Model for electromagnetic field analysis of superconducting power transmission cable comprising spiraled coated conductors

Since the superconductor layers of YBCO-coated conductors are very thin, the ac loss of coated conductors is dominated by the magnetic flux density normal to the conductor face. In cables, most of the normal magnetic flux component is generated near gaps between coated conductors. Although the effects of gaps are significant, there are few reports on the electromagnetic field analysis of cables with spiral structures carried out while taking the gap effect into consideration. In a finitely long cable with a spiral structure, the electromagnetic field is naturally periodic along the cable axis. In a two-layer cable, the simplest period along the cable axis is the least common multiple of the spiral pitches in the inner and outer layers. However, we verified that there is a shorter period, and the same electromagnetic field distribution appears in all conductors of the same layer. Using these periodicities, we developed a three-dimensional model for the analysis of two-layer cables with a spiral structure. Current distributions of cables were analyzed using this model, and ac losses were calculated. In addition, these results were compared with ac losses calculated by two-dimensional analysis performed on the cross section of a cable. It was verified that the ac loss in a cable is correctly calculated by the 2D model when the spiral pitch is long enough. However, in the case of a tightly twisted cable, the ac losses calculated by the 2D model include some errors caused by an approximation in which the spiral structure is ignored.