Study on the response of the winding direction of multi-layer CORC cable to its electromagnetic characteristics

A Conductor on Round Core (CORC) cable wound with a high-temperature superconductor is an important cable concept for high-current density applications. It is widely used in large power systems because of its advantages of good flexibility and high engineering current density. However, the complex design structure of CORC cable makes it very difficult to understand its electromagnetic properties (such as AC loss). In particular, the different winding directions of each layer in multi-layer cable have a great influence on its electromagnetic characteristics. In this paper, the H-method is used to solve the electromagnetism and mechanics equations. The influence of the winding direction of CORC cable on its electromagnetic field distribution characteristics, AC loss, and mechanical variation under the action of external magnetic field is investigated. The AC loss study of single-layer cable reveals that when the applied magnetic field is increased from 0.01 to 0.02 and 0.03 T, the AC loss peak of the cable increases by 107 and 103 orders of magnitude, respectively, indicating that the effect of low applied magnetic field on the AC loss of the cable is more significant. For multi-layer cables, cables with opposite winding directions have a greater depth of current density penetration than cables with the same winding direction. In addition, the mechanical variations of multi-layer cables with different winding orientations are explored. The results show that the Mises stress in the cable with the same winding direction is about 32% higher than that of the cable with the opposite winding direction, which indicates that the method of winding the cable in the opposite direction between adjacent layers of tape can avoid excessive mechanical stress.