Electromagnetic Design of Superconducting Synchronous Motors for Electric Aircraft Propulsion

This paper evaluates the electromagnetic characteristics as to two types of superconducting motors: one is the superconducting motors adopting high-temperature superconducting field coils and copper armature windings; and the other is fully-superconducting motors, which have high-temperature superconducting field coils and MgB 2 superconducting armature windings. Analytical formulas and FEM are employed for the designs of 1.5-, 3.0-, and 5.0-MW motors. We consider how to reduce ac loss in MgB 2 winding structure as well. The analysis of our results, which was conducted mainly over output density and efficiency, suggests that the adoption of superconducting motors is more realistic in realizing electrical aircraft propulsion system in terms of higher output; the analysis results show that the fully-superconducting motors have a potential to reach over 16 kw/kg.