A fully superconducting magnetic bearing with a jointless coil excited by a superconducting dynamo

Abstract Superconducting magnetic bearings usually combine a setup of permanent magnets (PMs) and superconducting bulks. The bearing size is typically scaled up to increase the levitation force as the force density is limited in such setups due to the magnetic flux density and its spatial gradient. As alternative, the PMs might be replaced by a superconducting coil. To test this, jointless coils were prepared by a wind and flip technology using coated conductors of different tape manufacturers. The realized pancake coils were studied at liquid nitrogen temperature. Numerical simulations yielded a magnetic field of up to 0.5 T at 77 K for coils with a inner diameter of 20 mm. The prepared coils were charged with a superconducting dynamo, in which two magnet configurations were tested. A clear dependence on the magnet size and frequency was found for the charging characteristics. A magnetic field of about 0.3 T at 77 K was imprinted in one of the coils. However, a degradation of the coils was found over time indicated by some delamination at the cutted edges, which reduced the maximum achievable magnetic field after a few weeks. Nevertheless, a fully superconducting bearing was realized with by combining the jointless coil with an additional YBCO bulk. After charging the coil with the dynamo, a levitation force of up to 10 N at 77 K was measured under zero-field cooling conditions. The generated levitation force decayed only slightly after charging indicating low losses in the coil.