Superconducting Synchronous Motor Electric Drive

Ion DOBRIN, Lucian PSLARU-DNESCU, Victor STOICA

Abstract
In this paper, the functioning conditions for a superconducting synchronous electric motor are analyzed together
with the electric drive systems, the motors cooling cryogenic system as well as the protection system of the
rotor superconducting winding. The equipment for driving and testing of the superconducting synchronous
electric motor by the inverter equipment, is conceived for doing a wide range of synchronous rotating speeds,
as well as a large number of functioning modes, software programmable. Also, the complex quench protection
system includes quench detection and crossing superconducting windings in parallel on discharge resistance.
Keywords: electric motor, superconductor, cryogenic, electric drive

1. INTRODUCTION
This paper presents the current state of
the work conducted to build a small power
high temperature superconductor (HTS)
synchronous motor. Are presented also
some specific issues related to synchronous
superconducting electric motor drive.
The goal of the present work is to develop
a
prototype
of
a
superconducting
synchronous motor, in order to explore the
possibilities of employing superconductivity
in electric machines area.
A new efficiency class of electric motors is
developing, based on the use of high
temperature
superconductors. The HTS
technology progress, generates this new
field of application. The new types of
motors/generators are more compact, have
higher efficiency and smaller
volume
compared with conventional ones, [1]. The
prototype was designed in a hybrid structure,
the stator winding of a conventional type with
copper wire and three-phase power winding
and the rotor has a superconducting
windings with "high" critical temperature
HTS, YBCO type. Superconducting rotor
coils are fed from a programmable DC power
source for low voltage. Providing thermal
operating conditions of superconducting coils

Ion DOBRIN, Doc. Eng.; Lucian PSLARU-DNESCU, Doc.

Eng.; Victor STOICA, Eng INCDIE ICPE-CA.

was achieved by cooling with subcooled

liquid nitrogen at 65K [2].
The work was conducted at the National
Institute for Research and Development in
Electrical
Engineering
(ICPE-CA),
in
partnership with the University Politehnica of
Bucharest, the Institute for Research in
Electric Motors (ICPE-ME) and the National
Institute for Research in Cryogenics (ICSI) in
Rm. Vlcea. The project was funded by the
National Center for Programs Management
within the framework of the National
Program II.
2. MACHINE DESIGN
The first step in building the HTS motor
was the design phase that accounts for the
specific working conditions of the HTS
winding and the chosen constructive model
[3]. We considered the design where the
superconducting coils generates the DC field
(rotor winding). Figure 1 shows the motor
armature and the case.

Figure 1. A 3D section view of the superconducting

motor

The motor enclosure is made of stainless

ELECTROTEHNIC, ELECTRONIC, AUTOMATIC, 60 (2012), nr. 1

26

steel, and has several important functions: it

ensures a vacuum-proof casing at a level of
min. 10-3 torr, which helps reducing the heat
leakage from the armature to rotor; it
confines and supports the motor armature
and the rotor housing; it sinks the heat
produced within the armature winding; it
provides for good structural stability of the
motor. The enclosure is made of a cylindrical
shell, two flanges; is has a finned outer
surface to improve the heat transfer to the
ambient. The rotor armature is stainless
steel made of.
The rotor has a complex structure: it
contains the HTS winding field, and it has to
provide for adequate operating conditions
(temperature and current control). The rotor
works closely with the cryogenic cooling
system, which ensure the cryogenic fluid
feed that is necessary to extract heat and
ensure an as low as 65 K [4] temperature at
the HTS coils level. The field coils are made
of HTS type YBCO tape, of racetrack shape,
and double pancake coils.
The main characteristics of the coils HTS
tape, are presented in the table1.

Heat exchanger
LN 77K
DEWAR

LN65K
Stator winding

LN in

LN out

Motor case

HTS rotor coils

Figure 2. Motor cooling scheme

The figure 3 shows the prototype of the

synchronous superconducting electric motor
in final stage.

Figure 3. Superconducting synchronous electric

motor

Table 1.
Feature
Material
Width (mm)
Thicness (mm)
Insulationmm)
Ic (A)
Tc (K)

Value
YBCO
4,22
0,19
0,03
120
92

The rotor has two poles, each pole

provided with a double pancake field coil,
with 70 turns per coil. The rotor enclosure is
vacuumed, and an AC flux shield is provided
to protect the HTS winding against AC
influences and against the heat generated by
the armature winding the shield is
connected to the cold part of the rotor.
The armature is of conventional design,
with iron core. The stator winding are AC,
three-phased, classical (copper).
The second problem, of major concern, is
the thermal stability of the motor [5]. Unlike
classical machines, here the rotor has HTS
coils wich demandes for thermal cooling
under 90K. Subcooled liquid nitrogen is used
to cool down the superconducting winding to
65K. Figure 2 shows the cooling scheme of
the superconducting synchronous motor.

3. Power drive systems.

3.1. Rotor power system
The electric power of the superconducting
winding has some particulatities because of
the relatively high currents (~102A) and a
slow rate of current increasing.
The power system mainly consists (as
presented in figure 4) in the programmable
DC power source that can deliver stabilized
currents in the range 0-150A and the
collector, made especially for distributing
high currents to the superconducting coils.
collector

rotor

shaft

Electric
brushes

Persistent
switch

Supraconducting
coils

Supply cc 150A

+
--

Figure 4. The general power scheme of the rotor

ELECTROTEHNIC, ELECTRONIC, AUTOMATIC, 60 (2012), nr. 1

Related to the electric power system,

there is an electronic protection system for
the superconducting coils for the event of a
quench, which downloads the current from
the superconducting circuit, outside.
The power supply (see above figure 4)
can be made both in drive and in persistent
mode. In driven mode, as soon as the rotor
coils enters in the superconducting state
(zero resistance), can be applied the
increasing current until reaching the
maximum value and maintained at this value
with the current source coupled to the
winding.
In persistent mode, once reached the
maximum value of the current through the
superconducting coils, these coils are
shorted" through a so-called "persistent
switch", i.e. a superconducting loop made
resistive/superconducting
through
a
persistent mode switch.
Thus, the power supply can be
disconnected from the winding, wich remains
in "short circuit by means of the persistent
switch. Once maintained the thermal proper
functioning condition (T < Tc) in
superconducting regime, the current can flow
through the rotor winding practically without
losses do to its zero resistance.
Thus, the rotor winding behaves similar to
a permanent magnet. To discharge the
electric current of the rotor windings, either a
"quench" can be caused, which activates the
electronic protection system of the
superconducting coils, either the power
supply can be used, by re-coupling it to the
winding, by re-enabling the persistent mode
switch into resistive state and programming
the power supply to a lower current value
usually to zero.

27

Figure 5. Configuration of the inverter

More precisely, a general-purpose

inverter consists of two significant sections,
the main circuit and the control circuit. The
main circuit is subdivided into the converter,
which converts a current from a power
supply to DC and then smoothes pulsation
included in the converted DC, and the
inverter part, which converts the smoothed
DC to AC with variable frequency. Basically,
a converter refers to a unit that performs
forward conversion from AC to DC whereas
an inverter refers to a unit that performs
reverse conversion from DC to AC [10], [11].
As described above, the main circuit part
in an inverter consists of two power supply
converters that are largely different from
each other in elements and characteristics.
3.2.2. Torque boost characteristics
a. Fundamental equivalent circuit of
the superconductive motor
For your understanding of the torque
boost, first the fundamental equivalent circuit
of motor is described. Figure 6 is an
equivalent circuit, [6], which is generally
used for a motor.

3.2. Equipment for driving and testing of

the superconducting synchronous
electric motor
3.2.1. Configuration of the three-phase
frequency inverter
Figure 5 shows the configuration of a
general-purpose inverter, which uses a
three-phase power supply (AC 50Hz) to
create an AC power supply that generates
various, needed frequencies to rotate a
superconductive synchronous motor at
various speeds.

Figure 6. Equivalent circuit of motor

where:
V - Primary voltage;
V' - Primary induced voltage;
I1 - Primary current;
I2 - Secondary current (primary converted
value);
r1 - Primary resistance;
r2 - Secondary resistance (primary

ELECTROTEHNIC, ELECTRONIC, AUTOMATIC, 60 (2012), nr. 1

28

converted value);
rm - Iron loss resistance;
Xm - Excitation reactance;
X1 - Primary magnetic leakage reactance;
X2 - Secondary leakage reactance;
S Slip.
In addition, the equivalent circuit is (see
figure 7) in the condition that the circuit is
open on the secondary side during the motor
operation without load.

Figure 7. Equivalent circuit (secondary open without

load)

The voltage equation is presented in

formula (1):

V ' = (V )( jlm )( r1 + jX 1 )

(1)

It is replaced with V = ( jlm )( r1 + jX 1 ) ,

the formula can be simplified as formula (2)

V ' = (V ) V

(2)

be changed.
The output torque, [7], [11], TM, of the
superconductive synchronous motor is
expressed as the product of the magnetic
flux inside the motor () multiplied by the
current flowing in the coil (I), as in formula 4:

Torque TM = K I = K

V
I
F

(4)

The relationship between the magnetic

flux (), the voltage applied to a motor (V)
and the frequency (F), is expressed as
=V/F. If the voltage is fixed (e.g. 200V) and
only the frequency is decreased, the
increased magnetic flux () causes the iron
core to be magnetic saturation and then the
increased current causes overheat and
burnout.
Changing the voltage applied to a motor
(V) and the frequency (F) with their
relationship kept constant allows the motor
output torque to be constant even if the
motor speed is changed. For these two
reasons, the output voltage must be
controlled low when the inverter output
frequency is low, and controlled high when
the frequency is high. This relationship
between the output frequency and the output
voltage is called V/F mode (see figure 8).

The torque generated torque affects due

to the primary resistance and primary leak
reactance inside the motor or the voltage
drop caused by the cable impedance of the
motor wiring.
b. V/F mode
The motor speed is determined by the
relationship between the load torque TL. The
control with an inverter is widely used in a
method which changes this frequency f as
a control of the motor speed, [7].

n=

60 f
(1 S )
p

(3)

where:
p = number of pair of poles
S = slip, determined by the load torque
If f = fS, where fS is the synchronous
speed, when the rotor winding enters in the
superconducting state, s = 0.
Changing the motor speed is enabled by
changing the frequency as shown in
formula 3. When the output frequency of an
inverter is changed, the output voltage must

Figure 8. V/F mode and motor output torque

The output voltage of the inverter must be

V/f = Constant at the base frequency or
lower. However, the primary wiring of the
motor includes the amounts of resistance
and
reactance
(collectively
called
impedance) (as shown in the equivalent
circuit of figure 8) and the torque generated
by the motor decreases due to the voltage
drop caused by the impedance. A first
superconductive synchronous motor is
designed with a winding in consideration for
the amount of the voltage drop at 50 Hz.
When this motor is operated with an inverter,
the voltage varies in proportion to the
change of the output frequency f.
In figure 9, the ideal V/f pattern of
superconductive synchronous motor is

ELECTROTEHNIC, ELECTRONIC, AUTOMATIC, 60 (2012), nr. 1

29

showing.

Figure 9. Ideal V/f mode of motor

As shown in figure 10, the compensation

of the voltage resulting the torque boost.

Figure 10. Actual inverter V/f mode

3.2.3. General description of the

experimental functional model drive.
The equipment for driving and testing of
the superconducting synchronous electric
motor is constituted from:
a) A three-phase frequency inverter
powered with 3 x 380 V~, f = 50 Hz which
supplies at output a three-phase voltage of
3 x 220 V~; f = 50 Hz, applied to the
superconducting synchronous electric motor
with the stator winding in star connection,
(see figure 12), where A triphase frequency
inverter powered with 3 x 380 V~, f = 50 Hz
which supplies at output a triphase voltage of
3 x 220 V~; f = (0-50) Hz, applied to the
superconducting synchronous electric motor
with the statoric winding in star conection.
The frequency of the alternative voltage at
output can be modified in the limits
f = (0-50) Hz. Adequate, the rotation at the
axle is:
n = 60 fs / p,

Figure 11. A triphase frequency inverter

The bit commands of the inverter are:

STF, STR, RH, RM, RL and JOG. These are
made through a compact programmable
microautomat from the series AL2-8MRD,
(see figure 12 and figure 13). By using a
software program for AL2-8MRD there can
be made a personalized testing program.

(5)

where: fs is the working frequency, and p is

the number of pairs of poles. For p = 2 and
f = 50 Hz is obtained nmax = 1500 rpm.
b) The inverter, used to power the
superconductive synchronous motor stator
winding, is powered through a disjunctor
(switch) Q1 (see figure 11) of a contactor
MC1 and a filter EMC, cascade connected.

Figure 12. Programable automatic for the inverter

input handling

In figure 13, the frequency inverter used

to power the superconductive synchronous
motor stator winding, functional experimental
model is showed.

30

ELECTROTEHNIC, ELECTRONIC, AUTOMATIC, 60 (2012), nr. 1

logical inputs of the inverter.

Thus, the running of the two specific
software, the first associated with the logical
inputs of the inverter, the second with the
parameterization of the inverter, making both
the functioning mode of the motor in
permanent regime, and the handling of the
system events, as are: the starting
acceleration slope, the stopping deceleration
slope, the start of the reversible rotation,
JOG mode and selection of the STOP mode.
4. Observations and conclusions
Figure 13. Fequency inverter

c) The superconducting rotor windings of

the superconducting synchronous electric
motor is achieved through a specific source
DC (see figure 15) able to provide an output
voltage between Icc = (0-80) A.

Figure 15. The power supply scheme of the rotor

winding using the quench protection system

The pre-selected maximum current

Ip = 80 A is obtained with the setting of a
slope increase of di/dt = 1 A/s. Useful
signal's protection against quench is
obtained by monitoring the voltage on the
superconducting
rotor
coil
with
a
predetermined threshold of Up = 14 V.
3.2.4. Description of operation mode
Powering of the inverter with three-phase
voltage 3 x 380 V~, f = 50 Hz, is made
through a filter, EMC filter (as shown in
figure 11).
The
rotating
speed
of
the
superconducting synchronous electric motor
is adjusted in the range of 0-1500 rpm, [8],
with a multiturn potentiometer P1 (as shown
in figure 11).
The functioning mode of the motor, as
well as of the testing program can be
determined by acting the buttons b1-b8, (as
shown in figure 12). The buttons b1-b8 are
mounted on the inputs (1), (2), ..., (8) of the
compact programmable microautomatic AL28MRD. This runs specific software. The
outputs OUT1, OUT2, ..., OUT6 handles the

The protoype of a small power HTS

electric motor designed and realised in
National Institute for Research and
Developement in Electric Engineering (ICPECA) Bucharest, is the first realisation of this
kind in Romania. Designed in a hybrid
configuration, with a conventional stator
winding and superconducting rotor coils
(HTS), cooled with subcooled liquid nitrogen
(65K).
The equipment for driving and testing of
the superconducting synchronous electric
motor is conceived for doing a wide range of
rotating speeds, n = 0-1500 rpm, as well as
a large number of functioning modes,
software programmable. Thanks to the
logical inputs of the inverter by a compact
programmable microautomatic there can be
made testing cycles for any desired
functioning mode of the superconducting
synchronous electric motor.
The results obtained by testing this
technologically advanced motor, will be of
great importance for the next steps in
introducing the superconductors technology
in electrical engineering from our country.
Acknowledgement
The work was conducted within the
framework of the research grant PNCDIII/2118/partnerships,
Motor
Electric
Supraconductor - MES.
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