Cryogenic test of high temperature superconducting current leads at ENEA

The LHC (Large Hadron Collider), the accelerator being constructed on the CERN site, involves the operation of more than 8000 superconducting magnets of various current ratings. Essential elements for the powering of these magnets are the HTS current leads. These devices provide the electrical link between the warm cables from/to the power converter and the low temperature superconducting bus bars bringing the current from/to the cryo-magnets. Thus they operate in a temperature range between room temperature and liquid helium temperature. The operation of the LHC will require more than 1000 HTS current leads operating at currents ranging from 600A to 13000A. Cryogenic tests of the series of 13000A and 6000A HTS current leads are made at ENEA in the framework of a CERN-ENEA collaboration. This report gives an overview of the experimental set-up built in ENEA. The set-up was designed following the typical criterion of a scientific experiment but it was dimensioned to satisfy the schedule of an industrial scale activity, having in mind the large number of components to be tested in a period of less than two years. The related data acquisition system is also described, together with the results of the tests on the current leads.