Voltage spike observation in superconducting cable-in-conduit conductor under ramped magnetic fields: 1. Experiment

A 27-strand hybrid superconducting cable-in-conduit conductor (CICC) was fabricated and tested under quickly-ramped high magnetic fields. When the field increased linearly on the CICC, the voltage signal showed several intermittent spikes before it quenched. This paper describes an observation of peculiar voltage spikes during these ramp-rate limitation experiments. The voltage spikes are interpreted as quench precursors and understood as current redistribution events within the local cable inside the conduit. A quantitative correlation is obtained for the magnetic field at which the first voltage spike occurs during ramping fields. The non-uniform current distribution among the strands and the induced loop current in the cable, which is generated by ramped fields, are found to be responsible for the voltage spikes.