Commissioning of 14 T/ 16 T Rutherford cable test facility with bifilar sample and superconducting transformer

A superconducting current transformer of up to 40 kA of nominal DC current was commissioned using Nb3Sn Rutherford cable samples. The existing infrastructure of the Superconducting Strand and Cable R&D lab at Fermilab, including a 14T/16T solenoid of 77 mm bore, a 2000 A power supply for the primary coil, and a fast data acquisition system, was used for housing and operating the device. Test results showed that the transformer was mechanically limited to currents of 13 kA. The cable test facility was commissioned again and reached 25 kA after completing design upgrades to the sample holder and to the mechanical structure. Test results are analyzed and presented for a number of cables, as well as calculations of the self-field distribution.