1861 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 27, NO.
2, MARCH 1991
DESIGN AND TESTING OF A HIGH TEMPERATURE
SUPERCONDUCTING CURRENT LEAD
J. L. Wu, J. T. Dederer,
P. W. Eckels, and S. K. Singh J. P. Singh, M. T. Lanagan, and U. Balachandran
Westinghouse Science & Technology Center
1310 Beulah Road
Pittsburgh, PA 15235
Abstract
The high critical temperature and low thermal
conductivity of the ceramic superconductor Y-Ba-Cu-0 were
utilized to reduce the Joule heating and the heat leak in a vapor-
cooled current lead design of nominally 1-kA capacity. The lead
consists of a lower superconducting part and an upper normal metal
(copper) part. The superconducting part is an assembly of twenty
rectangular bars fabricated from a composite of Y-Ba-Cu-0 and Ag
(15% vol.) This part is designed to operate below the critical
temperature of the ceramic superconductor. The copper part,
consisting of twenty copper wires, extends outside of the cryostat
and interfaces to the room temperature power supply. The lead was
successfully tested in a liquid helium cryostat for currents up to 2
kA. At the optimum operating currents of 1.7 - 1.8 kA, the helium
boil-off measurements show a heat leak reduction of approximately
40% from the conventional designs. Details of the design,
fabrication issues, and the testing are presented.
Introduction
Current leads are required to transmit power between
cryogenic equipment located within a cryostat and a power supply or
load located at higher temperatures, such as room temperature.
Conventional current leads use metals such as copper for their entire
length. These leads introduce heat leak to the cryostat as a result of
heat conduction from the extemal conductors and the resistive
heating in the lead itself. It is generally recognized that the current
lead is an important if not a dominant source of heat leak into the
liquid cryogens such as liquid helium. The heat leak causes the
cryogen to boil off and, for an open cycle system, sets a limit on the
operating time of the cryogenic equipment. For a closed cycle
system, a refrigeration and liquefier system is needed to recondense
the cryogen vapor back to its liquid phase. Due to the temperature
difference and limitations of liquefier efficiency, the refrigeration
power required to recondense the cryogen vapor back to the liquid
state generally is several hundred to several thousand times the heat
leak to the cryogen pool. A substantial reduction in refrigeration
system installation cost as well as the operating cost can therefore be
achieved by the reduction of heat leak to the cryogen pool.
Conventional current lead designs for liquid helium
cryostats use metals such as phosphorus deoxidized copper for the
entire length, covering a temperature range from liquid helium
Manuscript received September 24, 1990.
0018-9464/91/0300-1861$O1.oO 0 1991 IEEE
J. R. Hull, R. B. Poeppel, C. A. Youngdahl,
Argonne National Laboratory
9700 South Case Avenue
Argonne, IL 60439
temperature at 4.2K to room temperature of 300K. Vaporized
helium is generally used to cool the lead. Optimum designs are
defined such that, at the designed operating current, the heat leak to
the cryogen is minimized, i.e., the rate of cryogen boil-off is
minimized. Under these conditions there is a definite relationship
between the current density and the lead length, and the exit helium
vapor is at room temperature. The theoretically predicted optimum
design heat leak was estimated to be I.O~W/ICA.~ Commercial
current leads generally have a heat leak of about 1.16WkA.
As the heat leak is caused by the heat conduction from
the external conductors and by the resistive heating in the lead itself,
the key to reducing the heat leak is therefore to minimize either or
both of these contributions by material selection and by optimum
lead design. The newly discovered ceramic superconductors, such as
YBCO, have critical temperatures higher than liquid N2 temperature
and can thus be used to eliminate the resistive heating in the low
temperature part of the lead. YBCO also has a thermal conductivity
significantly lower than copper at temperatures near the liquid
helium temperature. Both of these properties are ideally suited for
minimizing the heat leak in a current lead. Potential application of
high temperature superconductors in current lead design has been
pointed out by Verga.2 Analytical studies of the HiTc materials in
reducing heat leak in current leads has been performed by Hull,3
Mumford: and Matrone, et al.5 Experiments on HiTc conductor for
current lead applications were conducted by Gubser, et
To demonstrate the potential of high temperature
superconductor in practical electrical power device applications in
general and in current lead design in particular, Westinghouse
Science & Technology Center and Argonne National Lab had
undertaken, through the ANL Superconductivity Pilot Center, a
cooperative R&D program on a high temperature superconducting
current lead with a 1-kA current rating capacity. The design, testing,
and analyses of test results of this lead are reported here. Thermal
analysis of the lead is to be published in the near f ~ t u r e . ~
Description of Design
The High Temperature Superconducting Current Lead
(Figure 1) was originally designed for carrying 1 kA of current. It is
approximately 63.5 cm long and consists of two major sections: a
superconductor section (on the left-hand side of the figure) of 7.62
cm outside diameter and a normal metal section (on the right-hand
side of the figure) of 3.18 cm O.D. The superconductor section was
designed to operate with a temperature of about 4K at its colder end
and 78K at its warmer end. The normal metal section is to operate at
temperatures at 78K and higher.
1862
Figure 2 shows the conductor assembly of the lead with
the enclosing fiberglass tubes removed. The normal metal section
(upper left) consists of 20 copper wires, each 2.54 mni in diameter
and 38.1 cm long, arranged in a close pack pattern and soldered to a
copper tube terminal on the upper end and to a copper current
collection plate at the lower end. G-10 baffle plates were placed at
several locations to maintain proper spacing between adjacent copper
wires and to direct helium vapor flow.

The superconductor section (lower right of Figure 2, and

on Figure 3) consists of an assembly of 20 ceramic superconductor
bars, two copper current collection plates, and two flow baffle plates.
(Because of soldering problems, only 17 of the 20 superconductor
bars are electrically connected in the current lead tested.) The
superconductor bars were soldered on the lower ends to a common
lower copper current collection plate. At the upper end, each
superconductor bar was individually connected to the upper current
collection plate via a flexible copper braid and two copper clips.
,- .
Two copper flow baffle plates served to direct the vapor flow. bigure 3. The Westinghouse/Argonne HTSC
current lead: high temperature superconductor
bars assembly.
The superconductor bars were fabricated by Argonne
National Laboratory, using a pressing operation.* Powders of
YBCO and Ag (15% vol.) were mixed and poured into a die and
compacted by applying a pressure of 70 to 140 MPa. Silver contacts
were then painted on both ends of the bars before the bars were The lead conductors are cooled by helium vapor
sintered. After sintering, the superconductor density reached 80 to throughout. By using fiberglass enclosing tubes and flow baffle
99% of theoretical density. The finished bars have a rectangular plates and by careful sizing of the spacings between the conductors,
cross section of 8.5 mm x 5.4 mm and are approximately 8.8 cm optimum heat transfer between the helium vapor and the conductor
long. is obtained. The expended helium vapor is vented through a flow
passage machined through the center line of the upper lead terminal.
Details of the thermal analysis are given e l ~ e w h e r e . ~

Testing Arrangement

The superconducting current lead was thoroughly

Figure 1 . The Westinghouse/Argonne high
temperature superconducting current lead
instrumented with nine temperature sensors and nine voltage taps.
The sensors permit the measurement of the instantaneous conductor
temperatures at various locations, including three points along one
selected superconductor bar. The taps permit the measurement of
voltage drops across different sections of the conductors, including
the voltage drops across a 4.3-cm long section of superconductor on
three selected bars. Temperature and voltage data were recorded by
a datalogger and a X-Y recorder.

The lead was tested in the circuit depicted in Figure 4. A

commercial copper lead was used to provide a return current path.
Both the superconducting lead and the commercial lead were
installed vertically through the cover plate of a dewar. The lower
ends of these two leads were connected by a cable of Nb-Ti
superconductor soldered to a copper bar stabilizer. Liquid helium
was filled to a level to immerse the lower end of the high
temperature superconducting bars. Radiation shields (not shown)
were placed within the dewar to limit the liquid helium loss. The dc
electric current was supplied by a dc generator and was measured by
a low resistance shunt. A shunt resistor was connected across the
generator terminal to provide protection to the test device.
figure 2 . The conductor assembly o f the lead
with t h e enclosing f i b e r g l a s s tubes removed.
 1863
Test Results Summary

Five test series were conducted, with currents ranging

from 0 to 2000 A. The currents were increased at 100 A per step and
typically were maintained for 10 to 20 minutes, but some tests were
To Atmosphere &
Y1
run as long as one hour. Table 1 summarizes the results of no load
o r Vacuum Pump and the high current tests. In this table:

h I: dc current

$&:
Commercial Copper- h: Liquid He level above the lower ends of superconductor
Lead
Pump bars
Tv: Exhaust He temperature (measured at 24.1 cm downstream
of lead terminal)
llquld H e - .._
- - .. . -. ._. Nb Ti Conductor
To: Lead upper terminal temperature
Ta: Temperature at the upper ends of superconductor bars
C: D.C. Generator H: Heat Exchanger
R: Shunt Resistor (400 pQ I P: Manometer VL: Overall lead voltage drop
S: Low Resistance Shunt F: Flow Meter Voltage drop across superconductor assembly (measured
(49.8 pR ) vHS:
across the two copper current collection plates)
Qf: Helium vapor flow rate associated with the lead, in
Figure 4. Testing arrangement. standard cubic feet per minute (scfm,. 70'F, 14.7 psia)
Qh: Heat leak of the current lead, calculated from Qf by using
The helium boil-off rate of the superconducting lead was 1 W = 0.622 scfm of helium flow
measured by a calibrated rotameter flow meter. The helium vapor Qc: Heat leak of conventional current leads, using 1.16W/kA
was introduced into the flow meter after passing through a copper AQ: Qc - Qh
pipe heat exchanger which brings the vapor temperature to near AQ/Qc: Percentage of heat leak reduction in reference to
room temperature. A manometer is used to ensure that the pressure conventional leads.
of the exhausting helium vapor is in equilibrium with the pressure in
the dewar to within 0.02 Torr. This arrangement provides accurate
measurement of the rate of helium boil-off caused by the heat leak
ass-ociated with the superconducting lead.

Table 1 - Summary of Westinghouse/Argonne Superconducting Current Lead Test Reiiults

-
I J A
-
h, in TVJ
-
To, K TaJ VL, my 'H.S' mv Qf 8 SCFM

0 0.85 225.4 202.3 39.0 0 0 0.31 0.498

0 1.15 197.6 194.1 29.0 0 0 0.31 0.498
500 0.35 249.9 224.4 32.0 8.77 0.100 0.31 0.498 14.1
600 0.75 257.8 228.3 39.0 10.26 0.110 0.27 0.434 37.6
700 1.05 264.6 238.5 32.0 11.87 0.130 0.40 0.643 20.8
800 1.05 269.1 243.7 32.0 13.35 0.140 0.44 0.707 23.8
900 0.75 270.9 249.7 32.0 15.71 0.155 0.44 0.707 32.3
lo00 0.65 271.0 251.7 30.0 16.33 0.188 0.48 0.772 33.4
1100 0.95 270.9 252.1 29.2 17.07 0.160 0.54 0.868 30.7
1200 0.85 270.6 254.0 29.0 18.22 0.170 0.62 0.996 28.4
1300 0.75 268.6 255.3 28.0 19.05 0.190 0.70 1.125 25.4
1400 0.75 266.9 256.8 27.0 19.71 0.225 0.79 1.270 21.8
1500 0.65 267.5 260.1 26.0 21.32 0.240 0.84 1.350 22.4
1600 1.05 282.8 272.2 25.3 23.58 0.393 0.93 1.495 19.5
1700 0.80 295.3 295.7 29.5 37.80 0.420 0.80 1.286 34.8
1800 0.80 296.5 298.6 28.5 40.24 0.475 0.79 1.270 39.2
1900* 0.70 300.3 309.7 31.5 50.46 0.605 0.71 1.141 48.2
2000* 0.65 303.1 321.3 36.5 65.65 0.840 0.70 1.125 51.5

* Stable operation not reached during testing

1864
All tests listed in the table, except the tests at 1900 and
2000 A, essentially reached the steady state condition. Due to
overheating of the normal metal part of the lead, the 1900 and 2000
A tests were terminated before a steady state condition was reached.
It is to be noted that, at these two current levels, the copper wires
were carrying current at a current density of approximately 2000
A/cm2, twice their design value.
Not listed in the table are the results of voltage
measurements across two points on the superconductor bars. These
data were obtained using an X-Y plotter with a 5-pVkm voltage
sensitivity. The data show that, using the l-pV/cm criterion, the
bars were superconducting for all tests under 1900 A.
Discussion of Test Results
Reduction in Heat Leak
measurement at seven descending locations along the lead conductor
and the exhaust helium vapor temperature (T,) for I = 1800 A.
Typical current run times are between 11 to 14 minutes, the
exception being the test at 1000 A which was run for close to 1 hour.
The results clearly show that for current at or below 1800 A, the lead
resistance changed only very slightly with time. This is a good
indication of stable operation for this current range. The temperature
data for 1800 A also show that the temperatures at all locations, with
the exception of T k are essentially stable during the current run.
The slight decrease of T4 during the test run will only produce
favorable effects which will ensure stable operation.
r
ii

The test results clearly show the benefits of using the

ceramic high temperature superconductor. Heat leak reductions,
AQ/Q, of from 14 to 40% were obtained for currents of 500 to 1800
A. They also indicate that the optimum operating current of this lead
is approximately 1700 to 1800 A. At these two current levels, the
temperatures of the exhaust helium vapors (T,) are essentially equal
to the lead upper terminal temperature (To) at approximately 300K.
The reduction of heat leak is 35 to 40% at these two currents.

Current Densitv in High Temuerature Suuerconductors

The maximum temperatures at the superconductor bars,

represented by Ta in Table 1, are well below the critical temperature
in all cases. This permits the superconductor bars to remain in a
superconducting state at an estimated current density of 250 A/cm2
and an estimated maximum magnetic field of 180 gauss. The table
also shows that the Ta values do not change appreciably with
current, an indication that the superconductor part of the lead may be
able to carry still higher currents.

Current Lead Voltage Drop and Resistance

A good indication of the performance of a current lead is

the overall voltage drop across the lead and the lead resistance. Figure 6. Lead resistance vs. time.
Figure 5 shows these two data plotted with respect to currents. The
voltage drops are quite low, equal to or less than 40 mV for currents
up to 1800 A and reach 65 mV for 2000 A. These values are
substantially lower than the 80-mV drop theoretically obtained for an
optimized conventional lead.’ For current below 1800 A, the lead
resistance varies only slightly, between 14 and 23 pQ. At higher
current, a steep rise in lead resistance is evident. This is one of the
results of overheating in the normal metal part of the lead.

Operation Stability

The question of operational stability of the lead can be

best evaluated by examining the transient resistance and temperature
of the lead during a test run. Figure 6 shows the data of
instantaneous lead resistance for several high current test runs and 0 2 4 6 8 1 Q 1 2
Tlme. min.
Figure 7 shows the results of instantaneous temperature
Figure 7. Temperature vs. time f o r I = 1800 A .

Power Balance
For a vapor-cooled current lead, a proper balance
between the total cooling power of the helium vapor and the total
power dissipated in the lead needs to be maintained for stable
operation. Figure 8 shows the results of this evaluation for higher
current tests.
I40
120 i 19WA
I I , through U.S. Department of Energy's Superconductivity Pilot Center
0 20 40 60 80 100
Rate of Enthalpy Change of Helium Vapor. M. W
Figure 8. Power balance.
The total cooling power of the helium vapor, represented
by the change of enthalpy of the helium mass flow (AH), is obtained
by using the data of helium vapor flow rate and the temperatures of
the liquid helium boiling point and at the upper terminal. There arc
two contributors for the total power dissipation in the lead (P): Joule
heating in the lead and the heat conduction from the upper terminal.
The former can be evaluated easily from the current and the lead
voltage drop. The latter is assumed to be proportional to the
temperature gradient in the terminal region (represented by To - TI).
It is to be noted that in the lead power dissipation evaluation, the
heat leak to the liquid helium, typically 1 to 2%of the overall power
dissipation, is neglected.
In Figure 8, a straight line indicating power balance P =
AH and a shaded zone representing a 15% tolerance, i.e., P = (1
0.15)AH,are shown. All tests with current at or below 1800 A lie
within the shaded zone, indicating reasonable balance between the
power dissipated in the lead and the heating of the helium vapors.
At 1900 and 2000 A, the power dissipations on the lead are
substantially higher than the cooling power of the helium vapor,
resulting in overheating of the lead conductor.
Conclusion and Future Prospects
In conclusion, a detailed testing of the
Westinghouse/Argonne High Temperature Superconducting Lead
has been completed and the data carefully analyzed. The results
clearly show that stable lead operations have been achieved for
currents up to 1800 A and that a substantial reduction in heat leak,
14 to 40%,over conventional lead designs has been achieved. This
is a significant demonstration of the benefits in applying high
temperature superconductor technology to power equipment design.
1865
The superconducting current lead is one of the first
attempts to apply the newly discovered high temperature
superconductor to practical, high current power equipment design.
In order to complete the program in a cost-effective and timely
manner, a number of compromises were made in the design and
fabrication of the lead. The final lead was definitely not optimized
for performance. Even under these conditions, significant
performance improvements over conventional designs have been
achieved.
J Based on this successful demonstration and the expected
continued improvements in high temperature superconductor
manufacture techniques and current lead design, high temperature
superconducting current leads of even higher current capabilities and
better performance can and should be developed.
Acknowledgment
The authors are grateful to the Westinghouse Electric
Corporation and Argonne National Laboratory for permission to
publish this paper. This work is performed under cooperative R&D
Agreement between the Westinghouse Science & Technology Center
and the Argonne National Laboratory, Contract No. 85232, arranged
at ANL, under Contract W-31-109-ENG-38.,
References
1. M. N. Wilson, Superconducting Magnets, p. 260,
Clarendon Press, 1983.
2. R. L. Verga, "Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage
and Other Large-scale SDI Cryogenic Application Programs," Proc.
24th IECEC, Washington, D.C., Aug., 1989.
3. J. R. Hull, "High Temperature Superconducting Current
Leads for Cryogenic Apparatus," Cryogenics, Vol. 29,1116-1 123,
Dec. 1989.
4. F. J. Mumford, "Superconducting Current-Leads Made
from High Tc Superconductors and Normal Metal Conductor,"
Cryogenics, Vol. 29,206-207, March, 1989.
5. A. Matrone, G. Rosatelli and R. Vaccarone, " C m n t
Leads with High Tc Superconductor Bus Bars," IEEE Trans. Mag.,
Vol. 25, NO. 2, 1742-1745,March, 1989.
6. D. U. Gubser, M. M. Miller, N. McN. Alford and T. W.
Button, "High Capacity Superconducting Current Leads of
Y 1Ba2C~307-~," Jour. of Superconductivity, Vol. 3, No. 2,
221-226, 1990.
7. J. T. Dederer and P. W. Eckels, "Thermal Analysis of a
Vapor-Cooled Lead Using High Temperature Superconductors," to
be published.
8. M. T. Lanagan, S. E. Doms, J. P. Singh, K. C. Goretta,
U. Balachandran, C. A. Youngdahl, J. T. Dusek, J. J. Picciolo and R.
B. Poeppel, "Fabrication and Potential Applications of
Polycrystalline High-Temperature Superconductors," submitted to
Journal of Metals, Vol. 42, 16-18, 1990.
9. M. N. Wilson, Superconducting Magnets, p. 266,
Clarendon Press. 1983.