Cryocoolers for aircraft superconducting generators and motors

Radebaugh, Ray

doi:10.1063/1.4706918

Cited by 20 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…While many types of generators could be used for wind turbine applications , permanent magnet machines proved to be optimal in other airborne applications . Power densities of such machines typically range from 0.25 to 3kW/kg, with recently developed motors reaching 4.8kW/kg : the latter will be considered as a baseline for the current study. The effect of implementing a superconducting machine for airborne applications with power densities approaching 9kW/kg is also presented in Section 4.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design space exploration of gyrocopter‐type airborne wind turbines

et al. 2015

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This paper presents a multidisciplinary framework for the design and analysis of gyrocopter-type airborne wind turbines. In this concept, four rotary wings provide lift to a flying vehicle, and excess power is extracted using gearboxes and generators before being transferred to the ground through electrical conductors embedded in a structural tether. A physical breakdown of the system was performed, and five models were constructed: wind model, rotor aerodynamics, structural mass, electrical system, and tether (structures and aerodynamics). A stochastic optimizer in the framework enforces interdisciplinary compatibility and maximizes electrical power transmitted to the ground under various operating conditions. The framework is then used to explore the design space of this advanced concept in numerous flight conditions. The effect of implementing new technologies was also studied in order to evaluate their effect on the overall performance of the system. It is shown through a 1.3 MW design that a gyrocopter-type airborne generator could provide more power than a ground-based wind turbine for a given blade radius, although only a fraction of the available wind power can be harvested using off-the-shelf technologies and components. The work presented in this study demonstrates the challenges of designing a high altitude wind generator and shows that performance is affected by complex interactions between each subsystem.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design space exploration of gyrocopter‐type airborne wind turbines

et al. 2015

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“…This power can be computed from the efficiency and input power of each element of the propulsive system. When High-Temperature Superconductors (HTS) are used in place of metallic cables, it is also necessary to estimate the weight of the cryogenic cooler, for which the weight can be estimated following the suggestions contained in [47].…”

Section: G Thermal Management System Sizingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emergency Landing of a Hybrid Electric Tiltrotor After Engine Failure

Serafini,

Moretti,

Bernardini

et al. 2024

IEEE Trans. Transp. Electrific.

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Due to the increase in short-range air mobility, tiltrotors are expected to get a market share in civil operations. Concomitantly, the need to reduce pollutants and noise emissions requires adopting innovative propulsion, but full-electric tiltrotors are not a feasible solution yet. A series-hybrid retrofit of the XV-15 is thus proposed. An emergency landing procedure is suggested for the critical case of engine failure when batteries are fully discharged. Aircraft rotors act as wind turbines, extracting power during the glide, and recharging the batteries for electrically powered conversion and landing. The propulsive retrofit of the XV-15 shows that current battery technology is not mature to make it a viable solution, and a complete vehicle re-design would be required, exploiting other side-effects of hybrid propulsion on aerodynamic performance. However, the improvement in the performance of the accumulators in the next decade can significantly modify this scenario. The proposed emergency landing procedure consists of a constant-speed descent after and before a constant altitude deceleration. The analysis shows that the optimal descent speed is between 55 and 60 m/s. The limited variation of rotor collective pitch and glide path angle should make performing the emergency sequence relatively easy for the pilot.

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“…However, these types have low reliability, low cooling power/capability, and so cannot be used for long HTS cables [186,187]. As a result of this, a new type of cryocoolers, known as turbo Brayton cryocoolers, has been proposed for long HTS cables which are going to be implemented in aircraft, ship, and spacecraft [188][189][190]. The integration of such cryocoolers contributes to the increase in total efficiency of the HTS cables, more stable temperature, lower weight, lower cooling cost, and longer length with higher voltage HTS cables would be achieved [191].…”

Section: For Cooling Units Against Faultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

High temperature superconducting cables and their performance against short circuit faults: current development, challenges, solutions, and future trends

Yazdani-Asrami

Seyyedbarzegar

Sadeghi

et al. 2022

Supercond. Sci. Technol.

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Along with advancements in superconducting technology, especially in high temperature superconductors (HTS), the use of these materials in power system applications is gaining outstanding attention. Due to the lower weight, higher current carrying capability, and the lower loss of HTS cables compared to conventional counterparts, they are among the most focused applications of superconductors in power systems. In near future, these cables will be installed as key elements not only in power systems but also in cryo-electrified transportation units, which take advantage of both cryogenics and superconducting technology simultaneously, e.g. hydrogen-powered aircraft. Given the sensitivity of the reliable and continuous performance of HTS cables, any failures, caused by faults, could be catastrophic, if they are not designed appropriately. Thus, fault analysis of superconducting cables is crucial for ensuring their safety, reliability, and stability, and also for characterising the behaviour of HTS cables under fault currents at the design stage. Many investigations were conducted on the fault characterisation and analysis of HTS cables in the last few years. This paper aims to provide a topical review on all of these conducted studies, It will discuss the current challenges of HTS cables and after that current developments of fault behaviour of HTS cables would be presented, and then we will discuss the future trends and future challenges of superconducting cables regarding their fault performance.

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Cryocoolers for aircraft superconducting generators and motors

Cited by 20 publications

References 15 publications

Design space exploration of gyrocopter‐type airborne wind turbines

Design space exploration of gyrocopter‐type airborne wind turbines

Emergency Landing of a Hybrid Electric Tiltrotor After Engine Failure

High temperature superconducting cables and their performance against short circuit faults: current development, challenges, solutions, and future trends

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