Development and characterization of magnetic HTS bearings for a 400 kW synchronous HTS motor

Promising results of static and dynamic investigations on various journal type test bearings encouraged us to develop a scaled-up HTS bearing, able to carry the HTS rotor of a 400 kW superconducting motor. The stator, a YBCO hollow cylinder of 203 mm inner diameter and 250 mm length, is cooled by liquid nitrogen. Permanent magnet rings with a diameter of 200 mm were mounted on a shaft with alternating polarity. Characterization of the bearing capacity was performed with three different YBCO stators at temperatures between 66 and 86 K in a test set-up. A significant influence of the temperature was found. At a stator temperature of 72 K and a rotation frequency of 25 Hz (corresponding to nominal motor speed) a radial bearing force of 2700 N was measured for the shaft at centre position. Under rotation of the shaft the bearing capacity is reduced. At present our results range within the highest radial bearing capacities reported world-wide.