DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF LN2-COOLED PROTOTYPE SUPERCONDUCTING TRANSMISSION CABLE

Southwire Company has initiated an R&D project to develop superconduct ing underground transmission cable using the newly developed high-temp erature superconductors (HTS). In collaboration with Oak Ridge Nationa l Laboratory (ORNL), two 500 A and one 2000 A prototype cables have be en designed, constructed, and tested(1), The cables were wound with Bi -2223/Ag HTS tapes acquired from Intermagnetics General Corporation (I GC), and tested with both de and ac currents in liquid nitrogen (LN2). Critical currents of 900 A dc or better were achieved for the first t wo cables. The third cable was tested to an ac current over 2200 A(rms ). This paper describes the design rationale, the construction process , and the highlights of the test results.