Operational experience in the use of 18 kA HTS current leads

In spring 2013, the Edipo facility of CRPP was commissioned. The dipole is powered via two 18 kA HTS current leads, designed and manufactured at CRPP. As part of the Edipo commissioning framework, the operational parameters of the leads were implemented in the control system. The in-situ tests were found to be in good agreement with the tests performed without a background field in 2011. The leads consist of a conduction cooled HTS module, made of AgMgAu/Bi-2223 stacks, and a wire bundle heat exchanger. The heat exchanger is cooled by forced flow helium gas, the inlet temperature of which was measured to vary between 65 K and 85 K. During operation with field, the mass flow rate is a function of current (2.05 g/s per lead at full field, 12.35 T, 17.2 kA). Reduced cooling investigations showed that 0.31 g/s per lead is suitable for overnight standby and 0.2 g/s per lead for longer periods. For detection of and protection against quench in the HTS module, a threshold of 10 mV was found to be appropriate. The heat exchanger has a voltage protection threshold of 120 mV. The temperatures of the heat exchanger, the HTS, and the helium inlet temperature were monitored in order to provide a further layer of protection.