Superconducting Machines Performance Optimization

Dear Colleagues,

Superconducting machines are being considered and proposed for high-power-density or high-torque-density applications, such as propulsion motors for aviation and marine and power generators for wind turbines. The method of designing superconducting machines has not yet been agreed upon since there are many options under consideration, such as partial or full superconducting, iron or ironless core, distributed or concentrated windings, various superconductor types and their prices, cryogenic cooling methods, etc. It is necessary to devise the best designs for certain conditions. Otherwise, this technology will be unable to advance to commercialization. Identifying the best designs requires the optimization and quantitative comparison of the optimum designs of all the possible options. However, optimization of superconducting machines is rather challenging since analytical methods may not be sufficient and finite element methods may be involved in the optimization program. This is due to the nonlinear characteristics of the materials used in a superconducting machine, such as saturated iron, nonlinear conductivity of superconductors, and the critical surface of superconductors. The addition of finite element methods tends to significantly slow down the optimization. Thus, developing a fast method of integrating finite element methods into the optimization program is critical. Moreover, thermal and mechanical models may also be needed in the optimization. They can be integrated into the optimization in the form of either design variables or boundary constraints, which makes optimization slower and more complicated.

The Special Issue aims to gather and publish various optimization methods that can be used for superconducting machines and address the computational challenges with this type of electrical machine. The optimization can be single- or multi-objective. It can also be based on analytical methods, finite element methods, or a combination thereof. The direct goal of this Special Issue is to develop fast, reliable optimization methods for superconducting machines in different applications. The further goal is to find out a route that leads to the most promising and feasible superconducting machine design for each application.

Dr. Dong Liu
Guest Editor

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• aviation
• finite element
• marine
• optimization
• superconducting machine
• wind energy