centro de electrónica industrial (cei) | universidad politécnica de madrid | cei@upm.es | design,...

Centro de Electrónica Industrial (CEI) | Universidad Politécnica de Madrid | cei@upm.es | www.cei.upm.es

Design, prototype and manufacture of a large series of 10V/50A DC/DC power converters for driving superconducting magnets into the 4km X-Ray free-electron laser tunnel, located in the research facilities of DESY, Hamburg

Project sponsored by

GlosaryCold magnet: Electromagnet whose superconductivity comes from its low temperature (<10K). The low temperature is achieved by using liquid He cryostats.

Hot magnet: Superconducting electromagnet at “much higher temperature” (>77K)

Quench: A quench is an abnormal termination of magnet operation that occurs when part of the superconducting coil enters the resistive state, mainly due to magnetic field excess. That part sinks power which increases T in the surroundings, making them enter the resistive state as well.

High-current and low-voltage step-down converter for feeding cold superconducting magnets

P. Varela

The Power Supply

A DC/DC SMPS intended for cutting-edge research is under development in CEI-UPM. Its main singularity is the load nature to be fed: a superconducting magnet, which makes necessary to provide very high current output at low voltage. For that reason,

variable switching frequency is applied, in order not to drive very short on times in steady-state (low duty cycle). Planar transformer design is applied as long as current-doubler with 4 SR for low losses under free-wheeling operation mode allowing bipolar output.

XFEL Project: the Application

Magnets What for?Smaller, faster, more intense: The European XFEL will open up areas of research that were previously inaccessible. Using the X-ray flashes of the European XFEL, scientists will be able to map the atomic details of viruses, decipher the molecular composition of cells, take 3D images of the nano-world, film chemical reactions and study processes such as those occurring deep inside planets.

How it works?To generate the X-ray flashes, bunches of electrons will first be accelerated to high energies and then directed through special arrangements of magnets. In the process, the particles will emit radiation that is increasingly amplified until an extremely short and intense X-ray flash is finally created.

Conclusions

1. D

esi

gn

Design inputs

η, size, T, …

Bipolar output

Redundancy (2 power modules per power PCB)

THE LOAD: ELECTROMAGNET

Normal operation: L (2H) + very low R

TRAN

SFO

RMER

±10V / 50A

TOPOLOGYUsual operation: free-wheeling≈0V/50A

Current-doubler rectifierSaves transformer losses when running at almost 0V

1/2 Redundantmodule

Planar technology

Enhances repeatability & reduces assembling cost (500 units)

Interwinding Low RAC

Low Cu loss (50A) Low Lleak

For low ringing

Bipolar Synchronous Rectification (4 MOSFETs) 2 LF switches (define polarity) 2 HF switches (rectify Vsec waveform)

Vsec

2. In

itia

l pro

toty

pe

0.002.00

4.006.00

8.0010.00

12.0014.00

70.00%

75.00%

80.00%

85.00%

90.00%

95.00%

Vout

η (%

)

Planar transformerRM transformer

1st prototype with FPGA open-loop control

η up to 92,5% (planar transformer, no driving nor control losses)

IL1 Vgs3 Vds3IL2

Vout Vgs3 Vds3Iout

50A/10V, detail of the current share among both inductors in a module

50A/1.4V, detail of a secondary MOSFET turn-on

Control PCB

3. Adaptation to control interface

Power PCBv2

iref, PI param.

T, iout , Vout…

Vgs

T, iout , Vout…

(raw data)

CONTROL Outer loop: iout control, which creates the field Inner loop: Vout control, which defines the magnet di/dt Variable fsw control for optimal losses balance (switching vs on)

2nd version of the power PCB

4. P

rote

ctions

Quench transient evolution(voltage across the magnet)

External detection PCB

QUENCH

Failure in the magnet, detected by a voltage rise in the magnet terminals