FLOW COOLING OF SUPERCONDUCTING MAGNETS FOR SPACECRAFT APPLICATIONS

The development and testing of a flow cooling system for high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets is described. The system includes a turbo-Brayton cryocooler, a magnet thermal interface, and a magnet thermal isolation and support system. The target application is the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR). Turbo-Brayton coolers are well suited to such spacecraft applications, as they are compact, modular, lightweight, and efficient, with long maintenance-free lifetimes. Furthermore, the technology scales well to high-cooling capacities. The feasibility of using turbo-Brayton coolers in this application was proven in a design exercise in which existing cooler designs were scaled to provide cooling for the magnet sets required by 200 kW and 1 MW VASIMR engines. The performance of the concepts for the thermal interface and the thermal isolation and support system were measured in separate laboratory tests with a demonstration system built about a representative HTS magnet. Cooling for these tests was provided by a flow cooling loop comprising a compressor, recuperator and GM cryocooler, with the flow pressure, temperature, and mass flow rate selected to effectively simulate the turbo-Brayton operating condition. During system testing, the magnet was cooled below its design operating temperature of 35 K, and good thermal uniformity ( < 0.4 K) and low thermal loads ( < 0.5 W) were demonstrated.