Electromagnetic analysis of fully superconducting motor for electric aircraft

Abstract

In order to reduce carbon emissions, there is considerable interest in all-electric aircraft for transportation. Fully superconductor motors will be required to meet the high specific weight requirements, which are >10 kW/kg for the NASA N3-X plane. This paper summarizes the results of electromagnetic analysis generated using the FEMM magnetics code, along with the Lua scripting language, to determine the optimum motor configuration for a 4 MW, 3000 rpm fan motor. In considering ac loss, the analysis assumes Bi-2212 stator windings and both iron-tooth and air-core designs are considered. The best selected case consists of an 8-pole configuration utilizing an armature current density of 100 A/mm2.