HTS for Accelerators - Connections to Industry and Applications

The most apparent general difference between applications of superconducting devices in accelerators and industry is in the amount of heat which has to be removed at operating temperatures for a single device (pure DC magnets like NMR spectrometers and MRI scanners are exceptions to that). So, whereas accelerator devices mostly rely on cooling technologies based on liquid Helium, devices in energy technology aim to remove the heat at more elevated temperatures by specific cooling concepts. This results in very different needs and measures to design for stable operation. Nevertheless, the challenge of high currents and high magnetic fields (high mechanical stresses) are topics addressed by both fields. E.g. cabling concepts like Roebel-conductors have been designed, developed and used by experts in accelerators and in energy technology – with slightly different conductor architectures.
What would really speed-up the progress in both fields is a more intense exchange and alignment of experts to build on lessons learned and to create a higher impact and momentum to develop material and dedicated solutions in collaboration with the suppliers of HTS.
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Nevertheless, HTS conductors (in contrast to the known limits of NbTi and Nb3Sn) have not reached their maximum performance level yet and are still improved steadily. In the near future, with these new performance levels and optimizations, even more sophisticated devices using new concepts (e.g. avoiding the need for iron to guide flux or HTS very well suitable for transient or ac operation) might be developed.