Performance of the Fast-Ramping High Temperature Superconducting Magnet System for an Active Magnetic Regenerator

Fast magnetic field alternation is indispensable for continuous magnetic refrigeration. An active magnetic regenerative refrigerator (AMRR) utilizes magnetocaloric effect of magnetic materials which occurs during magnetization and demagnetization processes. A conduction cooled high temperature superconducting (HTS) magnet can be one of the prospective candidates as an alternating magnetic field generator. This paper describes the development effort of the cryogen-free HTS magnet for the AMRR. The magnet consists of twelve double pancake GdBCO coils which are insulated with polyimide tape. A two-stage GM cryocooler was employed to cool down the magnet. The critical current of the magnet was measured at the operating temperature before alternating current (AC) operation. In order to remove heat produced by AC loss with small temperature difference, thermal links between the cryocooler and the magnet were carefully designed. This paper presents the test results, AC loss analysis of the HTS magnet in the AMRR system. Maximum central magnetic field of 3 T (150 A) was achieved with the maximum ramping rate of 1 T/s (50 A/s). The AC loss was measured as 11.2 W at the operating conditions and the generated heate was effectively removed by the cryocooler. The AC loss was predicted by the numerical simulation and the simulation results were compared with the experimental results.