New configuration to improve the power input/output quality of a superconducting energy storage/convertor

Abstract

In the last few years, we have proposed a new kind of superconducting energy storage/convertor and conducted a number of investigations on it. The results of these studies demonstrate this kind of device is of significant advantages in mechanical → electromagnetic → mechanical energy conversion. In this study, we proposed a new configuration for this kind of device, which consists of two permanent magnets and two superconducting coils. With the new configuration, the evenness of the power distribution of this kind of device in energy converting can be greatly improved compared to the original single magnet and single superconducting coil configuration. As a result, the energy storage capacity is also increased. We carried out theoretical analysis and numerical derivation which delivered mathematic descriptions on the parameters of new configuration. Then, experiments were conducted on a prototype with the new configuration. The experimental results of the key parameters showed good agreement with the calculated ones. Furthermore, we investigated the critical factors impacting the power distribution of this kind of device, including the ratio of the magnetic moments of the two magnets and the distance between the two superconducting coils. It has been proved that for any given distance, a definite magnetic moments ratio can always be obtained, resulting in the optimum power performance of the proposed configuration. The study further proves the application feasibility of this kind of energy storage/convertor in mechanical energy recovery and reuse.