Design and Heat Load Analysis of a 12 MW HTS Wind Power Generator Module Employing a Brushless HTS Exciter

Brushless high-temperature superconducting (HTS) flux pump exciters, which enable large currents to be injected into a superconducting circuit without requiring a power supply, slip ring, and current leads, are promising candidates for HTS rotating machine application. This paper outlines the design and heat load analysis of a 12-MW HTS wind power generator module employing a brushless HTS exciter. The 12-MW HTS generator module and the HTS exciter were simulated using the 3-D finite element method. The module design of the generator was focused on reducing the heat load and inductance per rotor pole for application of an HTS exciter. A highly permeable ferromagnetic material was used to increase the magnetic flux density incident on the HTS stator wire of the exciter, even with a large radial gap between the rotor and the stator, and hence increase the injected current. Based on the electromagnetic simulations, the design of the module was confirmed, and the iron loss of the exciter was calculated. Then, the conduction and radiation heat loads were simulated. The induced dc current value and ramping time of the DC current at the HTS stator wire of the exciter were calculated. The detailed results of the module with the HTS exciter were discussed, and the results obtained in this paper are useful in designing large-scale HTS generators.