Design of a HTS 2 MW Electric Motor for Single-Aisle Regional Aircraft

Abstract

This paper presents the design of a 2 MW superconducting electric machine capable of replacing a conventional regional aircraft turbine. The main objective of this work is to advance in the path towards the more-electric aircraft, by incorporating and assessing in the same design technologies such as a superconducting rotor and its cooling by means of helium at cryogenic temperatures, the skewed armature winding or the oil-flooded cooling of the stator, to obtain high specific power density and efficiency values. Although the use of these technologies is well known in the literature, no work is found to implement all of them simultaneously, which poses great challenges both for their subsequent manufacture and later performance. After showing and justifying each element of the design of the electric machine, the electromagnetic performance of the motor and of the superconducting coils is assessed, it is thermally evaluated so that it does not exceed the strict temperature limits and a mechanical analysis of the elements of the motor is also carried out. The main finding of this work is the validation of the proposed model, and that, even though the designed engine is feasible at the proposed power level, the specific power density and efficiency values would improve in the case of upscaling the engine for implementation in larger aircraft.

Keywords

• Aircraft propulsion
• electric machine
• high-power
• high-temperature superconductor
• regional aircraft