Practical Design of a 10 MW Superconducting Wind Power Generator Considering Weight Issue

High-temperature superconducting (HTS) coated conductors (CCs) are widely regarded as a promising candidate to enable very high power density motors. These machines operate at high rotational speeds, with some designs going up to 12 000 rpm. HTS CCs are applied to the field windings of these motors to increase the magnetic loading and hence the power density. Even though the superconducting field windings operate with a DC current, due to the magnetic field environment, losses are present. This paper examines the dynamic and total loss characteristics of YBCO-coated conductors in the frequency range relevant to high-speed motors for electric aircraft propulsion. A multi-layer model was created using the H -formulation and the losses for each layer were highlighted. For the first time, it was shown that the DC transport current region in the HTS layer shrinks as the frequency of the applied field increases due to the increased magnetisation current around the edges of the CC, which reduces the dynamic loss per cycle as the frequency increases. To fully understand the loss distribution in the HTS CC, the total loss in the conductor was investigated. For an applied magnetic field of 100 mT and 800 Hz, more than 30% of the total loss occurs in the copper layer due to the decreased penetration depth of the magnetic field and the skin effect. Results show that to accurately model and understand the losses in superconducting field windings, a multi-layer model should be used, since a significant proportion of loss shifts towards the copper stabilizers. Over all, it was shown that both the dynamic loss as well as magnetisation loss play a crucial role in the estimation of the loss in superconducting field windings.

Section: Numerical Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…technology to significantly increase the power densities [1][2][3][4]. Superconducting motors in particular are considered vital to enable all-electric propulsion systems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Loss characteristics of HTS coated conductors in field windings of electric aircraft propulsion motors

Kails

Zhang

Mueller

et al. 2020

“…High-temperature superconducting (HTS) coated conductors are widely being researched in power applications. Especially for superconducting rotating machines, HTS CCs have become a promising candidate as opposed to conventional conductors to significantly increase the power densities [1][2][3][4][5][6]. HTS CCs are most commonly applied to the field windings of the rotating machine since they exhibit virtually no loss while carrying a DC current.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamic loss of HTS field windings in rotating electric machines

Kails

Zhang

Machura

et al. 2020

High-temperature superconducting (HTS) coated conductors (CCs) are frequently applied under complex electromagnetic fields to develop powerful, compact and efficient rotating electric machines. In such electric machines, field windings constructed by HTS CCs are adopted to increase the magnetic loading of the machines. The HTS field windings work with DC currents and due to the time-varying magnetic field environment, dynamic losses occur. In addition to the AC magnetic field, there is a large DC background field, which is caused by the self-field of the HTS field windings. This paper investigates the dynamic loss in HTS CCs using an H-formulation based numerical model for a wide range of combined DC and AC magnetic fields under various load conditions, and two different methods have been used for calculating dynamic loss. The results show that a DC background field plays a vital role to accurately predict the dynamic losses in HTS CCs. A DC background field of 75 mT can triple the dynamic loss as compared to only applying an AC magnetic field. In addition, the theoretical definition for the dynamic region for the case of solely an AC field has been found inapplicable in the case of a DC background field. Finally, a case study is done based on our double claw pole power generator to estimate the dynamic loss in an actual rotating machine, which was found to be 13.3 W. A low dynamic loss was achieved through the generator field winding design, which prevents high magnetic field fluctuations in the winding, since it is located at a distance from the air gap and armature coils. Furthermore, the rotational speed is very low and hence the resultant magnetic field frequency is low as well.

“…However, when the number of turns of the pancake coils increases to hundreds, this FEM approach based on the H-formulation will suffer from long computation time [6]. For instance, in the case of a 10 MW class wind generator, the number of turns per double pancake racetrack superconducting coil is designed to be up to 2000 [7][8][9][10][11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of 2D simulation models to estimate the critical current of a coated superconducting coil

Liu

Grilli

et al. 2018

Superconductors have been being applied to a variety of large-scale power applications, including magnets, electric machines, and fault current limiters, because they can enable a compact, lightweight and high efficiency design. In applications such those mentioned above, superconducting coils are always a key component. For example, in a superconducting electric machine, the superconducting coils are used to generate the main flux density in the air gap, which is significantly important for the energy conversion. It is the performance of the superconducting coils that plays an essential role in determining the performance of the device. However, the performance of a superconducting coil is limited by its critical current, which is determined by temperature and the magnitude and orientation of the magnetic field inside the superconductors. Hence, in-depth investigations to estimate the critical current of the superconducting coils are necessary before manufacturing. Available transient simulation models to estimate the critical current are through the H-and T-A formulations of Maxwell's equations. Both methods consider the same current ramp-up process occurring in experiments. Besides these transient models, static simulations can also be used: a modified load-line method and the so-called P-model, which is based on the asymptotic limit of Faraday's equation when time approaches infinity. To find the best way to calculate the critical current, the four methods are used to estimate the critical current of a double pancake superconducting coils and results are compared with experiments. As a conclusion, T-A formulation, P-model, and the modified load-line methods are recommended for estimating the critical current of the superconducting coils.