Statistical correlations for thermophysical properties of Supercritical Argon (SCAR) used in cooling of futuristic High Temperature Superconducting (HTS) cables

Abstract

High Temperature Superconducting (HTS) cables are emerging as an alternative to conventional cables in efficient power transmission. However, these HTS cables require cooling below the critical temperature of superconductors used to transmit larger currents. With the invention of high temperature superconductors whose critical temperatures are up to 134 K (Hg based), it is a great challenge to identify a suitable coolant which can carry away the heating load on the superconductors. In order to accomplish such challenge, an attempt has been made in the present work to propose supercritical Argon (SCAR) as the alternative to cool the HTS cables. Further, a statistical correlation has been developed for the thermophysical properties such as density, viscosity, specific heat and thermal conductivity of SCAR. In addition, the accuracy of developed correlations is established with the help of few statistical parameters and validated with standard database available in the literature. These temperature dependent accurate correlations are useful in predicting the pressure drop and heat transfer behaviour in HTS cables using numerical or computational techniques. In recent times, with the sophistication of computer technology, solving of various complex transport equations along with the turbulence models became popular and hence the developed correlations would benefit the technological community. It is observed that, a decrease in pressure, density and viscosity are found to be decreasing whereas the thermal conductivity and specific heat increase significantly. It can be concluded that higher heat transfer rate and lower pumping power can be achieved with SCAR as coolant in the HTS cables.