AN ANALYSIS OF FORCE REDUCED TOROIDAL MAGNETS

Superconductors alleviate the problem of Joule losses in electromagnet ic devices, but an upper limit on large-scale electromagnets remains t he difficulty in supporting the Lorentz forces within such a magnet. T he problem is magnified if the materials are brittle, such as a cerami c superconductor. Recently, we discussed a possible solution to this p roblem: electromagnets with a force-reduced winding. Producing such a phenomenon may greatly reduce the size and support needed. Force-free finite geometries are not possible due to the limits of the Virial the orem, but present-day magnet support masses are up to an order of magn itude greater than the Virial limit. Here we present results from fini te element calculations indicating that this design offers substantial improvement over conventional approaches.