Two-way interaction between the strand voltage-current characteristic and the overall conductor behaviour in cabled low temperature superconductors

The strand voltage-current (V-I) characteristic has long been studied as part of the development of low temperature superconducting strands, often being used as a measure of the 'quality' of the individual filaments. However, the behaviour of the V-I characteristic when the strands are included in cables, and its effect on the overall cable behaviour, have not received so much attention. Two analyses are developed, one to illustrate how the strand V-I characteristic can be influenced by cable effects and, in an interaction in the reverse direction, one to show how the V-I characteristic of the strand can determine the limiting cable performance. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.