Thermal property of insulation material for HTS power cable

Abstract

The thermal property of insulation material is essential in developing a high temperature superconductor (HTS) power cable operating at around liquid nitrogen temperature. The accurate estimate of the heat flux is difficult in the nonmetallic materials because nonmetallic materials have a high thermal resistance and low temperature gradient along the specimen. The objective of the present work is to develop a precise instrument for measuring the thermal conductivity of insulating materials over a temperature range of 30 K to approximately the room temperature by using a cryocooler. The thermal conductivity of Teflon is measured and the accuracy confirmation is carried out by comparing published data. In addition, the experimental results of apparent thermal conductivity of polypropylene laminated paper (PPLP) are presented and the temperature dependency is also discussed. © 2012 American Institute of Physics.