Temperature distribution of cryogenic conduction cooling system for a HTS SMES

HTS Superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) systems need cryogenic cooling systems. Conduction cooling system has more effective, compact structure than cryogen. In general, two stage GM cryocoolers are used for conduction cooling of HTS SMES system. First stages of cryocoolers are used for the cooling of current leads and radiation shields, and second stages of cryocoolers for HTS coil. The cryocooler has a limited cooling capacity. So radiation shields are used to minimize the heat leak to the HTS coil. For the effective conduction cooling of the HTS SMES system, the temperature difference between the cryocooler and HTS coil should be minimized. In this paper, a cryogenic conduction cooling system for HTS SMES is analyzed to evaluate the performance of the conduction cooling system. The heat transfer analysis is carried out in steady state with the heat generation of the HTS coil and effects of the thermal contact resistance. The results show the effects of the heat generation and thermal contact resistance on the temperature distribution.