Study on Homopolar Superconducting Synchronous Motors for Ship Propulsion Application

Superconducting synchronous motors compared with conventional motors can reduce the motor size and enhance the motor efficiency for low-speed and high torque applications under the space constraints for propulsion system. Especially, homopolar superconducting synchronous motors (HSSMs) need less superconductor and lower magnetic flux density in superconductor field coil than air-cored superconducting synchronous motors (ASSMs). In addition, mechanical structure is more simplified and stability is increased because the superconductor field coil of HSSMs is not rotated in operation. In this paper, we present the outline of HSSMs including structure, characteristics and operational principles with the conceptual design of 5MW HSSM.