DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF THE 4-TESLA BACKGROUND COIL FOR THE NAVY-SMES-CABLE TEST APPARATUS

The design and construction of a background coil being built by Westin ghouse STC for the Navy SMES cable test apparatus are presented, One o bjective of the Navy SMES development program is to develop and test i mproved superconductors for SMES use, The background coil generates a 4 Tesla field on a 1.85 meter diameter SMES conductor sample, The coil stores 49.4 MJ, and has an inner diameter of 2.13 meters. The backgro und coil and SMES conductor sample are housed in separate, concentric cryostats so that the SMES conductor samples can be changed without wa rming the background coil. The background coil is a pancake style wind ing, utilizing Rutherford cable conductor cowound with a stainless ste el strap and mylar insulation.