Conceptual design of an electrical machine with both low and high T/sub c/ superconductors

Abstract

The emergence of high T/sub c/ superconducting (HTS) wires with large critical current densities allows the design and construction of many applications, for example, rotating electrical machines. Nevertheless, the current "state of the art" of Bi "powder in tube" wires, the most advanced HTS conductor, is not adequate for an ac operation. We thus propose a fully superconducting synchronous machine with an NbTi stationary 4 K armature and a rotating Bi-2223 field winding at 20 or 40 K. Thanks to the armature cryogenic environment, the cooling of the Bi coils is very simple. The conceptual design of a typical machine is suggested and several electromagnetic designs are presented. The first one deals with a Bi field winding adapted to an existing NbTi armature of a tenth of kYA. Afterwards, large torque motors are theoretically designed comparing the high (at 20 and 40 K) and low T/sub c/ field winding solutions. The results are comparable for NbTi and Bi at 20 K. But with a Bi field winding operating at 40 K, the performances are degraded. Otherwise, at 4 or 20 K fully superconducting motors show high performances in terms of weight, volume, and efficiency. Nevertheless, the Bi field windings require a large amount of material indicating that improvements in critical current density are needed.