Next generation of prototype direct current superconducting cable for railway system

The authors design and develop a prototype DC superconducting cable for railways. For the preliminary evaluation 2 m Bi-2223 DC cable is used. The maximum current flowing in the cable cooled by liquid nitrogen was 1720 A in the inner sheet wire and 2430 A in the outer sheet. The experimental results and simulations led to the conclusion important for practical applications that the leakage of magnetic field was negligible. This result is of crucial importance, in particular for use in railway systems. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3553843]