Pareto optimal design of sectored toroidal superconducting magnet for SMES

Abstract A novel multi-objective optimization design approach for sectored toroidal superconducting magnetic energy storage coil has been developed considering the practical engineering constraints. The objectives include the minimization of necessary superconductor length and torus overall size or volume, which determines a significant part of cost towards realization of SMES. The best trade-off between the necessary conductor length for winding and magnet overall size is achieved in the Pareto-optimal solutions, the compact magnet size leads to increase in required superconducting cable length or vice versa The final choice among Pareto optimal configurations can be done in relation to other issues such as AC loss during transient operation, stray magnetic field at outside the coil assembly, and available discharge period, which is not considered in the optimization process. The proposed design approach is adapted for a 4.5 MJ/1 MW SMES system using low temperature niobium–titanium based Rutherford type cable. Furthermore, the validity of the representative Pareto solutions is confirmed by finite-element analysis (FEA) with a reasonably acceptable accuracy.