facility. Data Acquisition system
along with necessary instrumentation has been incorporated
with this facility to acquire online data for monitoring the
process condition and evaluating the performance of
developed double pancake racetrack shape HTS field coil. The
critical current of HTS based field coil of 200 kVA HTS
synchronous machine has been experimentally measured
using the developed cryogenic test facility and validated with
theoretically computed value.
Keywords: Closed cycle cryogenic test facility, HTS field coil,
Cryo-instrumentation
The commercially available long length high temperature
superconductors (HTS) with higher transition temperatures
(125 K) encourages the development of compact HTS
synchronous machines with HTS field coils. In general, HTS
field coils are used in the rotor of HTS synchronous machine,
in place of the conventional copper coils to achieve
compactness, less weight, high efficiency, low noise and
greater overloading capacity [1-5].
After manufacturing, the testing of HTS field coil at
cryogenic temperatures (less than 77 K) for performance
evaluation is one of the critical requirement before placing it
inside the rotor of the machine [6-11]. Testing of the field coil
at the temperature below 77 K demands a special cryogenic
test facility. A closed-cycle cryogenic test facility is developed
to characterize the in-house manufactured field coil for 200
kVA HTS synchronous machine using cold helium gas as
cryogen to achieve minimum 30 K temperature. In the present
paper, the design considerations, static heat load estimation
and developmental details of a closed cycle cryogenic test
facility with required instrumentation to test the in-house
manufactured HTS field coils down to 30 K are presented.

CLOSED CYCLE CRYOGENIC TEST FACILITY

NOMENCLATURE
The test facility is a closed cycle test facility with helium gas
Symbols
A = Cross section. as cryogen. The test facility has a vacuum chamber entirely
dT = Temperature difference enclosing helium gas chamber which contains HTS field coils
kt = Temperature dependent thermal conductivity to be characterized at desired cryogenic temperatures. The
S = Shape factor temperature is maintained in helium gas chamber through a
𝐾𝐻 , 𝐾𝐶 = Thermal conductivity integral closed cycle cryogenic cooling with the help of a cryocooler
Tc = Cold temperature connected to the test chamber through a vacuum jacketed line
TH = Hot temperature
F12 = Configuration factor, (VJ line). The schematic of the test facility is shown in Figure
𝜎 = Stefan-Boltzmann constant 1. The broad specifications of the test facility are given in
Fe = Emissivity factor Table 1. Broadly, the test facility consists of a two stage
e1, e2 = Emissivities Sterling cycle based cryo-cooler, helium gas chamber, vacuum
chamber, feedthroughs for sensing temperature and current
excitation, vacuum jacketed helium transfer lines, coupling
flanges, vacuum pump, vacuum gauges, cryo-temperature
sensors, cryo-temperature monitor, temperature controller,
low voltage high current DC power source, mill voltmeter,
data acquisition system, dump resistor etc.
Figure. 1. Schematic of HTS pole coil test facility
The HTS field coils to be tested are having critical current
less than 400 A DC, hence, the maximum testing current
requirement for the test facility is aimed at 400 A DC. The
maximum size of the racetrack HTS field coil to be tested
using the test facility is 800 mm X 210 mm X 150 mm (L x W
x H).
Table 1: Specifications of Cryogenic Test Facility
Parameters Specifications
Application Testing of HTS field coils
Type of cooling Closed loop
Cryogen Helium gas
Minimum Temperature 30 K
Operating Cryogen Pressure 4 bar
Max safe handling pressure 6 bar
Max coil testing current 400 A DC
Temperature sensors Pt-102 (2 nos.)
Operating vacuum < 10-3 mbar
Vacuum measurement 1 no. (dual gauge type)
Helium leak tightness of < 10-6 mbar-lit/sec
overall facility
Max. field-coil size 800 mm X 210 mm X 150 mm
Design and Development Considerations
With broader technical specifications given in Table 1, the
design and development of closed cycle test facility involve
multiple engineering considerations. The given maximum size
of HTS field-coils to be tested, determines the envelope size
of helium gas chamber. The vacuum chamber entirely encloses
helium gas chamber and the vacuum created in between
reduces the convectional heat transfer from ambient to inner
helium gas chamber. The helium gas chamber is mechanically
supported on insulating support links to reduce overall heat
load to the test chamber.
The helium gas chamber has 4 bar helium gas pressure inside
and vacuum outside, whereas the vacuum chamber has
vacuum inside and ambient pressure outside. If the mechanical
integrity of the system is not checked, there may be a chance
that helium gas chamber may explode, while the vacuum
chamber may buckle. Hence, the optimum number of
stiffeners are provided on helium gas chamber as well as the
vacuum chamber to maintain the mechanical and structural
integrity of both. The thickness of helium gas chamber is
chosen accordingly to suffice both cryogenic and structural
considerations.
Vacuum system is designed considering the required thermal
vacuum level between vacuum chamber and helium gas
chamber. The selection of pump and size of the vacuum port
depends on the volume of space wherein the vacuum is to be
created and ultimate vacuum to be achieved at room
temperature as well as at cryogenic conditions (when the gas
chamber is cooled). Usually multi-stage rotary vane type
vacuum pumps are used to create an ultimate vacuum of the
order of 10-3 mbar, while diffusion vacuum pumps and turbo-
molecular vacuum pumps are used to create ultimate vacuum
of the order of 10-6 mbar.
The HTS field coils are excited with the help of a high
current and low voltage direct current power supply when the
HTS field coil attains the required operating temperature. The
terminal connections are routed through copper cables and
cryogenic feed throughs from power supply to HTS field coil.
These cables and feed throughs are designed to cater cryogenic
heat load constraints, vacuum and cryogenic compatibility
along with electrical operating requirements. During testing, a
dump resistor is also connected across the HTS field coil to
take care of voltage surge generated in the event of power
failure or quenching of superconducting coil and to safely
dissipate the electrical energy stored in the coil.
An adequate instrumentation is indispensable for any test
facility because it enables the precise and accurate
measurement of essential fundamental parameters during
testing. In the proposed test facility, instrumentation is
provided for measurement of cryogenic temperatures,
vacuum, operating currents and the voltages across the HTS
coil etc.
The cryogenic and thermal aspects of design are considered
to minimize the heat loads on the system. The conductive heat
load is minimized by providing suitable insulating support
links between helium gas chamber and vacuum chamber. The
convective heat transfer is minimized by employing high order
of vacuum between helium gas chamber and vacuum chamber
and all along the transfer lines connecting cryocooler and
helium gas chamber. The radiation heat load is minimized by
wrapping of multi-layer insulation (MLI) all over the
cryogenic surfaces of test facility.
Static Heat Load Estimation
The static heat load estimation (i.e. after attaining thermal
equilibrium of HTS coil) of test facility to be developed is of
utmost importance. The heat load of test facility must be
sufficiently low to maintain desired cryogenic temperature in
the test chamber with available refrigeration. There are three
major modes of heat transfer from ambient to cryogenically
cooled objects viz. conduction, convection and radiation. In
this test facility, the major heat-in-leak is by conduction
coming through current leads which are used for exciting HTS
field coil and thermally insulating support links which are used
for supporting the helium gas chamber on vacuum chamber.
The conductive heat transfer rate ‘Q‘ through a material
having cross section ‘A’ and temperature difference ‘dT’ in the
x-direction is evaluated by [12], Fourier rate equation (1) given electrical and instrumentation feed throughs etc. Some of the
as: sub-systems have been designed and manufactured in-house
𝑑𝑇 and some of the sub-systems are procured and integrated
𝑄 = −𝑘𝑡 𝐴 (1)
𝑑𝑥 thereafter to cater the requirement.
Here kt is the temperature dependent thermal conductivity of An existing Stirling cycle based cryocooler with four
the material. The same equation for finite temperature cylinders (model no: SPC 4T, make: Stirling Cryogenics BV,
difference from cold temperature TC to hot temperature TH can Netherlands) coupled to vacuum jacketed line has been used
be rewritten as equation (2): in the closed cycle cryogenic test facility for cooling the HTS
𝑇𝐻
field coils to the required cryogenic temperatures. The
𝑄 = 𝑆 ∫ 𝑘𝑡 𝑑𝑇 (2)
𝑇𝑐 cryocooler consists of an electrically driven cryo generator
where ' S ' is shape factor and given by equation (3): with a helium gas circulating head. Head is provided with four
𝑥2 cold exchangers to reach 20K temperature. The helium gas
1 𝑑𝑥
=∫ (3) flow in the head is shown (blue color) in figure 2 (a). The P&I
𝑆 𝑥1 𝐴
The temperature dependent thermal conductivity for finite diagram of SPC 4T Stirling cryocooler for a typical 300W heat
temperature difference from 'TC' to ‘TH' can be evaluated as load is shown in figure 2 (b).
the difference of thermal conductivity integrals 'KH' and 'KC' The cooling power of cryocooler is 300W @ 20K [13] and
as shown in equation (4): the cryogen (process gas) used in closed cycle test facility is
𝑇𝐻 helium gas at 4 bar pressure. The working gas in the Stirling
∫ 𝑘𝑡 𝑑𝑇 == (𝐾𝐻 − 𝐾𝐶 ) (4) cycle cryocooler is also helium gas which is maintained at 28
𝑇𝑐
𝑇𝐻 𝑇
bar pressure. There are two cryo-fans which enable the closed
where 𝐾𝐻 = ∫0 𝑘𝑡 𝑑𝑇 and 𝐾𝐶 = ∫0 𝐶 𝑘𝑡 𝑑𝑇 . cycle circulation of helium gas from cryocooler to helium gas
The convection heat-in-leak in the test facility is eliminated chamber and back to cryocooler. There is a 4-meter-long
by providing high order of vacuum around the cryogen transfer flexible vacuum jacketed transfer line to transfer the helium
lines and helium gas chamber. gas from cryocooler to helium gas chamber and back to
In general, the primary mode of heat transfer to the cryogenic cryocooler.
region is thermal radiation. The thermal radiation requires no
medium for propagation and even passes through vacuum. The
thermal radiation is space-based phenomenon which depends
on cryogenic system geometry, thermal emissivity and the
temperature difference. The radiation heat-in-leak in the test
facility is minimized by providing multi-layer insulation over
cryogen transfer lines and helium gas chamber. The radiation
heat transfer rate 'Q' between two surfaces 'A1' and 'A2' with
temperatures 'T1' and 'T2' and emissivities ‘e1' and 'e2' is
evaluated by modified Stefan-Boltzmann equation as (5) [3]:
Figure. 2. The helium flow in the head and P&I diagram of
𝑄 = 𝐹𝑒 𝐹12 𝜎𝐴1 ( 𝑇2 4 − 𝑇1 4 ) (5)
four cylinder SPC 4T Stirling cryocooler
where ' F12' is configuration factor, ' 𝜎 ' is Stefan-Boltzmann
constant and ' Fe' is the emissivity factor. Helium gas chamber is used for placing the HTS field coil in
The total heat-in-leak contributed by various means as a closed cycle cryogenic environment. It consists of helium
discussed above is found to be 34.77 W and the break-up is gas in and out pipes, current lead feed throughs (2 Nos) and
given in Table 2. temperature sensor leads feed through. The cold helium gas
Table 2: Estimated static heat load of the test facility enters into this chamber through inlet pipe and cools HTS field
Description Value in Watt coil and the warm helium gas will return back to cryocooler
Heat-in-leak through two current leads 5.91 through return pipe. Helium gas chamber is made of SS 316L
Heat-in-leak through support links 13.39 material for operating under cryogenic conditions and
Heat-in-leak through radiation 11.47 supported with ‘L’ shape stiffeners for good mechanical
Heat-in-leak through VJ line 4.00 strength to withstand inside cryogen pressure and outside
Total Heat-in-leak 34.77 vacuum. TIG welding method is used for manufacturing the
vacuum chamber to withstand cryogenic temperatures.
Rectangular collar is welded to the bottom box with suitable
DEVELOPMENT OF CLOSED CYCLE CRYOGENIC spigot for placing top plate for welding. The top plate contains
TEST FACILITY provisions for vacuum ports, current feed throughs and
temperature feed throughs along with lifting blocks. The
Major sub-systems assembled to develop the closed cycle
bottom box and top plate are assembled with helium leak tight
cryogenic test facility are cryocooler, vacuum chamber,
welding after placing the HTS field coil with proper
helium gas chamber, DC power source, vacuum pump,
mechanical supports. The manufactured helium gas chamber
vacuum gauge, temperature monitor, data acquisition system,
is tested with helium leak tester (Make: Pfeiffer Vacuum,
Model : HLT 260) for weld joint leaks. The leak rate of the
chamber is better than 1 x 10-6 mbar lit/sec. The developed
helium gas chamber under helium leak testing can be seen in
Figure 3.
Figure. 3. Photograph of the helium gas chamber while
testing with HLT 260 Leak detector
Vacuum chamber is used for providing the vacuum envelope
over the cold helium gas chamber. It consists of rectangular
shaped bottom box and top plate. Rectangular shaped bottom
box walls are supported with ‘L’ shape stiffeners for good
mechanical strength to withstand high vacuum levels as well
as to avoid buckling. The top plate contains provisions for
vacuum ports, current feed throughs and temperature feed
throughs along with lifting blocks. The assembled vacuum
chamber consists of current lead feed throughs (2 Nos) ,
temperature sensor leads feed through and vacuum ports (2
Nos) for creating and measuring the vacuum. It is made of SS
316L material for low degassing under high vacuum
conditions. TIG welding method is used for manufacturing the
vacuum chamber. Rectangular collar is welded to the bottom
box with suitable groove for placing neoprene ‘O’ rig for
vacuum tightness. The bottom box and top plate can be
assembled with nuts and bolts after placing the neoprene ‘O’
ring in the groove. The manufactured vacuum chamber is
tested with helium leak tester for weld joint leaks. The
observed leak rate of the vacuum chamber is better than 1 x
10-6 mbar lit/sec. The developed vacuum chamber under
helium leak testing can be seen in Figure 4.
Figure. 4. Photograph of the vacuum chamber while testing
with HLT 260 Leak detector
The helium leak detector used during helium leak
check of all the weld joints is a Pfeiffer Vacuum, Germany
make unit with model no. HLT 260. This unit can be operated
in vacuum as well as sniffer modes. This unit is employed
during each stage of manufacturing and assembly of test
facility to achieve the overall helium leak tightness as
mentioned in Table 1. The rotary vane pump employed during
testing is an Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum, Germany make two
stage rotary vane type vacuum pump. The pumping speed of
this vacuum pump is 40 m3/hour and can create an ultimate
vacuum of 1 x 10-4 mbar. The vacuum gauge used to measure
the vacuum level is a dual gauge instrument (Make: Oerlikon
Leybold Vacuum, Germany). It has a measuring range from
1000 mbar to 1 x 10-9 mbar. An eight channel temperature
monitor is used to monitor temperature of various zones inside
the integrated system. This is a Lakeshore Inc., USA make
temperature monitor, model 218, which supports both
Platinum RTD and silicon diode based sensors. The DC power
source is a high current and low voltage power supply which
can supply 0 to 1000 A DC at 0-10 V voltage. This is a
Powerten Inc, USA make power supply having two separate
controls viz. current control and voltage control. Also, to
protect the coil from the high voltage, a dump resister (0.1
Ohm) is connected across the coil to dump the stored energy
in the HTS coil in case of sudden power failure or coil quench
while passing the current. An additional ON-OFF temperature
controller has been integrated to control the temperature of
helium gas chamber. An electric heater has been employed to
maintain the temperature of helium gas chamber at reference
set point. The overall control philosophy involves turning on
heater when it is less than set temperature and turning it off
when it is more than set temperature. The relay based ON-OFF
temperature control is chosen for its simplicity. The only
parameters that need to be set are the temperature switching
differential and set point.
INTEGRATION OF CLOSED CYCLE CRYOGENIC
TEST FACILITY
Meeting the objective of development of closed-cycle
cryogenic test facility for characterizing the in house
developed HTS field coils of 200 kVA HTS synchronous
machine, the closed-cycle cryogenic test facility is integrated
with all sub-components. The main purpose of testing the HTS
field coils at 35 K is to measure the critical operating current
at this temperature. The in house developed HTS field coil is
a racetrack shaped double pancake coil made with BSCCO-
2223 wire and the theoretical estimated critical current at self-
field is 250A and the details of design and development of this
2G HTS based field coil are presented in [14]. The photograph
of the in house developed field coil is shown in Figure 5(b).
The HTS field coil is kept inside helium gas chamber
using thermally insulated spacers for good mechanical
support. Two pre-calibrated Pt-102 RTDs are provided on top
and bottom surfaces of the HTS coil to measure the
temperature of coil. The end terminals of HTS coil are
soldered to two copper connectors for feeding the current. The
electrical and instrumentation connections are routed with the
help of a cryogenic feed throughs. The top plate of helium gas
chamber is then welded to bottom container after completion
of electrical instrumentation connections. After the welding,
the helium gas chamber is tested with helium leak tester for
weld joint leaks and found leak rate is better than 1 X 10 -6
mbar-l/sec.
The hermetically sealed helium gas chamber has been
suitably placed inside the vacuum chamber with thermally
insulating support links. Finally, the top plate of vacuum
chamber is integrated to bottom container with suitable O-
rings and bolted joints. On the top plate of vacuum chamber, a
vacuum pump and a vacuum gauge have been provided to
continuously create and monitor the vacuum level in the
cryostat.
The test chamber with HTS field coil is then connected to
the vacuum jacketed transfer line of cryocooler. The vacuum
space is evacuated down to 10-5 mbar using vacuum pumps.
After evacuation, the entire system is checked with helium
leak detector and found the leak rate of the system is better
than 1x 10-6 mbar-l/sec. A dump resistor (0.1 Ω, 500 V) is
connected across the HTS coil for protection of HTS coil. The
photograph of the experimental test setup for testing HTS field
coils at 35 K is shown in Figure 5(a).
Fig. 5. a) Photograph of closed cycle cryogenic test facility
b) HTS coil under test.
TESTING OF HTS FIELD COIL USING CLOSED
CYCLE CRYOGENIC TEST FACILITY
After complete integration of the test setup, HTS field coil
was cooled down to 35 K and the temperatures were
continuously monitored with the help of instrumentation and
data acquisition system. The cool down curve of HTS field coil
is given in figure 6(a). Upon attaining the thermal equilibrium
at 35 K, the current was supplied from DC power source in
different steps with suitable time-interval between each step
and measured the electric field (E, in V/cm) as a function of
current. Under 1 μV/cm criterion of superconductivity, the
measured critical current of in house developed HTS field coil
was ≈ 257 A, which is relatively close to the theoretical
estimation of 250 A under self-field [14]. The measured E-I
curve along with HTS field coil top and bottom temperatures
are given in figure 6(b).
Fig. 6. Cool down curve (a) and measured E-I curve with top
and bottom temperatures (b) of HTS field coil under test using
closed cycle cryogenic test facility
CONCLUSIONS
A closed cycle cryogenic test facility has been developed and
demonistrated to characterize the rotor field-coils of HTS
synchronous machine. Various cryogenic, thermal, structural
and electrical design considerations to be carefully
contemplated during the design and development of test
facility have been discussed and deliberated at length. The
cryogenic test facility has been assembled and integrated to
test an in-house developed double pancake race track shaped
HTS field coil designed and developed for 200 kVA, 250 rpm,
6 pole HTS synchronous machine. The critical current of HTS
field coil was measured and validated with theoretical
estimation. In future, this developed test facility can be used to
test multiple double pancake HTS field coils stacked together
as a pole coil unit. The successful development of this test
facility will pave a way for development of compact and high
power density HTS synchronous machines in India.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Authors would like to extend their warm gratitude to the
management of BHEL Corporate R&D Division, Hyderabad
for giving an opportunity to carry out this work. Authors
would like to thank Mr. Sudheer Thadela, IIT Kharagpur, for
his support extended for finalization of manuscript.
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