Predictable and robust performance of a Bi-2223 superconducting coil for compact isochronous cyclotrons

C. H. Vermeer*, A. H. Tolboom, S. J. Otten, H. J. G Krooshoop, R. Lubkemann, J. Leferink, W.A.J. Wessel, A. Nijhuis, A. Godeke, M. Walpole, J. Heese, K. Hayashi, E. Shizuya

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

The development of ever smaller medical particle accelerators is motivated by a desire to make proton therapy accessible to more patients. Reducing the footprint of particle accelerators and subsequently proton therapy facilities allows for cheaper and broader usage of proton therapy. By employing superconducting technologies for field shaping, the size of particle accelerators can be reduced further below what is possible with saturated iron. This article discusses experiments on a first-of-its-kind double pancake (DP), and an assembly of six DP coils, designed to be used as a so-called ‘flutter coil’ for a compact isochronous cyclotron for proton therapy, fabricated from high-temperature superconducting (HTS) Bi 2 − x Pbx Sr2Ca2Cu3Oy (Bi-2223) tape. The coils were mounted under pre-stress within a stainless-steel structure to maintain mechanical stability during the experiments. The critical current as a function of the temperature of both coils was measured in a conduction-cooled setup. A model describing the coils, based on tape data, was created and revealed that the measurements were in excellent agreement with the predictions. Additional experiments were performed to study the quench and thermal runaway behaviour of the HTS coils, determining whether such coils can be protected against fault scenarios, using realistic quench-detection levels and discharge extraction-rates. These experiments demonstrate that the coils are very robust and can be well protected against quenches and thermal-runaway events using common quench-protection measures with realistic parameters.

Original languageEnglish
Article number045018
Number of pages8
JournalSuperconductor science and technology
Volume36
Issue number4
Early online date7 Mar 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2023

Keywords

  • Bi-2223
  • cyclotron
  • proton therapy
  • superconducting coil
  • UT-Hybrid-D

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