Temperature distribution in a wire

The governing equation for the temperature distribution in an electrically conducting wire in a vacuum with radiative
effects is,

2
() = (( 4 4 ) )

Variable/constant Name Units Value

Current
Cross sectional area
Thermal conductivity
Wire diameter
Electrical resistivity
Stefan Boltzmann const
Wire length
Temperature
Ambient temperature
Position along wire
A 2
m2 -
W/m/K 391
m -
m 1.68e-8
W/m2/K4 5.67e-8
m 0.5
K -
K 298
m -

One converts from wire diameter, to American Wire Gauge (AWG), using,
36
(mm) = 0.127 92 39

We can use a numerical boundary value problem solver (shooting method) in MATLAB to determine the temperature
profile over the wire for a given wire diameter. At AWG30, = 2.55 104 m using boundary conditions of |=0 = 298
and |=0.5 = 298,
During operation (assuming the innards of the dewar are at 77K):
MATLAB code:

function void=tinwire()

ks=391; % conductivity
rhor=1.68e-8; % resistivity
I=2; % max current
Tx0=298; % ambient temp
Tx5=298; % tank temp
sigma= 5.67e-8; % Stefan Boltzmann const
L=0.5; % length of wire

for n=30:-2:20
d=0.127e-3*92^((36-n)/39);
A=pi*d^2/4;
xinit=linspace(0,0.5,10);
yinit=[400,0];
solinit=bvpinit(xinit,yinit);

sol=bvp4c(@tbalance,@bcfun,solinit);

x=linspace(0,0.5,100);
y=deval(sol,x);
plot(x,y(1,:));
hold on
end
legend('AWG30','AWG28','AWG26','AWG24','AWG22','AWG20');

function dydx = tbalance(x,y)

dydx(1)=y(2);
dydx(2)=(pi*d*sigma*(y(1)^4-298^4)-I^2*rhor/A)*L/(A*ks);
end

function res=bcfun(ya,yb)
res=[ya(1)-298,yb(1)-298];
end

end