Heat leak measurement of the cryogenic pipe for the superconducting power transmission at different surface temperatures

Abstract

Abstract The heat leak of the cryogenic pipe constituting a transmission line of the superconducting power transmission depends on the surface temperature of the cryogenic pipe, because the heat leak is mainly caused by the radiative and conductive heat transfers. The heat leak of the cryogenic pipe for the superconducting power transmission has been measured with respect to its surface temperature ranging from -3 to 53 °C to investigate the effect of the surface temperature variation and to obtain data for the installation of cables in different places with different environmental conditions. The cryogenic pipe used for the measurements has two inner pipes, called cable pipe and return pipe, in a single outer pipe. For the cable pipe the heat leak of 0.82 W/m at -3 °C increases to 1.27 W/m at 51°C, while for the return pipe the heat leak of 0.46 W/m at -3 °C increases to 0.94 W/m at 51°C. The heat leak increases smoothly with the surface temperature, which can be well reproduced by a formula based on the temperature dependences of the radiative and conductive heat transfers. The heat leak by the conductive heat transfer is discussed based on the experiments and the calculations.