SBIR/STTR Award attributes
Future fuel-efficientnbsp;hybrid aircraft require high temperature superconducting (HTS) electric motors in order to achieve power densities well above 10 kW/kg while operating at temperatures above 20 K and locally up to 30K.nbsp; nbsp;However, the AC modes of stator coils makes it impossible to use available HTS tapes due to their large AC losses, requiring instead fine HTS wires made with the Bi2212 material and with advanced loss reducing features.This Phase I program will now establish the feasibility of a low lossnbsp;HTS-2212 based full-scale stator coil design that provides commercial-level operating currents, current densities, and losses suitable for developing much highernbsp;power density electric plane motors. It will build on our recent breakthrough development of low-loss HTS-2212 wire and cable.A design analysis and survey of high-power density superconducting electric plane motornbsp;initiatives will be completed to establish a first proof-of-concept design and winding specifications for a 1 MW class high power density motor. A specific version of our standard low loss cable design will be selected, and itsnbsp;current, current density and loss levels determined relative to the requirements of the 1 MWnbsp;generic motor type. Additional essential features likenbsp;insulation, as well as mechanical resistance of thenbsp;coil build to Lorentz and body forces will be established.The tooling and procedures for winding this type of coil will be developed and qualified followed by the winding of a demo pancake saddle coil. After reaction it will be tested for current, current density and field generating capacity. Finally, it will be shipped to NASA. nbsp;These developments will set the stage for developing in Phase II, of a fully functional,1 MW class HTS-2212 stator coil suitablenbsp;motor development initiatives, with custom variations derived from the generic design that will benbsp;produced and providednbsp;for their evaluations and inclusion in those initiatives.
