Investigation on the performance of the DI-BSCCO superconducting electric motor

Superconducting electrical devices have been developed in various fields especially in the energy industry over a decade. Superconducting motor is one of the electrical devices that attracted the attention of engineers and researchers from the universities and industries due to its distinctive energy efficiency. This paper addresses the performance of superconducting-wound electric motor when compared with conventional copper-wound electric motor. DC synchronous single-phase series motor has been chosen as the base for development of both motors. Two prototypes of electric motor fabricated using conventional copper coils and superconducting coils were developed with similar motor type, design, dimensions, and features. The superconducting motor coils were wound using the drastically innovative Bi-2223 (DI-BSCCO) Type H wires developed by the Sumitomo Electric Industries Limited, Japan. A finite element analysis was also performed to get a clear view on flux plots of the magnetic induction. Features of the superconducting motor and the special coil frame designed to protect the superconducting wire was also presented in this paper. In addition, the torque performances for both types of motor were measured. The superconducting electric motor was found to consume lower power to produce the same output compared with the conventional copper-wound motor.