Thesis (MEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: High Temperature Superconductors (HTS) exhibit exceptional electrical properties that make them attractive candidates for numerous electronic devices and applications. However, constructing working devices can be challenging due to fabrication difficulties of these brittle ceramics. This thesis investigates new methods to make the fabrication of high quality YBa2Cu3O7 (YBCO) thin films easier and compatible with more materials. We present the development of a universal add-on method that can be used in situ to improve the quality of superconducting thin films deposited by Pulsed Laser deposition (PLD). We investigate the in situ application of electric fields and voltage biasing to improve the thin film growth. Considering various electrode configurations, we have developed a final electrode design that is stable and produces reproducible results. By introducing an insulated high voltage (HV) electrode into the chamber during deposition, the quality of the deposited thin films can be modulated depending on the polarity of the voltage applied. Applying a positive voltage improves the film quality obtained. Applying a negative voltage degrades the superconducting properties of the films. A simple proof-of-concept HTS dual-mode microwave filter was designed, fabricated and tested. Only the filter produced using our novel PLD technique displayed the correct filtering action upon cooling to 77K. This is attributed to the thin films better superconducting properties due to our developed technique. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hoë Temperatuur Supergeleiers (HTS) vertoon aantreklike elektriese eienskappe wat hulle goeie kandidate maak vir verskeie elektroniese toepassings. Om werkende toestelle te ontwikkel kan 'n uitdaging wees, as gevolg van die vervaardigings probleme wat bestaan vir hierdie bros keramiek materiaal. Hierdie tesis ondersoek nuwe metodes om die vervaardiging van 'n hoë gehalte YBa2Cu3O7 (YBCO) dun films makliker en versoenbaar te maak met verskeie materiale. Ons toon die ontwikkeling van 'n algemene metode wat maklik bygevoeg kan word om in situ die gehalte van supergeleidende dun films, wat deur gepulseerde laser deponering (PLD) gedeponeer is, te verbeter. Ons ondersoek die in situ toepassing van elektriese velde en spannings om die dun film groei te verbeter. Verder oorweeg ons verskeie elektrode konfigurasies en ontwikkel 'n finale elektrode ontwerp wat stabiel is en herhaalbare resultate produseer. Die kwaliteit van die gedeponeerde dun films kan gemoduleer word deur die byvoeging van 'n geïsoleerde hoogspannings (HV) elektrode tydens deponering, afhangende van die polariteit van die aangelegde spanning. 'n Positiewe spanning verhoog die film kwaliteit, terwyl 'n negatiewe spanning die supergeleidende eienskappe van die films verlaag. 'n Eenvoudige HTS dubbele-modus mikrogolffilter is ontwerp, vervaardig en getoets, om as toepassings voorbeeld te dien. Slegs die filter wat geproduseer was met behulp van ons nuwe PLD tegniek, vertoon die beste filter oordrag by 77K. Dit word toegeskryf aan die beter supergeleidende eienskappe van die dun film, as gevolg van die toepassing van ons ontwikkelde tegniek.

Substitution reactions of TCNQ (7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane) with suitable electron donor moieties extended the range of gamma-bridged adducts R(4)Q3CNQ and R(4)P3CNQ of which the short chain Z-beta-(l-butyl-4'-quinolinium)-alpha-cyano-4-styryldicyanomethanide (C[4]H[9](4)Q3CNQ) is a typical example. These zwitterionic D-pi-A materials (where D and A are electron donors and acceptors respectively) exhibit properties such as solvatochromism, molecular rectification and second harmonic generation. Further synthetic work concentrated on modifying the donor, the acceptor and the substitution position within these zwitterions to create a series of diverse materials for non-linear optic research. Modification of the picolinium and quinolinium systems where the TCNQ substitution is in the alpha-position, has created the extensive analogous series-R(2)Q3CNQ and R(2)P3CNQ, their properties being compared and contrasted to the original gamma-bridged adducts. The behaviour of the materials on the subphase and their resultant Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) film fabrication was studied. The abrupt change in molecular orientation in LB films of the gamma-bridged adducts occurring at R= C[15]H[31] and above was not seen in the more flatly orientated alpha-bridged adducts. Further characterisation of the LB films was performed using reflectance-absorption infrared spectroscopy (RAIRS) and surface plasmon resonance (SPR).A number of N-alkylpyridinium benzimidazolate betaine derivatives and the related betaine-TCNQ adducts were prepared and their LB film forming properties were studied.

Le sujet de ce travail a été une étude détaillée du supraconducteur CuxTiSe2. Des échantillons avec différentes teneurs en cuivre x, ont été étudiés par magnétométrie locale à sonde de Hall. Nous avons tout d'abord construit les profils de champ magnétique dans les échantillons pour déterminer quand les premiers vortex pénètrent dans l'échantillon. La forme en dôme des profils a indiqué que le piègeage est très faible et que la pénétration des vortex est principalement régie par des barrières géométriques, ce qui nous a permis de déterminer le champ critique inférieur, Hc1. Un bon accord entre la théorie et Hc1 (T) a été obtenu en utilisant un modèle à deux gaps, même si l'origine du plus petit de ces gaps ne peut être liée à la structure électronique de CuxTiSe2 . En combinant ces mesures avec des mesures de chaleur spécifique effectuées précédemment sur ces échantillons, nous avons obtenu un comportement non trivial de l'énergie de condensation. En outre, les mesures effectuées pour diverses orientations du champ magnétique ont révélé la présence d'un effet de "lock-in" dans CuxTiSe2, montrant que les vortex restent piégés le long d'une structure en couches même pour les champs magnétiques inclinés. L'orientation des vortices a été déterminée expérimentalement et a pu être bien décrite par un modèle tenant compte de la présence d'une "sur-structure" dans laquelle la supraconductivité est - au moins - partiellement détruite. Cet effet de lock-n a été analysé sur trois échantillons et nous avons montré que la force de piégeage est indépendante du dopage du cuivre. La nature de cette sur-structure est encore inconnue mais pourrait être liée à l'observation récente de parois de domaine des ondes de densité de charge, qui pourraient induire de fortes variations du paramètre d'ordre supraconducteur. / The subject of this work was a detailed study of superconducting CuxTiSe2. Samples with various copper content x, from underdoped to overdoped regions of the phase diagram, were investigated by local Hall probe magnetometry. At first, we constructed the magnetic field profiles in the samples to determine when the first vortices penetrate into the sample. The observed dome-like shape of the profiles indicated that pinning is very small and that the vortex penetration is primarily governed by geometrical barriers, hence enabling us to determine the lower critical field, Hc1. A good agreement between theory and the Hc1(T) data was obtained by using a model with two energy gaps, even though the origin of the smaller energy gap in CuxTiSe2 cannot be related to its electronic structure. Combining those measurements with heat capacity measurements previously performed on these samples, we obtained a non trivial condensation energy. Moreover, measurements performed for various orientations of the magnetic field revealed the presence of a lock-in effect in CuxTiSe2, when superconducting vortices are trapped along a layered structure even for tilted magnetic fields. The orientation of the vortices was experimentally determined and could be well described by a model considering the presence of an additional layered structure in which superconductivity is at least partially suppressed. The lock-in effect was analysed in three different samples and we have shown that the strength of the lock-in is independent of the copper doping, even though this effect can be masked by strong demagnetisation effects in very thin samples. The strength of this lock-in effect indicates that the superconductivity is strongly suppressed on certain layered structure. The nature of this "extrinsic" pinning structure is still unknown but might be related to the recent observation of charge density waves domain walls which may induce strong variations of the superconducting order parameter.

La génération d'objets quantiques intriqués est inévitable pour l'exploration de l'information quantique dans les systèmes de la matière condensée. Alors que des expériences de non-localité on été menées, avec succès, à partir de photons intriqués, il n'a pas encore été possible de réaliser leurs analogues électroniques dans les matériaux solides, où les fermions sont les objets quantiques à intriqués. Les paires de Cooper dans les supraconducteurs sont des candidats prometteurs pour réaliser une source d'électrons intriqués. L'intrication non-local est la clé de voûte et elle peut être induite par le processus de réflexion d'Andreev croisée. Ce phénomène sépare une paire de Cooper en deux électrons, dont les spins sont intriqués, dans deux conducteurs séparés spatialement.J'ai étudié un système composé de trois électrodes supraconductrices (Al) connectées par un métal normal (Cu) formant ainsi une tri-jonction Josephson. De nouvelles structures, dans cette nano-structure hybride, apparaissent dans la conductance différentielle lorsque deux terminaux sont polarisées par des potentiels opposés l'un par rapport à l'autre. Ces anomalies correspondent à des phénomène de transport de paires de Cooper corrélées et sont consistantes avec la prédictiondes Quartets formés par la séparation simultanée de deux paires de Cooper d'un réservoir supraconducteur vers les deux autres électrodes.Dans le but d'expérimenter la cohérence quantique de ces structures, j'ai irradié la tri-jonction à l'aide d'une micro-onde de 14 GHz à très basse température. Des résonances Shapiro apparaissent lorsque la fréquence de la micro-onde est équivalente à la fréquence des courants AC Josephson générés en appliquant des tensions à travers la tri-jonction.Mon étude révèle que les anomalies de type Quartet présentent aussi des résonances Shapiro. Ce résultat démontre que le phénomène de Quartet est un mécanisme quantique cohérent confirmant la séparation cohérente de deux pairs de Cooper à longue portée. / A fundamental route for the exploration of solid state based quantum information is the generation of EPR pairs of quantum-entangled objects. Although experimental tests of nonlocality have been successfully conducted with pair of entangled photons, it has not yet been possible to realize an electronic analogue of it in the solid state, where fermions are the natural quantum objects. However, Cooper pairs in superconductors are known as suitable sources of entanglement. Non-local entanglement is the key and Crossed Andreev reflection process can provide it by converting a Cooper pair into two spin-entangled electrons located in separate conductors.I investigated a device where three superconducting (Al) electrodes are connected by a sub-micron normal metal (Cu) composing a Josephson three-junction. In this hybrid nanostructure, new sub-gap features appear in the differential conductance when two terminals are biased at opposite voltage with respect to the third one. These features correspond to correlated motion of Cooper pairs and are consistent with the prediction of Quartets formed by the simultaneous splitting of two Cooper pairs from one of the superconducting reservoirs and the emission of two phase correlated Cooper pairs in the two other electrodes. In order to probe the quantum coherence of such features, I irradiated the device with a microwave at 14 GHz down to very low temperature (100 mK). Well known Shapiros resonances (both integer and half-integer) are observed when the microwave frequency matches the frequency of the AC Josephson currents generated by applying differents voltages across the three-junction.My study reveals that the quartet feature also shows Shapiro-like resonances. This result demonstrates that the quartet feature is a true quantum mechanism and confirms the quartet scenario that implies the coherent splitting of two Cooper pairs.

SILVA, George Frederick Tavares da. Termoestatística do Movimento Superamortecido de Partículas Interagentes. 2013. 129 f. Tese (Doutorado em Física) - Programa de Pós-Graduação em Física, Departamento de Física, Centro de Ciências, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, 2013. / Submitted by Edvander Pires (edvanderpires@gmail.com) on 2015-05-05T16:50:05Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2013_tese_gftsilva.pdf: 4464784 bytes, checksum: c215b7122d3e38256ec6c8231ceb3bc9 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Edvander Pires(edvanderpires@gmail.com) on 2015-05-07T16:59:18Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2013_tese_gftsilva.pdf: 4464784 bytes, checksum: c215b7122d3e38256ec6c8231ceb3bc9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-07T16:59:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2013_tese_gftsilva.pdf: 4464784 bytes, checksum: c215b7122d3e38256ec6c8231ceb3bc9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / The Fokker-Planck equations of nonlinear - EFPNL are differential equations able to describe macroscopic physical and chemical systems that have some type of anomalous diffusion. Examples of applications of scientific and technological importance, we may cite the case of transport in porous media, the growth dynamics of surfaces, diffusion of polymerlike breakable micelles and the dynamics of interacting vortices in type II superconductors. For the latter, it is known that the vortex motion causes power dissipation, and the interaction between them can be represented by a modified Bessel function type. Therefore, in order to model vortices in superconductors, we study the overdamped motion of interacting particles in contact with a thermal reservoir at temperature T, using the same type of interaction for vortices. We show, by means of the nonlinear Fokker-Planck equations formalism, that there is an association of the system under study, in the temperature limit T = 0, with the generalized Tsallis statistics. To prove this direct relation, we use the well-known H theorem and its generalizations, which allows an unambiguous relationship between the generalized entropy function with EFPNL. We show that even for relatively high temperatures, the system should be better represented by the Boltzmann-Gibbs standard statistical, since the distribution function of particles in the steady state, has the form of a Gaussian. In addition to the analytical results for the distribution function, numerical results for overdamped motion of interacting particles were obtained by molecular dynamics with the addition of white noise (additive) thus confirming the theoretical results. / As equações não lineares de Fokker-Planck - EFPNL são equações diferenciais capazes de descrever macroscopicamente sistemas físicos e químicos que apresentam algum tipo de difusão anômala. Como exemplos de aplicações de importância científica e tecnológica, podemos citar o processo de transporte em meios porosos, a dinâmica de crescimento de superfícies, difusão de polímeros do tipo micelas quebráveis e dinâmica de vórtices em supercondutores do tipo II. Para este último, sabe-se que o movimento de vórtices causa dissipação de energia, e a interação entre eles pode ser representada por uma função do tipo Bessel modificada. Portanto, no sentido de modelar vórtices em supercondutores, estudamos o movimento de partículas interagentes em regime de superamortecimento e em contato com um reservatório térmico a temperatura T, utilizando esse mesmo tipo de interação para vórtices. Mostramos então, por meio do formalismo das equações não lineares de Fokker-Planck, que há uma associação do sistema em estudo, no limite de temperatura T=0, com a estatística generalizada de Tsallis. Para comprovar essa relação direta utilizamos o conhecido teorema H e suas generalizações, o qual permite uma relação entre o funcional entrópico generalizado com uma família de EFPNL. Mostramos ainda que para temperaturas relativamente altas, o sistema deve ser melhor representado pela estatística padrão de Boltzmann-Gibbs, pois a função distribuição de partículas, no estado estacionário, tem a forma de uma gaussiana. Além dos resultados analíticos para a função distribuição, resultados numéricos foram obtidos para o movimento superamortecido de partículas interagentes por meio de Dinâmica Molecular com a inclusão de um ruído branco (aditivo), confirmando assim os resultados teóricos.

Orientadora: Profa. Dra. Marcia Tsuyama Escote / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal do ABC, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Nanociências e Materiais Avançados, 2016. / Este trabalho descreve o processo de sintese dos compostos YBa2(Cu1-xNix)3O7-¿Â (x = 0; 0,01; 0,02 e 0,04) com diferentes microestruturas. As amostras foram preparadas na forma de fios micrometricos e pos a partir do metodo de precursores polimericos e pelo metodo de eletrofiacao, respectivamente. No caso das amostras eletrofiadas, varios fatores foram avaliados como o solvente, o polimero, a viscosidade, tensao aplicada entre a agulha e a distancia anteparo e agulha. As melhores condicoes utilizadas para produzir os fios de YBa2(Cu1-xNix)3O7-¿Â foi a que utilizou como solvente uma solucao contendo acido propionico-metanol-acido acetico e o polimero PVP, que auxilia no processo de eletrofiacao. Apos a etapa de sintese, as condicoes de tratamento termico foram estimadas a partir de medidas de analise termogravimetrica e analise termica diferencial. A partir destes resultados as amostras na forma de fios e pos foram tratadas termicamente entre temperaturas variando de 350 a 925 ¿C em atmosfera de oxigenio. As propriedades fisicas das amostras foram caracterizadas por meio de microscopia eletronica de varredura (MEV), de difracao de raios X (DRX), medidas de magnetizacao e transporte eletrico. O estudo de formacao da fase cristalina YBCO tambem foi analisado por meio de DRX, que verificou os resultados previos da analise termica e indicou que as melhores caracteristicas cristalograficas foram alcancadas quando as amostras foram tratadas termicamente a temperaturas > 900 ¿C/O2. Analise dos dados de DRX indicaram que todas as amostras cristalizam em uma estrutura ortorrombica (grupo espacial Pmmm), no entanto a maioria das amostras apresentaram picos pertencentes a fases adicionais identificadas como o BaCuO2 e CuO. Apesar disto, todas foram analisadas pelo metodo de Rietveld, os dados estruturais obtidos revelaram valores de parametros de rede proximos aqueles listados na literatura. Os parameros a, b e c das amostras de fios, apresentaram valores ligeiramente menores dos aqueles obtidos para os pos, tambem notou-se uma clara reducao do volume da cela unitaria, o que acredita-se estar relacionado ao metodo de sintese. Os parametros de rede c apresentam valores proximos daqueles esperados para a estequiometria YBa2Cu3O7. As amostras na forma de fios tambem apresentaram uma menor proporcao de fase adicional. As caracteristicas microestruturais verificadas por meio de imagens de MEV revelou que as amostras produzidas a partir de fios de YBa2(Cu1-xNix)3O7 perderam a forma de fio quando tratadas termicamente, apenas a amostra com x = 0 mantem a forma de fio. Estas apenas mantem a forma se tratadas termicamente a tempos e temperaturas menores, mas nestas condicoes perdem suas caracteristicas supercondutoras. Por isso, as amostras submetidas a tratamentos termicos em temperaturas 925¿C/O2 foram caracterizadas por meio de medidas de magnetizacao e transporte eletrico. As caracterizacoes magneticas revelaram que as amostras preparadas a partir dos pos e fios apresentaram a transicao supercondutora em Tc ~ 90-92 K, sendo que a substituicao de Cu por de Ni promoveu a diminuicao de Tc. E importante observar que nos pos esta variacao foi de 92 para 88 K para amostras com x variando de 0 a 0,04, enquanto que para as amostras eletrofiadas esta variacao foi de 92 para 90,2 K. Nas medidas de transporte eletrico verificou-se que a substituicao Cu por Ni nao promoveu variacoes significativas de Tc que foi da ordem de 86-88 K tanto para as amostras obtidas de pos quanto de fio. De forma geral, este trabalho produziu pos e fios de YBCO com qualidade similar a descrita na literatura, a eletrofiacao tambem permitiu a fabricacao de amostras de YBa2(Cu1-xNix)3O7 (x= 0,01; 0,02 e 0,04) com caracteristicas estruturais e supercondutoras ligeiramente diferentes daquelas obtidas por meio de sintese convencional de po. / This work describes the synthesis process of YBa2(Cu1-xNix)3O7-ä (x = 0, 0.01, 0.02 and 0.04) compounds with different microstructure. Micrometric wires and powder samples were prepared through electrospinning and polymeric precursor method, respectively. In the case of electrospinning samples several factors were evaluated like the solvent, polymer, viscosity, electrode-needle applied voltage and the work distance. The best conditions to obtain YBa2(Cu1-xNix)3O7-ä wires were the solution with propionic acid- methanol-acetic acid solvents, and with PVP polymer, which usually helps the electrospinning process. After the synthesis, the heat treatment conditions were estimated through thermogravimetric analysis and differential thermal analysis. With these results, two baths of wires and powders samples were heat-treated in temperatures varying from 350 to 925 °C in oxygen atmosphere. All samples physical properties were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), magnetic and electrical transport properties. The YBCO crystalline phase formation was also analyzed through XRD, it showed a similar results than those from thermal analysis. These results showed that better crystallographic characteristics were reached when the samples were heat treated in temperatures > 900 °C/O2. XRD analysis indicated that all samples crystallized in orthorhombic structure (Pmmm space group symmetry), though most of them presents peaks of addition phases identified as BaCuO2 and CuO. Even though all samples were analyzed through the Rietveld method, such structural data revealed lattice parameters values close to those reported in literature. It should be noticed that a, b and c values of the wire samples were slight smaller than those obtained to the powder samples, also there is a clear reduction of the unit cell volume, which we believe is related to the synthesis method. The c lattice parameters present values close to those expected to the YBa2Cu3O7 stoichiometry. The wire samples also present a small amount of additional phases. Microstructural characteristics were verified through SEM images, which revealed that the YBa2(Cu1-xNix)3O7 wire samples lost the wire shape after the heat treatment, only the YBCO samples maintain the wire shape. Samples only maintain this shape when they were heat treated at smaller times and lower temperature, but in this case they lost their superconductor characteristic. So, only samples obtained through heat treatments at 925°C/O2 were characterized by magnetization and electric transport. Magnetic measurements of samples prepared from powder and wires revealed a superconductor transition temperature in Tc ~90-92K, whereas the Cu for Ni substitution promoted a decrease of Tc. It is important to notice that Tc values vary from 92 to 88 K for the powers samples with x varying from 0 to 0.04, though for electrospinning samples this variation is from 92 to 90.2 K. In electrical transport measurements it was verified that such Cu to Ni substitution do not promote significant variations in the Tc, which was of the order of 86-88 K for both samples produced by powder and wires. As a general remark, this work produced powders and wires of YBCO with similar quality than those described in literature. Also, the electrospinning allowed the preparation of YBa2(Cu1-xNix)3O7 (x= 0.01; 0.02 e 0.04) samples with structural and superconductors characteristic slightly different from those obtained through powder conventional synthesis.

Orientadores: Ernesto Ruppert Filho, Carlos Alberto Baldan / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Eletrica e de Computação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-13T08:37:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Freitas_RafaelCassiolatode_M.pdf: 4732668 bytes, checksum: 0819e8d6aca546a3c44b407acd86b0a9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008 / Resumo: O crescimento da demanda de energia elétrica nos centros urbanos e industriais tem levado à necessidade de expansão dos sistemas de energia elétrica o que tem causado aumento nos níveis de curto-circuito, atingindo o limite da capacidade dos sistemas de proteção existentes exigindo sua substituição por outros de maior capacidade. Nessa situação nem sempre a recapacitação dos sistemas de proteção resolve o problema sendo necessário duplicar circuitos. Para postergar investimentos ou para funcionar na rede juntamente com o disjuntor ou ainda, para proteger os circuitos existentes quando conectados a geradores distribuídos, os limitadores de corrente instalados em série com os disjuntores atuais permitem limitar a corrente de falta, principalmente nos primeiros 100ms até a atuação do sistema de proteção. Dentre os diversos tipos de dispositivos limitadores de corrente elétrica existentes no mercado e também ainda em pesquisa atualmente, os construídos a partir de materiais supercondutores possuem a vantagem de proporcionar limitação de corrente elétrica praticamente instantânea causando mínima interferência no funcionamento normal dos sistemas de energia elétrica. Neste trabalho foram estudadas diversas configurações de limitadores de corrente elétrica utilizando fitas de materiais cerâmicos supercondutores de alta temperatura crítica (HTS), de modo especial os limitadores resistivos em forma de bobinas helicoidais enroladas com fita supercondutora BSCCO. Foi desenvolvida metodologia para o cálculo eletromagnético, projeto, construção e ensaio das bobinas supercondutoras do limitador de corrente, bem como se procurou caracterizar eletricamente a fita HTS sob influência de campo magnético externo com o objetivo de determinar as condições de corrente elétrica e de campo magnético sobre ela aplicado para a transição do estado supercondutor para o estado condutor normal do material ("quench"). Ao final do trabalho foram construídos e ensaiados dois protótipos limitadores de corrente elétrica supercondutores mostrando que, apesar da fita HTS de BSCCO ainda não possuir características adequadas para aplicação em limitadores de corrente, com a esperada evolução destes materiais já existe disponível a técnica para projetá-los e construí-los. / Abstract: The growth in demand of electric energy in urban and industrial centers has lead to the need of expansion of the electrical systems which has caused increase in short circuit levels, reaching the limit capacity of the existing protection systems requiring its replacement by others of greater capacity. In these situations the upgrade of protection systems does not always solve the problem being necessary the circuit's duplication. To postpone investments, to operate together in the electrical system with the circuit breakers or even to protect the existing circuits when connected to distributed generators, fault current limiters should be installed in series with the circuit breakers allowing to limit fault currents, specially in the first 100m until the protection system is triggered. Among the many different types of fault current limiter devices existing in the market and which are under development, the ones made of superconducting materials have the advantage of providing practically instantaneous fault current limitation causing minimum interference in the normal operation of the electrical systems. In this work many configurations of electric fault current limiters were studied using superconducting ceramic materials of high transition temperature (HTS), specially the resistive superconducting fault current limiters in form of helical coils with BSCCO superconducting tapes. The methodology for the electromagnetic calculation, project, construction and tests of the superconducting coils of the fault current limiter was carried out along with the HTS tape characterization under external magnetic field influence in order to determine the conditions of electric current and magnetic field for the transition from superconducting state to normal conducting state (quench). At the end of this work two fault current limiters were built and tested showing that, although BSCCO HTS tapes yet do not have good characteristics for fault current limiters application, when these materials which tend to be developed reach applicability level, the technique to design and built them is already available. / Mestrado / Energia Eletrica / Mestre em Engenharia Elétrica

Orientadores: Ernesto Ruppert Filho, Carlos Alberto Baldan / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Elétrica e de Computação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-19T21:08:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 EliasJunior_Antonio_M.pdf: 3083167 bytes, checksum: f6bea29b3a45a17156c136bda7644b30 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011 / Resumo: Esta dissertação apresenta um estudo sobre limitadores de corrente elétrica supercondutores que funcionam com um transformador e com material supercondutor de alta temperatura crítica (HTS) em forma de fita. Neste caso utilizou-se a fita supercondutora do composto de YBCO. Neste trabalho é apresentado um resumo da evolução da supercondutividade desde a origem dos materiais supercondutores de baixa temperatura crítica (LTS) até os de alta temperatura crítica (HTS), as fitas supercondutoras de segunda geração (2G), seus processos de produção, suas composições e suas propriedades. Também faz parte desta dissertação um estudo sobre diferentes equipamentos utilizados para limitar a corrente elétrica em sistemas de energia elétrica aprofundando o estudo sobre limitadores de corrente elétrica supercondutores que funcionam usando transformador. Por fim, simulou-se a operação do limitador de corrente elétrica em questão acoplado ao sistema elétrico usando o pacote MATLAB/Simulink/SimPowerSystems. A simulação foi baseada em características reais dos elementos do sistema, como transformador de distribuição e no comportamento resistivo do material supercondutor de alta temperatura crítica de YBCO / Abstract: This work presents a study about transformer type superconductive fault current limiter using high critical temperature (HTS) tape. In this case the YBCO superconductive tape was used. The history of superconductivity since the beginning of low temperature (LTS) superconductive materials until the high critical temperature superconductive second generation (2G) tapes is presented, also their production process and their compositions are studied. It is part of this work a study about different equipments used to limit the electrical current in electrical power systems going deeply in the transformer type superconductive fault current limiter. Finally, the operation of superconductive electrical current limiter coupled to the electrical power system using MATLAB/Simulink/ SimPowerSystems was simulated. The simulation was based on the real characteristics of power system elements, as distribution transformer and on the resistive behavior of high critical temperature superconductive material of YBCO type / Mestrado / Energia Eletrica / Mestre em Engenharia Elétrica

Permanent magnets are essential components for many devices such as motors, which currently account for 45 % of global electricity consumption, generators and also superconducting magnetic bearings used for applications such as flywheel energy storage. But even the most powerful rare-earth magnets are limited to a remanent field of 1.4 T, whereas superconducting materials such as YBCO in their bulk form have the extraordinary ability to trap magnetic fields an order of magnitude higher, whilst being very compact. This gives them the potential to increase efficiency and allow significant volume and weight reductions for rotating machines despite the need for cooling. A new design of superconducting magnetic bearing has been developed which uses magnetized bulks as the field source, eliminating permanent magnets. Finite element modelling shows that the bulk – bulk design can achieve much higher force densities than existing permanent magnet – bulk designs, giving it potential to be used as a compact magnetic bearing. A system was created to magnetize bulks using a pulsed magnetic field down to 10 K and then measure levitation force. In proving the concept of the proposed design, the highest levitation forces ever reported between two superconducting bulks were measured, including a levitation force of 500 N between a 1.7 T magnetized YBCO bulk and a coaxial $MgB_{2}$ bulk tube. The biggest factor limiting the use of magnetized bulks in applications is magnetizing them in the first place. Using a pulsed magnetic field is most practical but generates excessive heat dissipation leading to a loss of flux in conventional bulk superconductors, which are 100% superconductor. Although multi-pulse techniques help maximise the trapped field, the poor thermal properties of bulk (RE)BCO are a limiting factor. New composite superconducting structures are reported which can overcome these problems by using high thermal conductivity materials, the motivation for which came from finite element modelling of the critical state coupled with heat transfer. In particular, composite structures created by cutting and stacking 12 mm wide (RE)BCO superconducting tape are shown experimentally to have exceptional field trapping ability due to superior thermal and mechanical properties compared to existing bulks. Up to 2 T was trapped in a stack of commercially available tape produced by SuperPower Inc. in the first reported pulsed magnetization of such a stack. Over 7 T was trapped between two stacks using field cooling at 4.2 K, the highest field yet trapped in such a sample.

No description available.