AP3-4

Superconducting motor for aircraft application using bulk material

Nov. 29 17:10-17:30

Remi Dorget1,2, Quentin Nouailhetas1, Julien Labbé2, Sabrina Ayat2, Jan Plecháček3, Kévin Berger1, Jean Lévêque1
University of Lorraine - Laboratory GREEN (France)1
SAFRAN TECH, Magny-les-Hameaux (France)2
CAN SUPERCONDUCTORS, Kamenice, (Czech republic)3

By 2050, the operational air fleet must have implemented an improvement of more than 90% in its carbon efficiency compared to the current fleet, in order to meet the objectives of halving the level of CO2 emissions in 2050 compared to those of 2005, while maintaining its projected growth rate. In this context, the members of the green working in the field of superconductor applications in electrical engineering are participating in the evolution of the aeronautical sector in this direction. Superconducting motors and generators are a potentially very interesting solution in the field of aeronautics. These superconducting devices allow to obtain very high powers and mass and volume torques. Moreover, the high efficiency of these machines makes them interesting in terms of energy saving. One of the goals is to find new superconducting machine structures or to optimize existing ones [1,2].
The static part of the inductor is composed of a superconducting coil producing an axial magnetizing field. The second element, a rotating part, is a set of superconducting bulk placed inside of the bore of the superconducting coil. These bulks shield the magnetic flux, and so flux density is then modulated between a low value near pellets and a high value elsewhere. The armature consists of a classical 3-phase windings made with copper without iron teeth in order to improve the performance.
One of the main problems is the ability of bulk superconductor to shield or trap magnetic field. Therefore, we present some element of design of a superconducting motor and the first tests on the bulks used in the rotating part.

[1] R. Dorget et al., « Design of a 500 kW partially superconducting flux modulation machine for aircraft propulsion », J. Phys. Conf. Ser., july 2021.
[2] R. Dorget et al., « Review on the Use of Superconducting Bulks for Magnetic Screening in Electrical Machines for Aircraft Applications », Materials, jan. 2021.

Acknowledgement: This work is supported by “Direction Générale de l’Armement”, the company SAFRAN Tech and Absolut System

Keywords: Re-BCO Bulk, Superconducting Motor