Design of a Power-Dense Aviation Motor with a Low-Loss Superconducting
Slotted Armature
Abstract
This article describes the design and analysis of a 2.5-MW, 5000-rpm
electric motor with a slotted armature employing REBCO high-temperature
superconductors (HTS). The alternating current and field in the armature
induces AC losses in the superconductors, requiring cryogenic cooling.
Therefore, the aim is to design a machine with sufficiently low losses
to make this cooling realistic, which simultaneously outperforms the
state-of-the-art. The reasoning behind the key design choices is
presented before the model used for two-dimensional (2-D) finite element
analysis (FEA) is described. Then, HTS AC losses are studied with the
T-A-formulation, examining the impact of various operating conditions.
Aligning the HTS tapes with the field was found to successfully reduce
AC losses, while filamentization was only successful for more than 10
filaments. The final design had an estimated efficiency of 99.8%, an
active torque density of 50.9 Nm/kg, and a cryogenic cooling power
requirement of 0.05% of the output power.