High-Temperature Superconductors (HTS) considerably accelerate the development of superconducting machines for electrical engineering applications such as fully electrical aircraft. This present contribution is an overview of different superconducting materials that can be used as magnetic screens for the inductor of high specific power electrical machines. The impact of the material properties, such as the critical temperature (Tc) and the critical current density (Jc), on the machine performances is evaluated. In addition, the relevance to flux modulation machines of different HTS bulk synthesis methods are addressed.
The increasing of drives towards More Electric Aircraft (MEA) or the development of electric propulsion aircraft calls for MW-class electrical machines with more compact and power dense designs. One way is to explore the use of superconducting (SC) materials to create a high magnetic field in order to reduce the mass of ferromagnetic components. This paper presents the design and the test of a brushless axial flux superconducting machine. The brushless topology satisfies the aeronautics industry requirements in terms of maintenance, while the axial configuration ensures an optimal use of the anisotropic HTS tapes. The machine is classed as partially superconducting, only the inductor is made with superconducting materials. A 50kW prototype is manufactured with a minimal mass objective. The prototype constitutes a first step to a scale-up MW-class machine design.
This paper presents a theoretical analysis of an axial field machine using High Temperature Superconductors (HTS) wires and bulks. The air-gap magnetic field obtained with the HTS coil and modulated by the HTS bulks is predicted by two 2D axisymmetric models. Analytical models are based on the solution of Laplace's equation by the separation of variable method. The torque is obtained by a quick numerical integration of the Laplace force that acts on the armature winding. The proposed model is compared with 3D finite element simulations and good agreement is obtained. This model can be used with an optimization design procedure with a large reduction of the computational time.
If a cold source such as liquid H2 or cryogenic fuel is available, cryogenic and high-temperature superconductivity technologies are promising to significantly increase performance of electric propulsion systems. A first study for aeronautic applications shows that the power density of electrical components could be multiplied 2 to 3 times to reach more than 30kW/kg for electric motors and power electronics, the weight of cables can be considerably reduced, and the efficiency increased by more than 50% with a voltage between below 500 V for multi-megawatt applications. With ASCEND, AIRBUS intends to demonstrate the potential and feasibility of a cryogenic and superconducting powertrain to breakthrough aircraft electric propulsion performance.
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