Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Superconductors in large synchronous machines. Final report

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:5763680
Research progress from the continuing program to apply superconductors in the field windings of large synchronous machines is reported for the eleven month contract period. The background of the project since 1969 is briefly reviewed. The general conclusion is that large superconducting turbogenerators are feasible and that the projected advantages should be realizable. Contractual details and a list of contributors are given. Research results are given for work in three key problem areas in the development of superconducting machines: a reliable rotor shielding scheme to better satisfy the conflicting requirements for magnetic shielding, machine damping, mechanical strength, thermal capacity, cryogenic performance and good machine terminal characteristics; an optimized superconducting rotor which has the proper balance between magnetic field intensity, magnetic stability, mechanical strength, mechanical rigidity, cryogenic cooling, cryogenic refrigeration requirement and transient electrical performance; and an armature winding and structure optimized to fully utilize the high magnetic field produced by the superconductor and to take full advantage of the opportunity to manage the electric field distribution and achieve high machine voltage. The chronology of the design, construction and testing of the MIT-EPRI 3 MVA experimental synchronous machine is given. The experimental results are summarized and modifications of the machine are discussed.
Research Organization:
Massachusetts Inst. of Tech., Cambridge (USA). School of Engineering
OSTI ID:
5763680
Report Number(s):
EPRI-TD-255; ON: DE82900663
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English