PERFORMANCE TESTING OF A CRYOGENIC REFRIGERATION SYSTEM FOR HTS CABLES

A novel Cryogenic Refrigeration System (CRS) has been developed to provide the refrigeration for an in-grid 350 m HTS cable demonstration in Albany NY. Refrigeration is provided by a closed cycle refrigerator (cryocooler) with a nominal cooling capacity of 6 kW at 70 K. The CRS is designed to meet both the stringent operating and reliability criteria necessary for the utility industry, while demonstrating the commercial requirements of a cost effective and compact design. Integral to the operation of the CRS is the continuous monitoring and control provided by BOC’s remote operations infrastructure. The skid mounted CRS has been installed at host utility Niagara Mohawk’s site in Albany. Field trials of the CRS and its remote operation were conducted prior to the HTS cable installation using a simulated heat load. A wide variety of operating conditions and modes of operation were tested, including back up and accelerated recovery from fault current conditions. This paper describes the integrated system design and field testing results.