Stacked Superconducting Cables With Coated Conductors Using New Corrugated Tubes for Electric Propulsion Systems for Aircraft

Abstract

In order to achieve a decarbonized society, aircraft must be equipped with electric propulsion systems. To achieve this, it is essential to reduce the overall weight of the electrical components. Therefore, one of the solutions to achieve this content is to apply superconducting technology to the propulsion system. In this case, superconducting coated conductors made of REBa₂Cu₃O_y, where RE represents a rare-earth element (yttrium, gadolinium, etc.), can considerably enhance the performance of the motors, generators, transformers, and cables. Previous studies conducted direct-current (DC) and alternating-current (AC) carrying tests on the cable conductors and cable terminations of stacked superconducting cables (which were designed to be compact and lightweight via opting for short-length specimens), respectively. Based on these studies, further weight reduction (less than 1 kg/kA/m) and evaluation of the cable system are necessary when considering its installation in an aircraft. Herein, a 15-m-class stacked superconducting cable and cable terminations are connected as a cable system to implement DC and AC current-carrying tests. To make the cable lighter, metallic corrugated tubes accounting for a large proportion of weight of the conventional superconducting cable structure are replaced with resin corrugated tubes. In this form, the 1110 A_rms of current-carrying characteristics required for the 1 MW class were verified.