Right‐Angle Bends in Thin Strip Conductors

Current density and resistance expressions are obtained by means of a conformal transformation for a strip conductor which contains a right‐angle bend. The approach, similar to that applied by Cockcroft to the problem of rectangular coaxial capacitors, is sufficiently general to take into account the effects arising both from a width change at the bend and from a small radius on the inside corner. It is suggested that the current density expressions can be applied in some cases to superconducting thin film strips, and the effect of a right‐angle bend on the supercurrent‐carrying capacity of such a strip is discussed. A typical result is that the critical current of a bent superconducting strip may be only 1/6 that of a similar but straight strip if the radius of the inside corner of the bend is 1% of the strip width. A specially shaped right‐angle bend is then described, the critical current for which is identical to the corresponding straight strip. Current density nonuniformity somewhat away from the co...