Design and fabrication of an HTS magnet for the VASIMR experiment

An International Team consisting of DuPont Superconductivity, Oak Ridge National Lab, the Advanced Space Propulsion Laboratory, and Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. has designed and fabricated a conduction-cooled High Temperature Superconducting (HTS) coil for use in the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR). The HTS coil will be installed and tested in the ongoing VASIMR experiment at the Advanced Space Propulsion Laboratory at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX. The HTS coil is 0.04 m in length, with a 0.23 m inner diameter, and has a mass less than 5.0 kg. The central operating magnetic field is a nominal 0.28 T with a design operating current of /spl sim/105 A. The HTS coil is conduction cooled with a nominal operating temperature of 40 K. The HTS conductor uses a Bi-2223 material with a stainless steel backing strip for reinforcement. Details and test results of the mechanical, thermal, and electromagnetic analyses are discussed.