Comparison of Radial Flux Air-cored Synchronous Superconducting Machine Topologies

Over the past four decades of developing superconducting machines, many topologies have been suggested. The most successful topology of high-power superconducting (HPS) machines is an air-cored radial flux synchronous machine. There are two possible topologies for this type of machine, rotational field, and stationary field. In this paper, the relative advantages and disadvantages of these topologies are compared in detail. Analytical study of these topologies shows that the inversed machine topology leads to more efficient high-temperature superconductor (HTS) wire utilization and hence more economical production. In order to confirm the result obtained by analytical calculations, 2-D finite element model (FEM) of the machine is utilized.