Reaction Heat Treatment and Epoxy Impregnation of a Large CICC Coil for a Series-Connected Hybrid Magnet

Recent activities that were conducted on the Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin Series-Connected Hybrid outsert coil included the reaction heat treatment and vacuum-pressure impregnation. A thermocouple was wound into the windings for diagnostic purposes during processing of the coil. To maintain a reasonable temperature differential across the coil, the ramp rate was limited to approximately 2.7°C/hr. Epoxy impregnation was conducted with an epoxy developed in-house. The epoxy is transferred in vacuum but cured with one atmosphere gage pressure applied. Subsequently, the winding hardware was removed including the stainless steel mandrel through a machining operation. After assembly of voltage breaks and voltage taps, Paschen tests to 4 kV were conducted successfully that qualified the ground insulation. In addition, surge tests to qualified the internal insulation with 3 kV applied across the leads were conducted. Impedance measurements were conducted to confirm the internal insulation integrity.