The National Center for Scientific Research

CNRS, The National Center for Scientific Research, is a public basic-research organisation. As the largest fundamental research organization in Europe (24,747 employees from tenured researchers to engineers), the CNRS carries out researches in all fields of knowledge and addresses the needs of society and industry. In FASTGRID CNRS represents the G2Elab: Grenoble Electrical Engineering laboratory. G2Elab covers a wide spectrum of expertises in the field of Electrical Engineering with keywords such as electrical energy, materials, innovative processes and systems, modelling and design methods and software. The research carried out in G2Elab ranges from long-term research up to collaborative research supported by a strong involvement in partnerships with large companies and SMEs. With more than 100 permanent staff, 110 PhD and 50 Masters, G2Elab appears as a major actor both nationally and internationally in these areas. As a pioneer in the construction of superconducting magnets in France, Grenoble remains a key location with a leading role in the technology of superconducting magnets and power devices especially SCFCL including the electrical isolation aspects. G2Elab has a recognized expertise in electric grids: architecture optimization, fault detection and localization, grid control, etc. It is particularly involved in research dealing with Smart and Super Grids.

Role in the project CNRS Grenoble will manage the project with the contribution of KIT. It will contribute also in WP1, WP3 and WP5. With its thorough knowledge of material and FCL it will contribute to adapt the tape to the smart module and to design this latter. CNRS will participate to the dissemination activities.

Previous experience relevant for the above tasks CNRS has been involved in several superconducting application projects, especially on FCL and in many grid projects. Concerning HTS applications, CNRS was a partner in the BYFAULT, BIG-POWA and ECCOFLOW E.C. projects. These projects together with others have lead to a thorough competences, abilities and skills in the field of SCFCL with dedicated simulation, modelling and experimental tools. Several HTS demonstrator construction and successful tests have lead to a large technological knowhow.

Read more about G2E Lab

P Tixador, N. T. Nguyen, Superconductor Science and Technology, vol. 25, 014009 (12pp), 2012.
C. Gandioli, M.-C. Alvarez Hérault, P. Tixador, N. Hadjsaid, D. M. Rojas Medina, IEEE Trans. on Applied Superconductivity, vol. 23, 5603904, 2013.
A. Hobl, W. Goldacker, B. Dutoit, L. Martini, A. Petermann, P. Tixador, IEEE Trans. on Applied Superconductivity, vol. 23,5601804, 2013.
Badel, G. Escamez, P. Tixador, IEEE Trans. on Applied Superconductivity, vol. 25, 5600504, 2015.
P. Tixador, A. Badel, Physica C, vol. 518, pp. 130-133, 2015.

Eccoflow (FP7/2007 – grant agreement No. 241285): Development and field testing of an efficient YBCO Coated Conductor based Fault Current Limiter for Operation in Electricity Networks, 2010 -2014.
EuCARD (Grant Agreement 227579) : European Coordination for Accelerator Research and Development), 2009-2013
EuCARD2 (Grant Agreement 312453): Enhanced European Coordination for Accelerator Research & Development, 2013-2017
MADISUP (ANR project): Material and Superconducting devices for Energy, 2005-2009.
Insere HT (French project): Innovation in the security of high voltage ship grids, 2012-2015.

Ic (B, T, θ) measurement bench (4 K < T < 80 K, 0 < B < 12 T)
150 kVA AC Electrical test bench.
Dielectric test bench (450 kV pulse, 360 kV DC, 200 kVrms AC)

Pascal Tixador: After a long time at CNRS, he has been appointed as a full professor at Grenoble Institute of Technology since 2007. Professor Tixador’s main research fields are superconducting large scale applications (FCL, electrical machines, transformers, SMES, etc.) from the device design to its construction and all tests, most of the time in industrial partnership. He is co-author of over 130 peer review papers. He works in close collaboration with researchers involved in the material elaboration. He was the secretary of ESAS, the European Society for Applied Superconductivity and the chairman of the 12th EUropean Conference on Applied Superconductivity (EUCAS), which took place in Lyon in September 2015, and gathered more than 1000 people, 50 % outside Europe.

Arnaud Badel (32), is a CNRS researcher at G2Elab since 2012. He obtained his PhD in 2010 at INPG, Grenoble, then worked from 2010 to 2012 at Université de Genève as a Post-doc. Since entering CNRS, he worked on the development of applications using new generation High Temperature Superconductors (FCL, SMES, high field coils), with a focus on the characterization and modeling of these materials to optimize their use. He is co-author of over 20 papers published in international journals. He was technical editor for the 2015 IEEE Magnet Technology conference, and Secretary of the local committee for EUCAS 2015. He is also one of the promoters of the 1st International School on Modeling for Applied Superconductivity (June 2015).

Nelly Bonifaci (female) is CNRS researcher (1992 PhD INPG, Grenoble) in the G2Elab. Dr Bonifaci's research is concerned with the investigation of dielectric properties of liquids and dense gases, in particular discharges in liquids. A strong focus of her research activity lies on the analysis of optical studies of plasma discharges. She is co-author of over 49 papers published in international journals. She was from 2007 to 2012, the head of a team G2Elab “MDE” involving 8 permanent researchers and 6 PhD and post docs. She established scientific cooperation between G2elab and the Institute for High Temperatures of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow, Russian Federation), and University of Leicester (UK). Dr Bonifaci acts as an Editor of the IEEE Transactions of the Dielectric and Electrical Insulation. Dr Bonifaci is a member of International Organising Committee of the IEEE Conference on Dielectric Liquids.