Design of a 5 MW superconducting motor for an aviation propulsion system


JIITA, vol.5 no.2, p.431-435, 2021, DOI: 10.22664/ISITA.2021.5.2.431

Gi-Dong Nam, Dinh-Vuong Le, Hae-Jin Sung, Seok-Ju Lee, Minwon Park

Department of Electrical Engineering, Changwon National University, Changwon, Rep. of Korea

Abstract: This paper deals with the design of a 5 MW superconducting motor for an aviation propulsion system (APS). A superconducting aviation propulsion system using hydrogen fuel cells was designed. The superconducting motor is cooled by heat exchange with liquid hydrogen, and gaseous hydrogen generates power through the hydrogen fuel cell. We designed a superconducting motor and evaluated its specific power. As a result, the specific power of a superconducting motor is 6.25 kW/kg, which is about twice as high as that of conventional motors. However, the specific power of the proposed APS is not yet sufficient to apply it to aircraft. Given the recent development trend of battery and liquid hydrogen technology, it is expected to be applicable to aircraft propulsion systems in the near future. These results are expected help in a future-oriented APS design.

Keywords: Aviation propulsion motor, Hydrogen fuel cell, Superconducting rotating machine

Scroll to top