Repository logo

Infoscience

  • English
  • French
Log In
Logo EPFL, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne

Infoscience

  • English
  • French
Log In
  1. Home
  2. Academic and Research Output
  3. Journal articles
  4. Performance of the First 80-kA HTS CICC for High-Field Application in Future Fusion Reactors
 
research article

Performance of the First 80-kA HTS CICC for High-Field Application in Future Fusion Reactors

Jin, Huan
•
Xiao, Guanyu
•
Zhou, Chao
Show more
2025
Engineering

A promising way to realize controlled nuclear fusion involves the use of magnetic fields to control and confine the hot plasma configuration. This approach requires superconductor magnets operating above 15 T for the next generation of fusion devices. Due to their high in-field transport current capacity, rare-Earth barium copper oxide (REBCO) coated conductors are promising materials for manufacturing of cable-in-conduit conductors (CICCs) for fusion. However, the high-aspect-ratio geometry makes it difficult to find a multi-tape CICC configuration that fulfills the high engineering current density requirements while retaining enough flexibility for winding large-scale magnets. Moreover, the multilayer structure and inherent brittleness make the REBCO tapes susceptible to degradation during CICC manufacturing and operation. For more than a decade, the development of a reliable REBCO-based CICC that can sustain the huge combined mechanical, thermal, and Lorentz loads without degradation has been ongoing, albeit with limited progress. In this paper, we report on a prototype REBCO CICC that can withstand an applied cyclic Lorentz load of at least 830 kN·m−1, corresponding to a transport current of 80 kA at 10.85 T and 4.5 K. To our knowledge, this is the highest load achieved to date. The CICC uses 288 tapes wound into six strengthened sub-cables, making it capable of having a current sharing temperature, Tcs, of around 39 and 20 K when operated under 10.85 T with a current of 40 and 80 kA, respectively. Scaled to a 20-T peak field and 46.5-kA transport current, this provides a temperature margin of over 10 K with respect to an operating temperature of 4.5 K. In addition, no perceptible transport current performance degradation was observed after cyclic Lorentz loading, cyclic warm-up/cool-down (WUCD), and quench campaigns. The proposed REBCO CICC is a milestone in the development of high-temperature superconductors for large-scale and high-field magnet applications.

  • Files
  • Details
  • Metrics
Type
research article
DOI
10.1016/j.eng.2025.05.015
Author(s)
Jin, Huan

Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Xiao, Guanyu

Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Zhou, Chao

Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Zhao, Chuanyi

Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Shi, Shijie

Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Liu, Haihong

Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Liu, Fang

Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Liu, Huajun

Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Wu, Yu

Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Wu, Zuojiafeng

Ltd.

Show more
Date Issued

2025

Publisher

Elsevier BV

Published in
Engineering
Subjects

Electromagnetic and thermal load

•

Fusion magnet

•

High-temperature superconductor

•

Operational stability

•

REBCO CICC

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
SPC-SG  
FunderFunding(s)Grant NumberGrant URL

European–China

Institute of Energy

National Key Research and Development Program of China

2022YFE03150200

Show more
Available on Infoscience
June 26, 2025
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/251574
Logo EPFL, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne
  • Contact
  • infoscience@epfl.ch

  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Instagram
  • Follow us on LinkedIn
  • Follow us on X
  • Follow us on Youtube
AccessibilityLegal noticePrivacy policyCookie settingsEnd User AgreementGet helpFeedback

Infoscience is a service managed and provided by the Library and IT Services of EPFL. © EPFL, tous droits réservés