Lightweight generator a world-first for emergency power

Featured at Superconducting City at this year’s Hannover Fair, the generator is being developed in a partnership between US-based Long Electromagnetics Incorporated (LEI), and HTS-110^[?] Ltd, an affiliated company of Industrial Research Limited.

HTS^[?]-110’s technical director, Mike Fee, said that while a conventional 5MW generator weighs five tonnes alone, the new generator combined with a gas turbine and associated power electronics package will have a total weight of less than 1.5 tonnes (1500kg).

“It will have a footprint small enough to install the entire system within a single shipping container, or on a small truck, and will be a compact, rapidly deployable power supply. “It could be moved easily by plane, helicopter, or ground transport anywhere that remote or emergency power is required, such as for disaster relief or short term industrial power usage.”

Five megawatts is sufficient to power around 2500 average homes. LEI has designed and built a prototype generator, which will be tested within the next six months. It is anticipated the generator will be on the market within two years.

LEI managing director, Larry Long, said the operational challenges of building superconducting generators are similar to those of Formula One racing cars. “Both machines operate in a very demanding environment where every component is pushed to its absolute limit. But there is huge potential for high payoffs and the development of this high-speed generator opens up tremendous opportunities in applications where size and weight are important.”

The generator consists of a four-pole superconducting rotor, wound with BSCCO superconducting wire, and a conventional oil-cooled copper stator. The high current density achievable with superconducting rotor windings produces a high magnetic field in a very compact rotor.

In combination with a 12,000-15,000 rpm operation, four to five times faster than conventional machines, this results in an extremely lightweight and portable generation system for the designed 5 MW output power. The high-speed operation means the generator can be driven directly from a turbine, meaning there is no need for a gearbox and significantly reducing weight and maintenance requirements.

The operating temperature of the rotor is around minus 240 C. Even including the power consumption of the cryogenic cooling system, the generator efficiency is at least as good as that of a conventional machine. Industrial Research’s HTS manager, Bob Buckley, is enthusiastic about the manufacturing possibilities of superconducting products such as the high speed generator.

“Together with key partners interested in taking the products to market, this technology could open up great export opportunities for New Zealand energy equipment manufacturers.”