Supercritical Helium Refrigerator to Cool Flexible AC Superconducting Power Transmission Cables

摘要

One of the major efforts in applied research at Brookhaven National Laboratory is the development of a superconducting ac power transmission system. Approximately three years ago, construction began on an outdoor testing station for flexible ac superconducting power transmission cables. It is intended to serve as an intermediate step between laboratory-scale experiments and qualification testing of prototype scale cables. The supercritical refrigeration portion of the Test Facility was the first major system to be placed in operation. Following a few days of preliminary check-outs, the supercritical refrigerator system was tested for the first time in May, 1977. After several hours of operation, the refrigerator achieved the design goal of 500 watts operating between 6 K and 8 K at 15 atmospheres. The refrigeration equipment was designed to be similar to that envisaged for a full scale system. This has the objective of providing highly reliable service and simple maintenance. To accomplish these objectives new types of major components are employed. A comparison is given of many of the design requirements of the major components with actual test data acquired during the past year of test and development operations. (ERA citation 03:047395)