Torque Characteristics Analysis of a Novel Hybrid Superconducting Magnetic Coupling With Axial-Flux Using a Magnetic Equivalent Circuit Model

A novel hybrid superconducting coupling (NHSC) is proposed in this paper, in which the secondary is composed of copper and a split superconductor. A magnetic equivalent circuit (MEC) model is presented to analyze and calculate the distribution of the magnetic field and torque characteristics. The 3D modeling considers the end effects encountered in mating. The expressions of the magnetic flux and torque are obtained by combining Kirchhoff’s law and Ampere’s loop law, respectively. A 3D finite element (FE) model is built, and the simulation is performed. Its performance is investigated using a 135K critical high-temperature superconductor to have a greater operating margin of the coupling. For a high slip speed of 1500 rpm, we observed a peak torque of 167 Nm and stability of 115 Nm. By varying the thickness of the air gap or the PMs, we observed the increasing or decreasing of the torque. Due to the cryogenics systems, we also observed the reduction of the losses by the joule effect. The maximum error between the results of the torque obtained by simulation and the results calculated using the proposed model is 6.74%, which proves that both results are in good agreement.