AC losses in thin superconductors: the integral equation method applied to stacks and windings

Abstract

In this paper we present a method for computing transport current ac losses in interacting thin superconductors. The method solves the integral equations for the sheet current density distribution and is specifically developed for those configurations where the symmetry of the current density distributions allows writing the equation in a self-consistent form, without the need for using an auxiliary 2D model to describe the interaction between superconducting tapes. This results in very short computation times and therefore the model can be very useful for optimizing the design of superconducting devices. The method has been tested for different cases of practical applications and the ac loss results have been compared with those obtained with analytical models and with experiments.