Temperature and pressure drop model for gaseous helium cooled superconducting DC cables

Abstract

The need to transfer large amounts of power in applications where cabling weight and space are a major issue has increased the interest in superconducting cables. Gaseous helium and neon are being considered as possible coolants due to their suitability for the expected operating temperature ranges. Gaseous helium is preferred due to its higher thermal conductivity and relatively lower cost than neon. This paper enhances a previously presented mathematical model of a superconducting cable contained in a flexible cryostat by including flow pressure drops. In this way, the model is capable of properly sizing and minimizing fan power, and allows the prediction of system response to localized heating events (e.g., quenching). A volume element model approach was used to develop a physics model, based on fundamental correlations, and principles of classical thermodynamics, mass and heat transfer, which resulted in a system of ordinary differential equations with time as the independent variable. The spatial dependence of the model is accounted for through the three-dimensional distribution of the volume elements in the computational domain. The model numerically obtains the temperature distribution under different environmental conditions. Pressure drop calculations are based on realistic correlations that account for the wavy nature of the coolant channels. Converged solutions were obtained within the imposed numerical accuracy even with coarse meshes.