Superconducting Electrical Machine Modular Power Stage Integration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional electrical machines with superconducting windings face challenges in compactness, weight, and dynamic response due to the distance between power output stages and machine coils, limiting their suitability for applications requiring high power density and fast operating behavior.
Innovation Solution
A modular design where each machine coil is electrically connected to a separate, controllable power output stage, arranged within a thermal insulator, allowing for efficient cooling and precise monitoring, enabling faster detection of faults and improved reliability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If the power output stage is arranged outside the thermal insulator, then the cooling system can be simpler, but the distance between power output stage and machine coil increases, reducing power density and dynamic response
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the power output stage with the thermal insulator by arranging the power output stage within the thermal insulator. This integration allows the power output stage to be positioned close to the machine coil while maintaining thermal isolation, thereby achieving high power density without compromising the cooling system's functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The power output stage is nested within the thermal insulator, creating a hierarchical structure where the power output stage is contained inside the thermal insulation space. This nesting enables close proximity between the power output stage and the machine coil, improving power density while the thermal insulator provides necessary thermal protection.
2Power
If the power output stage is arranged within the thermal insulator, then power density and dynamic response improve, but the cooling system becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system is merged with the thermal insulator by integrating the cooling channels directly into the thermal insulator structure. This allows the cooling system to efficiently remove heat from the power output stage and machine coil while maintaining a compact design, offsetting the increased complexity through functional integration.
Solution Approach 2:
The thermal insulator serves as an intermediary structure that simultaneously provides thermal isolation and houses the cooling system. This dual-function design allows the cooling system to operate effectively within the thermal insulator, managing the complexity by combining multiple functions in a single component.
3Ease of manufacture
If conventional electric machines are used, then manufacturing and assembly are simpler, but they cannot meet high dynamic response requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the operating parameters of the electric machine by using superconducting materials for the machine coil, which enables operation at cryogenic temperatures. This parameter change (temperature) fundamentally alters the electrical resistance characteristics, allowing for high dynamic response while maintaining manufacturing feasibility through modular design.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs composite material structures, combining superconducting materials with conventional materials in a hybrid design. The machine coil uses superconducting wire with stabilizing matrices, and the overall system integrates superconducting components with conventional structural elements, achieving high performance while managing manufacturing complexity.
4Power
If superconducting materials are used, then power density increases, but weight and volume increase due to cooling requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses thin-walled cryostats and lightweight thermal insulation structures to minimize the weight of the cooling system. The thermal insulator employs thin, efficient insulation materials that provide necessary thermal protection without adding excessive weight, allowing the machine to achieve high power density while keeping overall weight manageable.
Solution Approach 2:
By operating at cryogenic temperatures, the superconducting materials eliminate electrical resistance, dramatically reducing energy losses and allowing for more efficient power transmission. This parameter change (temperature) enables higher power density without proportionally increasing the weight of cooling requirements, as the superconducting state itself reduces the thermal load.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This design enhances the reliability and power density of electrical machines, enabling their use in applications like hybrid aircraft propulsion by reducing weight, volume, and installation complexity while ensuring effective protection and efficient cooling.
Implementation Method 1
Superconducting materials are materials whose electrical resistance drops abruptly to zero when a material-specific critical temperature is reached
Implementation Method 2
the electric machine has a cooling device suitable for cooling a superconducting material to at least below a critical temperature
Implementation Method 3
the windings are surrounded by a thermal insulator
Implementation Method 4
If the windings of the machine coils, cooled below the critical temperature, are subjected to an alternating current, for example, only a small energy loss occurs, which is very small compared to an ohmic resistance. This allows even relatively small machines to generate strong electromagnetic fields
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to an electrical machine comprising a stator (1), a rotor and multiple machine coils (3). The electrical machine comprises a cooling device which is suitable for cooling a superconducting material, at least to below a transition temperature. Windings (4) of at least two machine coils (3) consist of the superconducting material and are assigned to different winding groups. The windings (4) are operatively connected to the cooling device in order to cool the windings (4) to below the transition temperature. The electrical machine comprises an open-loop or closed-loop controlled power supply device that is electrically conductively connected to the windings (4), for the supply of electrical power and activation of the machine coils (2). At least two winding groups are each electrically conductively connected to a separate, open-loop or closed-loop controlled power output stage (6) of the power supply device. The separate, open-loop or closed-loop controlled power output stages (6) are arranged inside the thermally insulated region (5) of the electrical machine, which is delimited by the thermal insulator.