Fabrication and test of an axial-field HTS rotating machine with integrated magnetic coupling

High temperature superconducting (HTS) electrical machines have high torque density with a very high efficiency. Torque tubes are usually used to transmit the torque from the cold to the warm environment which results in thermal losses and mechanical problems. To overcome these difficulties, we propose to transmit the torque of the HTS machine through an integrated HTS magnetic coupling. A prototype has been constructed and tested showing the effectiveness of the proposed solution. The machine and the coupling share the same HTS rotor while the torque produced by the machine is transmitted to the load via a permanent magnets rotor. This solution allows the reduction of the thermal losses and a natural protection against overload during fault. The electromagnetic design is carried out using 3D finite elements (FE). The HTS material electrical behavior is described using a power law so it was possible to determine the operating current of the HTS coils of the device. Many test results such as curves of the HTS coils, static torque, back-EMF and on-load characteristics are presented and checked by the FE computations.