Development and rotating test of the high temperature superconducting motor with on-board cryocooler

Abstract

In this paper, the prototype of the HTS motor with an on-board cryocooler, is fabricated and tested. The overall system is composed of the stator with conventional copper winding, the rotor with superconductor, and the rotating cryocooler designed from the on-board concept. The rotor is fabricated as the race-track coil with 2G, YBCO tape and contacts with the on-board cryocooler while being rotated together. An inline-type pulse tube refrigerator is used as the on-board cryocooler. The cryocooler is fabricated from optimal process to satisfy the structure and thermal stability of the on-board system. Each component is integrated according to carefully defined sequence. Specially, a combining method of torque tubes is an important part for sustaining stability of the rotor and the cryocooler. In the rotating test, the HTS motor is successfully operated with 240 rpm of rotating speed when 75 A current is supplied to the superconducting rotor. In this paper, potential problems of the HTS motor system using the on-board cryocooler are proposed and solved, and realistic possibility of this concept is also confirmed.