STUDY ON THE INTRINSIC THERMAL-STABILITY OF THIN-FILM SUPERCONDUCTORS DUE TO A POINT HEAT-SOURCE

Abstract

Intrinsic thermal stability denotes a situation where a superconductor can carry the operating current without Joule heating at all times after the occurrence of a localized release of thermal disturbance. The present work deals with the intrinsic thermal stability of an anisotropic thin-film superconductor under a localized release of thermal energy. A three-dimensional analysis is introduced to consider an instantaneous release of energy in the form of a point source at different locations. Through the transformation of coordinate, an exact solution is obtained by the method of separation of variables. Results from this study indicate that the thermal stability parameter of highly oriented films of superconductors is strongly under the influence of anisotropy. The stability parameter also depends on the location of point source, the amount of disturbance energy, the Biot number, and the aspect ratio in the plane of thin film and normal to it.