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5-Megawatt American Superconductor HTS Ship Propulsion
Motor Passes Rigorous Load and Ship Mission Profile Dynamic Simulation Tests at
the Center for Advanced Power Systems
June 28 -- American Superconductor
Corporation, a leading electricity solutions company, today announced that the
prototype 5-megawatt (MW) High Temperature Superconductor (HTS) ship propulsion
motor it designed, developed, and built for the United States Navy has
successfully completed the Navy's rigorous initial test program. Under the
Navy's supervision, the 5-MW HTS motor successfully completed load and ship
mission profile dynamic simulation tests which were conducted at the Navy's
Center for Advanced Power Systems (CAPS) at Florida State University in
Tallahassee. CAPS also repeated and confirmed the IEEE-115 no-load as well as
partial load tests that had been previously conducted at the ALSTOM facility in
Rugby, England.
The tests were designed to evaluate three
Navy goals: to establish the full power capability of the motor with several
longer heat or endurance runs; to establish as accurately as possible important
machine parameters by a variety of methods; and to investigate its dynamic
performance in a simulated at-sea environment.
The motor was developed by AMSC under
contract with the Navy's Office of Naval Research (ONR) to prove the viability
of HTS technology for both military and commercial marine propulsion. AMSC
manufactured the HTS rotor system integrated with a cryogenic refrigeration
system. ALSTOM Power Conversion (ALSTOM) designed and manufactured the stator,
marine drive electronics and performed the factory testing of the HTS motor and
drive system.
"Reports on the performance of the
5-megawatt HTS motor under both full power and realistic operating conditions
continue to be impressive," said Rear Admiral Jay Cohen, Chief of Naval
Research. "The successful application of HTS technology to naval ship propulsion
would provide the Navy with unique design options for our All-Electric Ship
Programs."
The cumulative positive test results
achieve yet another important benchmark in the development of HTS rotating
machinery, and provide important validation for the follow-on ONR Program, in
which a 36.5-MW (49,000 hp), 120 RPM HTS motor currently being built by AMSC and
Northrop Grumman will be delivered to the Navy in the summer of 2006. Additional
specialized testing for the 5-MW motor is planned to take place at the Naval
Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division in Philadelphia.
This larger motor, sized for the Navy's
future DD(X) ship, benefits from the successes achieved in the earlier ONR 5-MW
development and test program. AMSC and Northrop Grumman have already
successfully completed the first two phases of the three-phase development
process with successful preliminary design and detailed design reviews. The
third phase, which is currently in progress, is the actual fabrication, factory
acceptance testing, and delivery of the 36.5-MW motor to the Navy.
"Our alliance with the Navy has been an
outstanding experience and we are pleased with the results of the thorough
development and testing process for the 5-MW motor," noted Greg Yurek, CEO of
American Superconductor. "In fact, the test results for this motor are drawing
worldwide attention from both military and commercial ship builders. American
Superconductor is meeting with prospective customers to identify their specific
requirements for electric ship propulsion motors and we are targeting a launch
customer in calendar year 2006."
HTS motors are ultra-compact, measuring as
little as one-third the weight and one-half the size of copper-based motors of
the same power and torque rating, which means Navy ships could carry more fuel
and munitions and could have more room for crew's quarters and weapons systems,
and commercial ship owners and operators could carry more passengers and cargo.
In addition, HTS motors operate with higher fuel efficiency and are expected to
have lower maintenance costs than their conventional copper counterparts. The
substantial advantages offered by HTS ship propulsion motors are expected to be
provided at a production cost equivalent to conventional motors of the same
power and torque rating.
Test Program and Results:
CAPS operated the motor at full load (5-MW)
and at full speed (230 RPM) for a total of 21 hours, and confirmed that the
motor achieved steady state temperature both in the rotor and in the stator. The
actual temperatures measured correlated closely to results predicted by AMSC and
ALSTOM for the machine. This load testing demonstrated that the HTS motor meets
its specified performance and power rating under the stresses of operating
conditions. An important aspect of the new results obtained at CAPS on the 5-MW
motor is the validation of AMSC's electromagnetic, mechanical and thermal
analytical models for HTS ship propulsion motors - a vital step in the
development cycle for advanced electrical machines.
To simulate operation of the motor in an
at-sea environment up to Sea State 5 (simulating a moderately strong sea), the
CAPS testing imposed an increasing scale of 0.5% to 10% in torque variations on
the motor. The test results confirmed that the motor should perform as designed
in representative sea states. To complete the test program, CAPS performed
"hardware-in-the- loop" simulation tests. In this test phase, direct control of
the motor system emulated the way the motor, drive, and entire ship's integrated
power system (IPS) would respond during transients. Return to
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