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Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES) System

Technical Report · February 2015

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 1

Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage

(SMES) System
Nishant Kumar, Student Member, IEEE

Abstract˗˗ As the power quality issues are arisen and cost of fix operating condition (cryogenic temperature) [6]. The
fossil fuels is increased. In this situation system needs an main task with this Superconducting coil is maintaining
efficient, reliable and more robust, high energy storage device.
the system temperature to the Cryogenic temperature, so
This paper presents Superconducting Magnetic Energy that system maintains the electrical properties throughout
Storage (SMES) System, which can storage, bulk amount of
the operation.
electrical power in superconducting coil. The stored energy is
in the form of a DC magnetic field. The unique properties withThis SMES storage system is different from other storage
SMES system are the high efficiency (> 90%) and the fast technologies. In this system a continuously circulating
response (<100ms). current flow in the super conducting coil, this produces a
The major components of the Superconducting Magnetic magnetic field for storing energy. Since the energy
Energy Storage (SMES) System are large superconducting conversion process in the SMES system is only from AC
coil, cooling gas, convertor and refrigerator for maintaining to DC, So none of the inherent thermodynamic losses
the temperature of the coolant. This paper describes the associated with conversion of one form of energy to
working principle of SMES, design and functions of all another. Loss less environment of SMES makes device
components.
highly efficient [3].
Index Terms— Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage, The stored energy can be supplied back to the connected
cooling gas, convertor and refrigerator. load or to the power grid, through conversion of the
electricity from the magnetic energy by discharging the
NOMENCLATURE superconducting coil.
A few years back, Alternative of this system was "pump
η Effective energy utilization factor storage hydro system". But difficulties with this are low
ɑ Minor radius efficiency, slow response, huge energy loss and setup
Bm Maximum field away from load centers. This difficulties motivated
Bs researchers for thinking about its alternative and in 1974,
Saturation magnetic induction
The first operating SMES unit with a three - phase
Em Maximum stored energy
converter was successfully tested at the Los Alamos
I Current flowing in the coil
National Laboratory (LANL). In 1976, a team of scientists
I0 Initial current
from the ' Bonneville power authority' and the 'Los
L Inductance of the coil
Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)' proposed the
LN2 Liquid Nitrogen gas
different practical real life application of SMES. After that
N Number of turns system is developed up to the gigawatt range for military
Qsc Quantity factor of the superconductor weapons and advance energy delivery weapons [5].
r Major radius On a commercial scale, the first SMES was developed in
R Load Resistance 1997 by American superconductor and used with grid in
S Cross section area Germany. Micro scale SMES devices in the range of 1-10
ts Total operating time MW are commercially available in the market. For power
U Charging source voltage quality maintenance, Approximately 50 MW of total
U' Supply voltage to the load capacity is installed in different parts of the USA and
V(t) Voltage across the superconductor currently operating successfully [4].
Some other SMES projects are running in Japan,
1. INTRODUCTION researchers have simulated and designed " Combined
liquid hydrogen refrigeration based SMES with
T he Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage Hydrogen-fuel cell system" but not yet constructed, still
(SMES) is an energy storage system. It stores research is going on [2].
energy in a superconducting coil, in the form of magnetic In this paper SMES system and its related components
field. This magnetic field is created by the flow of a direct are discussed in detail. About its structure is described in
current (DC) in the coil. The DC current carrying coil section 2. Working principals are presented in section 3.
operates at cryogenic temperature, which is a 'Advantages and drawbacks' and conclusion are given in
superconducting coil. During a magnetic field formation in section 4 and section 5 respectively.
superconducting coil, the resistive loss is negligible due to

2. STRUCTURE OF SMES
On the structural basis, the main components of SMES
system are superconducting coil, Ferromagnetic core,
driving circuit and coolant. Here superconducting coil,
Ferromagnetic core and coolant are used for holding or for
storing the power. Driving circuit is used for injecting or
for withdrawing the power from SMES [2].
2.1 Superconducting Coil
Energy storage in a normal inductor or in a coil is not
possible due to the ohmic resistance of the coil. The ohmic
resistance has removed from the coil by lowering the
temperature of the conductor, and in that state the
conductor is called superconductor. Superconductivity in
the coil was first observed by Kamerlingh Onnes in
1911by using liquid helium as a coolant. The main
characteristic of the superconductor is 'large current
carrying capability with zero resistive components'[6].
Commercially available superconductor alloys are
Niobium and Titanium (NbTi). These are most effective
SMES materials, when operated at 4.4 K, it can carry
current up to 2000A/mm2 at a magnetic field of 5 T, which
is more than 100 times greater in comparison to Copper at
typical operating current density. The strength of the
magnetic field and efficiency of the superconductor is
decided by the quantity factor of the superconductor (Qsc).
This is described as [5]:
(1)
From equation (1), on constant r, ɑ and Bm the QSC is
proportional to Em2/3, mean on any geometries the quantity
factor of the superconductor (Qsc) is proportional to the
Em2/3.
2.2 Ferromagnetic core
The Ferromagnetic core inside the superconducting coil
increases the storing ability of the SMES. It can store huge
amount of energy at low current density. For high gain the
configuration of the core is "closed core". The closed core
configuration occupies the volume both inside and outside
the coil. This arrangement prevents leakage of the flux.
For making the leakage negligible, the new modified
configuration of close core is "pot core". In pot core
arrangement, the cross sectional area along the flux line or
a flux path is kept constant, so that the ‘leakage’ of flux
out of the core is negligible
The maximum energy (Em) stored in the coil can be
estimated by equation (2). [5]
(2)
2
According to equation (2), the stored energy due to
ferromagnetic core is directly proportional to the induction
of the core and coil.
Sw1 SMES Sw3
Converter
C1 C2 Inverter AC
Sw2 Sw4
Varistor
Fig.1 Electrical circuit of the SMES
2.3 Driving Circuit
The sketch of the electrical circuit for SMES is shown in
fig. 1. The major parts of the SMES are converter,
inverter, two DC link capacitor, four switches and one
varistor. The converter gives DC power for charging the
SMES, switches decides the charging and discharging
conditions. SMES is charged when switches Sw1 and
Sw4 are closed and Sw2 and Sw3 are open and SMES is
discharged when switches Sw2 and Sw3 are closed and
Sw1 and Sw4 are open. Two DC link capacitors are for
rectification in input and output side. Varistor is used for
over voltage protection of SMES. An inverter is used to
supply power to the AC load [3] [2].
In this complete arrangement, the power losses are across
convertor and switches, Since here all setup in running at
very low temperature so resistive property of the switches
and convertor drops from normal value and power loss is
very less in comparison to normal operation.
2.4 coolant
Storage of energy in a normal conductor is not possible
due to the presence of small resistance nature in the
conductor. That resistance can removed from the
conductor by decreasing the temperature of the conductor,
and for this purpose uses coolant in SMES system. On the
basic of coolant SMES are divided in two groups. High
Temperature (HTS) and Low Temperature (LTS)
Superconductors. The HTS is cooled at 77 K using liquid
nitrogen (LN2) and LTS is generally cooled using liquid
helium at 4.2 K. Since LN2 is cheaper than the liquid
helium, so now in general in all commercial SMES, LN 2 is
used as a coolant. Another benefit of LN2 is higher
operating temperature with maximum cooling efficiency
[4].
The circulating current in the coil is directly depends on
the coolant, and the cooling power is proportional to the
T/(TRoom-T). Where T is the operating temperature and
TRoom is the room temperature. The efficiency of the
SMES directly depends on the performance and accuracy
of the coolant [1].
 3

Technical data describe, SMES has high storage efficiency

with rapid response, but only for a short period of time, so
SMES is suitable for huge power and short duration
application.

3.1 Mathematical Formulation

 During charging state [7]:
The charging current I(t) at time t can be
expressed by
Fig.2 Schematic of a SMES
(3)
3. WORKING PRINCIPALS
The Voltage across the superconductor V(t),
The SMES system is a DC current device that stores (4)
energy in the strong magnetic field. That magnetic field is
established by using superconductors. In general
The stored energy of the superconductor E(t),
conductors or a normal coil consists of small portions of
at time t can be expressed by
resistance, so the main task is the removal of resistive
property from normal conductor and makes (5)
superconductor. The process of removal is done by coolant
[2]. The coolant decreases the temperature of the  Energy Discharging state (Controlled mode):
conductor, so at certain low temperature resistance of the During controlled mode discharge, the supply
conductors becomes zero and conductors are behaving like power P(t) to the load is constant, P'(t)=U'(t)I'(t).
a superconductor [1] [3]. That temperature is known as Assume that the equivalent resistance of the load
cryogenic temperature. That temperature is maintained by is R [7].
a cryostat, refrigerator or by Dewar that contains helium or The supply current I'(t) at time t can be expressed
liquid nitrogen gas. by
The coil configuration of SMES system can be a toroids
(6)
or solenoid. The solenoid type is simple, robust and cost
effective.
For charging the superconductors needs DC power. The effective energy utilization factor η can be
That DC power is supplied by using a converter, and the expressed as
process is controlled by four switches (Sw1, Sw2, Sw3 & (7)
Sw4). That all arrangements are shown in fig. 1 and fig. 2.
The charging process is started by keeping switches Sw1 Where ts is defined as
and Sw4 are closed and Sw2 and Sw3 are open.
(8)
Discharging is done by keeping switches Sw2 and Sw3 are
closed and Sw1 and Sw4 are open. Two DC link Up to ts time, SMES will supply constant power
capacitors are for rectification in input and output side. to the load. This ts is known as constant power
Varistor is used for over voltage protection of SMES. An discharging time.
inverter is used to supply power in the form of AC to the
AC load [8]. By using the SMES can enhance the overall 4. ADVANTAGES AND DRAWBACKS
reliability of the power system. In power system, it is
useful for load levelling, dynamic voltage support, Advantages with SMES are:
dynamic stability; with FACTS improve power quality and  Capable of storing and discharging large amount
increase transmission line capacity and frequency support of power.
during loss of generation [8].  High efficiency (greater than 90%).
Technical and economical data about SMES are shown in  Quick response time (less than 100ms).
table 1 [5].  Completely static and robust construction.
Table 1  Very low maintenance.
Technical data about SMES  All types of load can operate.
Rated Power
Energy Drawbacks with SMES are:
Energy Power Cycle capacity Life
Duration cost
Density Capacity Efficiency
[$/kWh]
cost [year]  Need large amount of power to keep the coil at
(MW) [$/kW] low temperature.
0.2-5 Milliseco 1000 -  The initial setup cost is high.
0.1-10 90-97 200-350 20-30
Wh/L nd-8sec. 10000  Mechanical stability problem.
 4

5. CONCLUSION

This paper provides detailed information about the

Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES). And
focus on its high efficiency, large power storage capability
and quick response. Due to these unique advantages,
SMES has two types of applications: Stabilization in
power transmission systems and improvement in power
quality on distribution level. For instance, SMES can also
be configured with FACTS device. SMES can be further
exploited in different applications in all levels of electrical
power system.

REFERENCES

[1]. Byung-Kwan Kang, Seung-TakKim,Byung-Chul Sung, and

Jung-Wook Park, " A Study on Optimal Sizing of
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VOL. 22, NO. 3, JUNE 2012.
[2]. Mohan V. Aware and Danny Sutanto, " Improved Controller for
Power Conditioner Using High-Temperature Superconducting
Magnetic Energy Storage (HTS-SMES) ", IEEE Trans. On
Applied Superconductivity, VOL. 13, NO. 1, MARCH 2003.
[3]. IEEE Task Force on Benchmark Models for Digital Simulation
of FACTS and Custom-Power Controllers,T&DCommittee, "
Detailed Modeling of Superconducting Magnetic Energy
Storage (SMES) System ", IEEE Trans. On Power Delivery,
VOL. 21, NO. 2, APRIL 2006.
[4]. Y.Kanamaru, Y.Amemiya, " Numerical Analysis of Magnetic
Field in Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage", IEEE
Trans. On Magnetics, VOL. 27, NO. 5, SEYTEMBER 1991.
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Yeshurun, " Superconducting magnetic energy storage device
operating at liquid nitrogen temperatures ", Cryogenics Elsevier,
vol.7 , p. 55-57, 7 November 1998.
[6]. William V. Hassenzahl, " Will superconducting magnetic energy
storage be used on electric utility systems ?", IEEE Trans. on
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[7]. JIN Jian-Xun, CHEN Xiao-Yuan, XIN Ying, SUN Yu-Wei,"
Theoretical Modelling and Simulation of Magnetic Energy
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Conference July 29-31, 2010, Beijing, China.
[8]. S.C. Tripathy and K.P. Juengst," Sampled Data Automatic
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Nishant Kumar received the undergraduate

degree in electrical and electronics
engineering from the Silicon institute of
technology, Bhubaneswar, India in 2011,
And Postgraduate degree with a Gold medal
in Electrical system from National institute
of technology, Durgapur, India in 2013. He
is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree in
power system engineering at the Department of Electrical Engineering,
Indian institute of Technology (IIT) at Delhi, India. His research interests
include algorithm development, power system analysis and modelling,
Digital signal processing, optimization of electrical systems and soft
computing.

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