In the phase II experiment of the Large Helical Device (LHD) of the National Institute for Fusion Science (NIFS), it is planned to operate the helical coils at 1.8 K by employing pressurized superfluid cooling to raise the magnetic field to 4 T with 17.3 kA. It is important to develop a 20kA-class current feedthrough into the 1.8 K region, but it must have a high current capacity and low heat leakage in the maximum magnetic leakage field of 1 T. Rectangle-shaped YBCO bulk conductors measuring 20 mm wide, 140 mm long and 10 mm thick were manufactured from square-pillar-shaped YBCO bulk materials for a 20 kA current. To check the quality of the bulk conductors, internal defects or cracks were detected by carrying out a precise survey of trapped magnetic flux. An assembled 20 kA current feedthrough was mounted in the λ-plate of a pressurized superfluid cooling cryostat. Experiments of current feeding into the 1.8 K region were carried out by operating the 20 kA current feedthrough. In the experiments, the transport current was kept at 20 kA for longer than 1,200 s. During the 20 kA operation, the current transport section of the YBCO bulk conductors remained in the superconducting state and the voltage drop between the YBCO bulk conductors and the copper electrode was observed to be constant. A contact resistance and the Joule heat generation in the joint region between the YBCO bulk conductors and the copper electrode were obtained as 1.45 nΩ and 0.72 W, respectively in the 20 kA operation. We have demonstrated the feasibility of using a 20 kA current feedthrough for the phase II experiment of the LHD.
