Conceptual Design and Electromagnetic Analysis of 2 MW Fully Superconducting Synchronous Motors With Superconducting Magnetic Shields for Turbo-Electric Propulsion System

Abstract

With air traffic predicted to increase in the future, CO2 emission must be decreased to prevent global warming. Our research group previously proposed electric propulsion systems based on superconducting technology, which is promising for reducing emissions. In this study, propulsive 2 MW fully superconducting motors were conceptually designed. At operating temperatures of 20 and 64 K, we observed the influence of the superconducting magnetic shield on the electromagnetic properties, especially the output power density, AC loss, and efficiency. The superconducting magnetic shield can reduce leakage magnetic field to the outside of the motor by inducing a current, and the shield is reproduced with a conductor of extremely high conductivity for simplicity in electromagnetic analysis. As a result, at an operating temperature of 20 K, the superconducting motors with the superconducting magnetic shields showed a high power density greater than 40 kW/kg and high efficiency of 99.7%. Even at an operating temperature of 64 K, the motors with the superconducting shield showed a power density and efficiency of 20 kW/kg and 99.4%, respectively.