Stability considerations for design of a high temperature superconductor

Abstract Predictions based on the well known cryogenic stability criterion for the permissible ratio J / J c of transport to critical current density of high T c superconductors are compared with a transient analysis. The results demonstrate that calculation of the transient ‘temperature history’ of the superconductor after a thermal disturbance, as well as knowledge of the magnitude of this disturbance, is necessary when designing a conductor for a particular application. While in other published work on stability analysis, constant heat transfer coefficients were applied, an analysis like the one presented here allows one to calculate more accurately heat transfer by using the transient temperature difference between superconductor and coolant.