A pulsed magnetic field test facility for conductors and joints

A pulsed magnetic field test facility is under construction at Massachusetts Institute of Technology for testing large scale cable-in-conduit superconductor and joint samples. Separate, demountable split-pair solenoid and saddle coils provide a combination of fields which can be either transverse or parallel to the sample axis. The solenoid and saddle magnets together can provide transverse peak fields as high as 8.4 T. Peak parallel fields of 6.6 T can be generated with the solenoid alone. Ramp-up rates of 1.5 T/s and ramp-down rates of 20 T/s are possible. Sample currents up to 50 kA are provided by a superconducting current transformer. The sample is connected to the transformer secondary through a pair of low resistance joints. Supercritical helium is provided to the sample at flow rates up to 20 g/s, pressures up to 1 MPa, and temperatures from 4.7 to 10 K. Programmable logic controllers provide coordination of the magnetic field, sample current, and helium flow rate and temperature in the sample. Sample and facility instrumentation signals are processed and data is stored on a workstation-based data acquisition system with comprehensive data reduction capability. Facility details and status are described.