IMR-MIP Series Connected Hybrid

Florida State University, Tallahassee FL

Investigators

Abstract

This award from the Instrumentation for Materials Research-Major Instrumentation Projects program provides support to the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (NHMFL) to undertake the conceptual and engineering design of a revolutionary magnet system called the Series-Connected Hybrid. The term Hybrid derives from using both resistive and superconducting technologies in the same magnet system, while Series-Connected refers to the fact that individual coils in the system will be powered electrically in series, a feature that both mitigates important magnet-design issues as well as offers significant performance advantages to scientists using the facility. This concept will allow substantially improved field quality relative to other powered systems while simultaneously allowing important reductions of both operating and total lifetime costs. Since the system will be designed to operate on a single unit of the NHMFL power system (typically two to four are used on other magnets), it will permit simultaneous service to multiple users as well as reduce the specific electricity demand. These attributes make the proposed system particularly attractive to areas of scientific research where experiments require exposure for long periods of time to very high-quality magnetic fields. This award from the Instrumentation for Materials Research - Major Instrumentation Project program supports the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (NHMFL) to undertake the conceptual and engineering design of a revolutionary magnet system called the Series-Connected Hybrid. The term Hybrid relates that both superconducting technology (in the form of Nb3Sn-based cable-in-conduit conductor) and resistive technology (in the form of the "Florida Poly-Bitter" technology pioneered at the NHMFL) will be used in the same magnet system, while Series-Connected refers to the fact that individual coils in the system will be powered electrically in series, a feature that both mitigates important engineering issues related to normal, off-normal, and faulted operations as well as offers significant performance advantages related to magnetic field stability, field quality, and cost of operation. The 35Tesla design field of the Series-Connected Hybrid will exceed presently available all-superconducting fields by 63% and fields in existing all-resistive magnets with similar bore and uniformity by 40%. Compared to standard all-resistive or hybrid magnets, the Series-Connected Hybrid will offer nearly three orders of magnitude improvement in field uniformity. As a result, the Series-Connected Hybrid will enable experiments in condensed-matter physics, materials chemistry, spin physics, EMR, and solution-NMR spectroscopy to be conducted in a previously unexplored parameter space of field and uniformity. Since the system will be designed to operate on a single 10MW unit of the NHMFL power system (typically two to four are used on other magnets), it will permit simultaneous service to multiple users as well as reduce the specific electricity demand. The project will open doors to a new generation of high-field magnets that consume less power, cost less over their operating lifetime, and facilitate substantially more magnet time for users.