Measuring Amps on output coils

[TinselKoala]

Sigh. WIKI is your friend.

Superconducting magnets have a number of advantages over resistive electromagnets. They can generate magnetic fields that are up to ten times stronger than those generated by ordinary ferromagnetic-core electromagnets, which are limited to fields of around 2 T. The field is generally more stable, resulting in less noisy measurements. They can be smaller, and the area at the center of the magnet where the field is created is empty rather than being occupied by an iron core. Most importantly, for large magnets they can consume much less power. In the persistent state (above), the only power the magnet consumes is that needed for any refrigeration equipment to preserve the cryogenic temperature. Higher fields, however can be achieved with special cooled resistive electromagnets, as superconducting coils will enter the normal (non-superconducting) state (see quench, above) at high fields.
Superconducting magnets are widely used in MRI machines, NMR equipment, mass spectrometers, magnetic separation processes, and particle accelerators.
One of the most challenging use of SC magnets is in the LHC particle accelerator.^[7] The niobium-titanium (Nb-Ti) magnets operate at 1.9 K to allow them to run safely at 8.3 T. Each magnet stores 7 MJ. In total the magnets store 10.4 GJ. Once or twice a day, as the protons are accelerated from 450 GeV to 7 TeV, the field of the superconducting bending magnets will be increased from 0.54 T to 8.3 T.
The central solenoid and toroidal field superconducting magnets designed for the ITER fusion reactor use niobium-tin (Nb₃Sn) as a superconductor. The Central Solenoid coil will carry 46 kA and produce a field of 13.5 teslas. The 18 Toroidal Field coils at max field of 11.8 T will store 41 GJ (total?).[clarification needed] They have been tested at a record 80 kA. Other lower field ITER magnets (PF and CC) will use niobium-titanium. Most of the ITER magnets will have their field varied many times per hour.
One high resolution mass spectrometer is planned to use a 21 Tesla SC magnet.^[8]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superconducting_magnet

[Low-Q]

Yes, it's a good one and leads-out much thought and speculation.

One question that immediately arises is this: Does the magnet always wind up rotating in the same direction or sense?
No... it does not. It can rotate in either direction once it gets started.

I have also done the experiment using a larger disc magnet, about the size and shape of a US quarter-dollar coin, completely
wrapped in copper foil. My thinking was that this should help to equalize any thermal gradient across the magnet. It still rotates.

The superconductor is a YBCO type, melt-textured and sintered, prepared according to formulae and directions from Eugene Podkletnov.

I assume the coolest side of the magnet change location as it "wobbles" so in a way this magnet starts to rotate due to difference in temperature. Its a lag in the temp.change, always delayed, causing the phenomenon.

My guess.

[Low-Q]

Ref. post 31. The coolest side of the magnet are getting temporarily demagnetized. I wonder if this rotation would happen if you put styrofoam between the magnet and the liquid nitrogen - insolateing the magnet somehow...

Vidar.

[Low-Q]

Ref. post 31-32. Cooling a magnet makes it more magnetized. So this is a heat engine based on magnetism :-)

[verpies]

There is no magnetic field surrounding a super conductor.

Yes there is, if a superconductive ring was made superconductive (frozen) WHILE a non-zero external magnetic flux was penetrating it.
Such superconducting ring will generate the magnetic flux penetrating its hole even when the external flux source is removed.

This is called "flux freezing" and can be used to attract a soft ferrite to a superconducting ring - just like a magnet would.

P.S.
Conversely, when such superconductor is "frozen" with magnetic flux absent, then it will continue to exclude any external flux, should such appear in its vicinity.  In other words, a superconducting ring maintains the flux level, which existed in its hole when it was "frozen".