High Fault-Tolerance Dual-Rotor Synchronous Machine With Hybrid Excitation Field Generated by Halbach Permanent Magnets and High Temperature Superconducting Magnets

Abstract

Superconductors can help electric machines achieve extremely high torque and power densities. However, operational instability is still a severe challenge for most superconducting electric machines. This paper proposes a novel dual-rotor hybrid excitation variable flux synchronous motor (DRHE-VFPM) suitable for applications with high safety requirements. The primary characteristic is using series-connected permanent magnet (PM) and High-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnet as the rotor's flux sources. These two magnets are on different rotors and steadily excited by each other through armature slots, improving several critical characteristics of the superconducting motor. First, the new electromagnetic topology can avoid severe quench accidents. At normal operation, the PM and HTS rotors can produce a large total electromagnetic torque. When the HTS magnets are damaged by the overtemperature or the mechanical shocks, the motor can still use the PM rotor to generate continuous torque instead of sudden interruption. Secondly, because an excessively strong rotor field will limit the speed, the variable flux density of the HTS magnet allows fuller use of voltage to extend the speed range and improve the power density. Moreover, the main magnetic circuit of the motor changes significantly under different operating states, which is analyzed theoretically in detail.