Large Scale Applications of HTS in New Zealand

Abstract

New Zealand has one of the longest-running and most consistently funded (relative to GDP) programmes in high temperature superconductor (HTS) development and application worldwide. As a consequence, it has a sustained breadth of involvement in HTS technology development stretching from the materials discovery right through to burgeoning commercial exploitation. This review paper outlines the present large scale projects of the research team at the newly-established Robinson Research Institute of Victoria University of Wellington. These include the construction and grid-based testing of a three-phase 1 MVA 2G HTS distribution transformer utilizing Roebel cable for its high-current secondary windings and the development of a cryogen-free conduction-cooled 1.5 T YBCO-based human extremity magnetic resonance imaging system. Ongoing activities supporting applications development such as low-temperature full-current characterization of commercial superconducting wires and the implementation of inductive flux-pump technologies for efficient brushless coil excitation in superconducting magnets and rotating machines are also described.