Biblio

The focus of this work is the transient modelling of the DC-arc voltage on a Hybrid Switch (a mechanical switch in parallel with a static switch) of a key protection component called Fast Discharge Unit (FDU) in the Divertor Tokamak Test (DTT). The DTT facility is an experimental tokamak in advanced design and realization phase, which will be built in the ENEA Research Centre in Frascati (Italy). The FDU allows the safe discharge of the Toroidal Field (TF) superconducting magnets when a quench is detected or a failure occurs in the power supply or in the cryogenic system. In this work, the arc conductance of the mechanical By-Pass Switch (BPS) of the Hybrid Switch is modelled using the well-known Mayr-Cassie equations and the Paukert arc parameters. The simulations show a good agreement with the expected results in terms of voltage and current transient from the mechanical switch to the static switch.

This work examines volatile memory modules as ephemeral key storage for security applications in the context of low temperatures. In particular, we note that such memories exhibit a rising level of data remanence as the temperature decreases, especially for temperatures below 280 Kelvin. Therefore, these memories cannot be used to protect the superconducting modules found in high-speed Magnetic Levitation (MagLev) trains, as such modules most often require extremely low temperatures in order to provide superconducting applications. Thus, a novel secure storage solution is required in this case, especially within the oncoming framework concept of the internet of railway things, which is partially based on the increasing utilisation of commercial off-the-shelf components and potential economies of scale, in order to achieve cost efficiency and, thus, widespread adoption. Nevertheless, we do note that volatile memory modules can be utilised as intrinsic temperature sensors, especially at low temperatures, as the data remanence they exhibit at low temperatures is highly dependent on the ambient temperature, and can, therefore, be used to distinguish between different temperature levels.

In Magnetic Josephson Junctions (MJJs) based on Superconductor-Insulator-Superconductor-Ferromagnet-Superconductor (SIS’FS), we provide evidence of an unconventional magnetic field behavior of the critical current characterized by an inverted magnetic hysteresis, i.e., an inverted shift of the whole magnetic field pattern when sweeping the external field. By thermoremanence measurements of S/F/S trilayers, we have ruled out that this uncommon behavior could be related to the F-stray fields. In principle, this finding could have a crucial role in the design and proper functioning of scalable cryogenic memories.

The paper deals with the modelling and simulation of a Fast Discharge Unit (FDU) for quench protection of the Toroidal Field (TF) magnets of the Divertor Tokamak Test, an experimental facility under design and construction in Frascati (Italy). The FDU is a safety key component that protects the superconducting magnets when a quench is detected through the fast extraction of the energy stored in superconducting magnets by adding in the TF magnets a dump (or discharge) resistor. In the paper, two different configurations of dump resistors (fixed and variable respectively) have been analysed and discussed. As a first result, it is possible to underline that the configuration with variable dump resistor is more efficient than the one with a fixed dump resistor.

The precise measurement of temperature is very important to the security and stability of the operation for a superconducting magnet. A slight fluctuation in the operating temperature may cause a superconducting magnet unstable. This paper presents a low-temperature measurement system based on C8051 Micro Controller Unit and Platinum resistance thermometer. In the process of data acquisition, a modified weighted average algorithm is applied to the digital filter program of the micro controller unit. The noise can be effectively reduced and can measure temperature of three different location points simultaneously, and there is no the interference among the three channels. The designed system could measure the temperature from 400 K to 4.0 K with a resolution of 1 mK. This system will be applied in a conduction cooling Nb3Al superconducting magnet. In order to certify the feasibility of the system, tests are performed in a small NbTi non-insulation superconducting magnet model. The results show that the measurement system is reliable and the measured temperature is accurate.