Trapped field recovery of bulk superconductor magnets by static field magnetization

A series of initial trapped fields after ZFC or FC magnetization are used to simulate the attenuated trapped field. It is possible and easy to recover the lost trapped field and regain the best trapped field performance as before. In the re-magnetization process, the initial magnetic flux inside the bulk magnets will help to recover the trapped field. The optimum recovery field is recommended to be 2.5 times the saturation field of the bulk at LN2 temperature. Thanks to the trapped field of bulk high-temperature superconductors, they can be used as field-pole magnets in the high temperature superconducting (HTS) rotating machines. For example, an output power of 10 kW at 720 rpm was realized by an average trapped field of 0.56 T of eight melt-textured GdBa2Cu3Oy (Gd-123) bulks at liquid nitrogen temperature in TUMSAT in 2004. Similarly to the HTS machines involving 1G or 2G wires, the trapped field of the bulk is possibly sensitive and even can be attenuated by the AC component field during the operation. Hence, it is necessary to recover the trapped field once being decreased to some extent in the practical application. From this point, we have investigated the trapped field recovery of HTS bulk magnets by static field magnetization in the paper. A series of different initial trapped fields after zero-field-cooling or field-cooling magnetization are used to simulate the attenuated trapped field. By comparing the trapped field peak and its distribution, the trapped field was found to be able to recover by the static field magnetization method with a stronger excitation field and the initial trapped flux inside the bulk also has an influence on the recovery process. The optimum recovery field was found to be about 2.5 times the saturated trapped field of the bulk at liquid nitrogen temperature, by which the bulk can regain the former best trapped field performance.