New fully superconducting bearing concept using the difference in irreversibility field of two superconducting components

One of the major factors limiting levitation force for existing superconducting magnetic bearings is the maximum possible remanence of 1.4 T known to exist for rare-earth permanent magnets. This paper introduces the novel concept of a magnetic bearing which uses the difference in irreversibility field of two superconducting components to allow one component to be field cooled in the field originating from the other component which is first magnetized at a higher temperature. Magnetized (RE)BCO bulks with high trapped fields can be used as one of the components instead of permanent magnets, giving a significant increase in the levitation force density that can be achieved between the two components. This paper focuses on using an MgB(2) hollow cylinder for the component which is field cooled. Modelling of the levitation forces that would exist between magnetized YBCO bulks inside a hollow MgB2 cylinder is reported as well as modelling of pulsed field magnetization of the pellets to create high field gradients using MPSC (multi-pulse technique with step-wise cooling). The new design has the potential to achieve levitation force densities over 100 N cm(-2).