A composite superconducting energy pipeline and its characteristics

Abstract

A superconducting energy pipeline cooled during its clean energy transferring becomes attractive recently to be a promising alternative way for combined green energy transmission to meet the ever-rising energy demand across the world. Though, study on superconducting energy pipelines gets into the conceptual design of single energy integration, the critical multi-composite structure and its characteristics have not yet been systematical. A novel high-temperature superconducting (HTS) energy pipeline integrated with power cable and liquid hydrogen (LH2) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) is proposed in this paper. The maximum allowable temperature difference and pressure drop methods are adopted to design the pipeline. A two-dimensional axisymmetric electromagnetic thermal coupling model has been established using the finite element method. The interface magnetic field formulation, heat transfer modeling, and multiphysics interface has been applied to conduct a detailed analysis of the designed superconducting energy pipeline (LH2-LNG-HTSEP). The results show that the designed LH2-LNG-HTSEP is feasible for practical operation and has more favorite characteristics to suit the HTS cable for the composite pipeline operation. The model and analysis method provide a theoretical base for the composite superconducting energy pipeline design and structural optimization.

Keywords

• Superconducting composite energy pipeline
• Liquid hydrogen
• Liquid natural gas
• Green energy
• Electromagnetic thermal coupling