Pulsed activation of trapped field magnets

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9847159-B2
Application number	US-201314432705-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 7, 2013
Priority date	Oct 8, 2012
Publication date	Dec 19, 2017
Grant date	Dec 19, 2017

Abstract

A system for activating trapped field magnets in a superconducting material is disclosed. The system includes a superconducting material element and an electromagnet source disposed proximate the superconducting material element. The electromagnet source is configured to produce a magnetic field pulse sufficient to activate the superconducting material element. Furthermore, substantially all of a magnetic field generated by the magnetic field pulse is contained within an area that has smaller physical lateral dimensions than the superconducting material element.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for activating trapped field magnets in a superconducting material, the system comprising:
a pair of wire-wound split field electromagnets each with an iron or other ferro-magnetic core; and
a superconducting material element disposed between the pair of electromagnets, the pair of electromagnets and the superconducting material element being aligned in an axial direction and the superconducting material element extending radially beyond the electromagnets,
wherein the electromagnets are configured to produce a magnetic field pulse including a single magnetic field pulse that is sufficient to fully activate the superconducting material element.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the superconducting material is a high temperature superconducting material.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the high temperature superconducting material is yttrium barium copper oxide.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the superconducting material element is disk shaped.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein a lateral dimension of the superconducting material element is greater than a lateral dimension of each of the electromagnets.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the single magnetic field pulse has a duration ranging from about 10 milliseconds to about 30 milliseconds.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the superconducting material element is maintained within a temperature range sufficient to maintain activation of the superconducting material element.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the superconducting material and the pair of electromagnets are disposed within a cryostat.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the cryostat is a closed system operated at below atmospheric pressure.

10. The system of claim 7 , wherein the superconducting material element is maintained within the temperature range by an evaporated cold gas of a low temperature liquid.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the pair of electromagnets are positioned such that a central portion of each electromagnet is axially aligned with a central portion of the superconducting material element.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the single magnetic field pulse has a duration of at least about 10 milliseconds or greater.

13. A method for activating a trapped magnetic field in a superconducting material, the method comprising:
generating a single magnetic field pulse using a pair of wire-wound split field electromagnets, each having an iron or other ferro-magnetic core, wherein a superconducting material element is disposed between the electromagnets and is aligned in an axial direction with the electromagnets, the superconducting material element extending radially beyond the electromagnets; and
activating the superconducting material element to a fully activated trapped field magnet using the single magnetic field pulse.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein generating the single magnetic field pulse comprises generating the magnetic field pulse for a duration ranging from about 10 milliseconds to about 30 milliseconds.

15. The method of claim 13 , further comprising cooling the superconducting material element to a temperature sufficient to maintain activation of the superconducting material element.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the pair of electromagnets are positioned such that a central portion of each electromagnet is axially aligned with a central portion of the superconducting material element.

17. The method of claim 13 , wherein generating the single magnetic field pulse comprises generating the magnetic field pulse for a duration of about 10 milliseconds or greater.

18. A method for activating a trapped magnetic field in a superconducting material element, the method comprising:
generating a plurality of magnetic field pulses using a pair of wire-wound split field electromagnets, each having an iron or other ferro-magnetic core, wherein a superconducting material element is disposed between the electromagnets and is aligned in an axial direction with the electromagnets, the superconducting material element extending radially beyond the electromagnets; and
activating the superconducting material element to a trapped field magnet using the plurality of magnetic field pulses,
wherein a number of the plurality of magnetic field pulses generated is chosen based on

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Assignees

• Nat Oilwell Varco Lp

Inventors

• Parks Drew Paul
• Weinstein Roy

Classifications

• H01F6/00

  Superconducting magnets; Superconducting coils {(magnetic resonance assemblies using superconducting coil systems G01R33/3815)} · CPC title

• H01F41/00

  Apparatus or processes specially adapted for manufacturing or assembling magnets, inductances or transformers; Apparatus or processes specially adapted for manufacturing materials characterised by their magnetic properties · CPC title

• H01F6/008 Primary

  Electric circuit arrangements for energising superconductive electromagnets · CPC title

• H01L39/126

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L39/2419

  Electricity · mapped topic