Design and AC loss analysis of a superconducting synchronous motor

Abstract

This paper gives a conceptual design of a superconducting synchronous motor consistingof both high-temperature superconducting rotating field winding and armaturewinding. The AC losses of the armature winding of the motor have been investigatedexperimentally and numerically, by considering the self-field of the superconducting coilsand the rotating magnetic field exposed on the armature winding. The recentdevelopments of YBCO-coated conductors present the possibility of achieving awholly superconducting machine of significantly smaller size and weight than aconventional machine. Both the rotating field winding and the armature windingare composed of YBCO high-temperature superconducting (HTS) coils. A lowAC loss armature winding design has been developed for this superconductingsynchronous motor. The performance of the machine was investigated by modellingwith the finite-element method. The machine’s torque is calculated from firstprinciples by considering the angle between the field and the armature main fluxlines.