Stator thermal design of a 12MW superconducting generator for direct-drive wind turbine applications

This paper presents stator thermal design of a 12MW superconducting generator for wind turbine application through comparative studies of stator tooth material selection and vent holes distribution in stator core. First of all, through electromagnetic field calculation, the losses (heat source) under different circumstances are obtained. With the heat source and temperature rise requirements, the flow of the cooling air in the vent holes is calculated. At last, the temperature under different circumstances is calculated by finite element method (FEM) with different thermal boundary conditions. Analysis and calculation shows that the stator with iron teeth and staggered arrangement vent holes in the stator core are beneficial for cooling. This model could provide some references to the design of superconducting electric machines.