Design and Assembly of a Non-Planar HTS Magnet and Test Chamber

The goal of this research is to design and construct two interlocking, non-planar (~1.2m diameter) high temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets that yield a quasi-symmetric stellarator magnetic geometry. We are building a scaled-down (0.3m diameter) prototype, focusing on handling, modeling, and diagnosing the .1 T field generated by our HTS stack. The magnet bobbin has been 3D printed and wound in 40 layers of HTS, solder potted, and is ready for integration into the test chamber with four retractable magnetic probes. These 3-axis B-field measurements alongside thermocouple readings will provide data to determine optimal cold head positioning for quench resilience and to understand the effects of magnetic pressure, self-inductance, and radial current sharing on the resulting magnetic field. Additional tests such as examining the stresses on the ~50 nOhm lap joints and the influence of an external magnet are possible. This research will help us characterize optimal conditions for highly shaped metal-insulated HTS magnets, paving the way for future HTS stellarators to pump gigawatts of clean energy to the global grid.