Low AC loss high transport current HTS cables (>1 kA) are required for application in transformers, generators and are considered for future generations of fusion reactors coils. 2G coated conductors are suitable candidates for high field application at quite high operation temperatures of 50-77 K, which is crucial precondition for economical cooling costs. As a feasibility study we present the first ROEBEL bar cable of approx. 35 cm length made from industrial DyBCO coated conductor (THEVA GmbH, Germany). Meander shaped ROEBEL strands of 4 mm width with a twist pitch of 180 mm were cut from 10 mm wide CC tapes using a specially designed tool. The strands carried in average 157 Amps/cm-width DC and were assembled to a subcable with 5 strands and a final cable with 16 strands. The 5 strand cable was tested and carried a transport current of > 300 Amps DC at 77 K, equivalent to the sum of the individual strand transport critical currents. The 16 strand cable carried 500 A limited through heating effects and non sufficient stabilisation and current sharing. A pulse current load indicated a current carrying potential of > 1 kA for the 16 strand cable. EUCAS2005, 11th.-15th.Sept.2005, Vienna Austria, to be published in SUST, special issue

RBCO ( = Y or Rare Earth element) coated conductors (CC) are the most promising HTS materials for future high field coils operated at moderately high temperature (40-50 K). Coils are planned for the second generation of fusion reactors (DEMO, "DEMOnstrator") and beyond. A ROEBEL bar concept for a high current (kA-class) low AC loss cable is the most suitable assembling technique for conductors in magnet windings due to the flat rectangular cross section. The presented RACC-cable technique (RACC=ROEBEL Assembled Coated Conductors) works with pre-shaping of tapes into strands with the ROEBEL specific meander geometry. The usually very good bending properties of the CC support the assembling procedure of the RACC-cable. We report on a 16 strand RACC-cable with 19 cm transposition length made from CC material from the commercial supplier SuperPower which reached 1020 A transport critical current at 77 K ( eng = 11 3 kAcm 2 ). The basic properties of the virgin YBCO tapes and the shaped strands like orientation and field dependent transport currents, current homogeneity and bending effects, were investigated and correlated with the measured properties of the RACC-cable. Calculation of the self field effects by means of a model adapted to the specific RACC-cable geometry and in particular taking into account the current distribution in the cable, explained the 30% current reduction in the cable quantitatively.Index Terms-HTS coated conductors, ROEBEL bar, self field effects.

High temperature superconductors (HTSs), like for instance REBCO (RE=rare earth) coated conductors, are of high potential for building large superconducting magnets. Some magnets, such as accelerator magnets, require the use of superconducting cables to allow fast ramping, and low magnetization loss to mitigate field quality issues. One of the methods to lower ac loss is to divide the superconducting layer in the tape into filaments. In this paper, conductors with copper stabilization for practical applications are laser scribed into narrow filaments. Striated tapes are then wound into conductor on round core (CORC ® ) cables. The critical current and magnetization ac loss of single tapes were measured. We found that the stabilizing copper layer causes difficulties for laser scribing. The degradation of the critical current is more pronounced than in the case of non-stabilized tapes. The selection of the number of filaments is therefore a compromise between critical current degradation and reduction of ac loss. Based on the results obtained from single tape experiments, the optimum number of filaments in 4 mm wide tapes was chosen, and CORC ® cables with 2, 3 and 4 layers of tapes with and without filaments were manufactured. Magnetization ac loss measurements at 77 K showed a reduction of ac loss in the cables with filaments. This reduction corresponds almost to the number of filaments. Measurement at different frequencies also showed that the coupling loss in CORC ® cables with a short twist-pitch is relatively small in comparison to hysteretic loss.

Coated conductor applications such as fusion magnets, particle accelerator magnets and generator windings require high current-carrying capabilities. This requirement can be fulfilled by various cable concepts using commercial long length REBCO coated conductors with high current-carrying performance. In the past few years, our group has successfully developed the Roebel cable concept for coated conductors. The design advantages of such a cable are high current-carrying capability and low alternating current (AC) losses. Unfortunately, for large-scale applications, the possibilities of a simple scale-up of the Roebel geometry are limited and additional design ideas are needed. One way to reach the required high currents is the Rutherford cable concept. In this concept a conductor is wound with transposition on a flat metal former. In order to design the former, the bending properties of the Roebel assembled coated conductor cables (RACC) must be measured and characterized. This allows the identification of a destruction-free interval for the Roebel cable, in terms of bending angle and transposition length. In this work we designed and assembled a demonstrator of a coated conductor Rutherford cable (CCRC) with three RACC cables. We measured the critical current and the AC losses of the cable demonstrator. Our results show that, despite still needing efforts in terms of reproducibility of the assembly process and of AC loss reduction, this design is a promising and viable solution for high current-capacity cables made of coated conductors.

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