Development of a High Speed HTS Generator for Airborne Applications

• Published in: IEEE transactions on applied superconductivity Vol. 19; no. 3; pp. 1656 - 1661
• Main Authors: Sivasubramaniam, K., Zhang, T., Lokhandwalla, M., Laskaris, E.T., Bray, J.W., Gerstler, B., Shah, M.R., Alexander, J.P.
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01.06.2009; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Alternators; Applied sciences; Contracts; Density; Electric power generation; Electrical engineering. Electrical power engineering; Electrical machines; Electrical power engineering; Electromagnets; Exact sciences and technology; Extrapolation; Generators; High power density; High speed; High temperature superconductors; high-speed generator; Inductors; Military aircraft; Military planes; Miscellaneous; Packaging machines; Power generation; Power networks and lines; Stators; Superconducting coils; superconducting generator; Superconductivity; Testing; Various equipment and components; Performance evaluation; Power density; High power density; High density; Program specification; Avionics; Military application; High power; superconducting generator; Electrical network; Full load; Electric power; High speed; high-speed generator; Superconducting generators; High temperature superconductor
• ISSN: 1051-8223; 1558-2515
• DOI: 10.1109/TASC.2009.2017758

General Electric, under contract with the Air Force Research Labs (AFRL), has successfully developed and tested a high speed, multimegawatt superconducting generator. The generator was built to demonstrate high temperature superconducting (HTS) generator technology for application in a high power density Multimegawatt Electric Power System (MEPS) for the Air Force. The demonstration tested the generator under load conditions up to 1.3 MW at over 10,000 rpm. The new MEPS generator achieved 97% efficiency including cryocooler losses. All test results indicate that the generator has a significant margin over the test points and that its performance is consistent with program specifications. This demonstration is the first successful full-load test of a superconducting generator for the Air Force. In this paper we describe the development of the generator and present some key test results used to validate the design. Extrapolation to a higher power density generator is also discussed.