Bipolar electrical coil based on YBCO bulks: initial tests

In the field of the application of HTS in electrical motors, most prototypes are made using superconducting coils based on tape and located in the position where copper coils work in a similar conventional motor. Other prototypes use superconducting bulks (usually disk-shaped) in those positions where normal magnets should work in similar conventional motors. But it is very unusual to find designs using electrical coils based on bulks. This is a challenge whose main problem is the difficulty in machining the superconductor bulks to get the proper shape because of the impossibility of bending the material to wind coils. The design of a bipolar single-turn coil made from a superconducting YBCO disk was proposed by the group of Electrical Application of Superconductors, at the University of Extremadura, several years ago to be an element for the design of a modular two-phase inductor for an air core axial-flux motor. The shape of each coil looks like an 'S'. When a current flows through the circuit, two opposite magnetic fields appear in the upper and lower halves of the piece. Until now, attempts to get a good superconducting circuit by cutting a YBCO disk into the required shape have failed because of cracks appearing in the crystal during the process. Last year, our group at the University of Extremadura began to work with ATZ GmbH who have improved the machining process and made the coils. In this paper we present the coil and the first tests carried out.