Advances in the First Brazilian Project on an HTS Power Cable

This paper presents, in development in Brazil, a research for an ac three-phase cold dielectric (CD) high-temperature superconducting (HTS) power cable. That cable was rated to operate mainly at 69 kV/300 A. The first phase of research was part of a National Strategic Project for power transfer in Brazil. The research over the last two years included an improvement in design in order to enable operation also at higher voltages. The cable design changed and now each phase is inside its own cryostat. The electric isolation also changed. It was selected a laminated dielectric material not yet used (to our knowledge) in any other HTS power cable project. The main outcomes and results presented here are i) the improved cable design, ii) the characterizations of the new isolating material, iii) the facilities for cable construction and high-current tests, iv) one demonstrative model for one phase of the cable, and v) the validation of the new cable geometry by numerical simulation of electromagnetic and thermal behaviors of one of its phases at the rated voltage and current. As a conclusion, the results allowed to improve and disseminate the feasibility of the CD HTS cable technology in Brazil. Some details are not shown because they are patent pending.