Modeling Superconductor Quenching Gets Easier

By DE Editors

A new software tool for modeling the quenching process in superconducting materials has recently been made available by Vector Fields (Aurora IL). Available as part of the company's Opera CAE software suite for low frequency electromagnetic simulation, the new QUENCH tool is designed for developers of superconducting equipment such as MRI/NMR (magnetic resonance imaging/nuclear magnetic resonance) scanners.

QUENCH runs simulations on a standard PC platform. The execution speed will allow many simulations to run in minutes; for instance, a four-coil MRI magnet assembly will execute in approximately 10 minutes.

The key element in QUENCH is the tight coupling between the electromagnetic and thermal modeling processes, which exchanges data in real-time as the simulation steps forward. The results can be post-processed to provide users with views and analyses of quench propagation and eddy current effects as the material heats up and becomes resistive, including displays of the voltages between coil layers, temperature gradients, and so on.

For more information, go to vectorfields.com

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company's website.