The Design of Fully Superconducting Power Networks for Future Aircraft Propulsion

Peter Malkin1 and Meletios Pagonis2 Cranfield University, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom, MK43 0AL

In recent years a new approach for the propulsion system of an aircraft has been investigated by several authors. This approach involves an electrical distributed propulsion system where the gas turbines are mainly used to produce electrical power which is transmitted via a distribution network to several electrically driven fans. The main enabler of such a concept will be the use of superconducting technologies. The latter will improve the power density of the electric machines as well as the current density of the cables. However, this will result in a far more complex and high performance power network which we are now referring to as a Fully Superconducting Power Network or FSN. This paper presents some of the characteristics of this FSN and some of the performance improvements that such a configuration could add.

Nomenclature
FSN K HTS BSCCO YBCO SFCL IF DF CIF kA Cu .. r EM = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = fully superconducting power network kelvin high temperature superconducting magnesium diboride bismuth strontium calcium copper oxide yttrium barium copper oxide superconducting fault current limiter critical current density critical temperature critical magnetic field increasing field decreasing field cooling in the field kilo-amperes copper fault currents normal currents full-load secondary current of a transformer transformer impedance electro-magnetic forces magnetic force constant separation of the wires magnetic constant electromagnetic

Professor of Electrical Power Systems, Department of Power and Propulsion, School of Engineering, p.malkin@cranfield.ac.uk, AIAA Member. 2 Research Engineer, Department of Power and Propulsion, School of Engineering, m.pagonis@cranfield.ac.uk. 1 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

I. Introduction

ANY authors have proposed a new aircraft design involving a distributed propulsion system. Such an approach could give very significant gains in efficiency of future aircraft. It seems likely that the best way of powering such aircraft is using a Hybrid-Electric propulsion system where gas turbines are used mainly to generate electrical power which is transmitted via a distribution network to many electrically powered fans. These fans are often assumed to be placed around the trailing edge area of a blended wing body airframe to allow further benefits in propulsive efficiency. It is widely assumed that the electrical machines required will use superconductors to obtain needed improvements in power density. Some authors have also assumed that superconducting cables will be used to connect these machines. This paper argues that this will also require a Fully Superconducting Power Network or FSN which will further add to the performance of this propulsion system.

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II. History of Superconducting Materials

In 1911 Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes first observed the phenomenon of superconductivity when he cooled mercury to the temperature of liquid helium (4K) and its resistivity suddenly disappeared. In the next few decades several metals, alloys, and compounds were discovered to have the same behaviour under a specific temperature. However, it was not until the 80s when the first so-called High Temperature Superconducting (HTS) materials were found and attracted new interest in the field of superconductivity. A material remains superconducting as long as it does not exceed certain limits of current density, magnetic field and of course temperature (see figure 1).

For aerospace applications there are three main superconducting materials being investigated: , BSCCO, and YBCO. Although has the lowest operational (30K instead of approximately 50K and 70K respectively) the authors believe that it seems to be the best option at the moment due to its simple robust mechanical properties. Superconducting machines require fine, twisted superconductor filaments in a high-resistance matrix to reduce AC losses5. This required filament size is achievable only with at least at present (see figure 2).

Figure 1. Critical Surface of a Superconductor.4 Where: the critical magnetic field, the critical current density, the critical temperature, IF the increasing field, DF the decreasing field, and CIF the cooling in field.

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Figure 2. Typical Multifilament wire.6 With its relatively low cost and its capability of very sharp transition for the superconducting to the normal state, also seems the most appropriate choice for devices like resistive Superconducting Fault Current Limiters (SFLC)7, elements that will play a key role in this new system. Furthermore, recent publications8 about indicate that further developments of will be available with even higher critical current densities (figure below). However, a future development of ac-tolerant architecture of YBCO may change the map of superconductors, since the latter has demonstrated good performance and its use will decrease the power demanded from the cooling system.

Figure 3. 2nd Generation wires improved current density. (Courtesy of Hyper Tech Research Columbus) 3 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

III. Superconducting Fault Current Limiters (SFCL)

These new materials have permitted a development of new devices that are capable of improving the performance of power networks. These devices are known as Superconducting Fault Current Limiters (SFCL) and have currently been applied to energy networks. Short circuits in electrical power networks result in abnormally high currents (fault currents ). More specifically, the lower the system impedance the higher these fault currents. High fault levels are undesirable since they can cause stresses and can lead to high electrical and mechanical instabilities and even damage of electric networks. Conventional methods to reduce these fault currents usually include high power switchgear and/or devices such as transformers with high impedance, fault-limiting reactors, split bus-burs, and fuses. These methods although reliable, are heavy, bulky and difficult to install. An attractive alternative option is the aforementioned SFCLs. A Fault Current Limiter (FCL) is a device that limits the perspective fault current of a network when a fault such as a short circuit occurs. The current limiting behaviour of superconductors derives from their non-linear response to current, temperature and magnetic field changes (figure 1). Exceeding a limit of any one of these three parameters could lead the materials losing their superconductivity and behave as normal conductors. In a resistive SFCL, which is the most common type of limiter, when a fault current occurs the superconductor quenches (loses its superconductivity) and the resistance rises sharply and quickly limiting the fault current. This superconducting device seems ideal because in the steady state has almost zero impedance while when a fault current occurs this impedance rises high enough to control the fault. After recovery of the fault, impedance again goes back to zero, making the device invisible again. In addition, these devices will have intrinsically safe failure modes. Several SFCLs have been tested and have worked successfully in recent years.9 The basic construction of a resistive SFCL can be seen in figure 4. The limiters components are dimensioned so that the reactance remains at a low level in the steady state and during a fault the required limiting characteristics could be achieved. The aforementioned excellent current limiting behaviour of , due to its rapid transition from the superconducting to the normal state, makes it the best candidate material for the future SFCLs.

Figure 4. Basic construction of a resistive type SFCL.10

IV. Conventional Power Networks Design Process

In order to develop a design process for FSNs we first need to understand this process for the design of conventional power networks of similar power levels and complexity.

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Figure 5. Design Process diagram of a conventional power network. Figure 5 shows a process diagram to design electric power networks. Note that such designs are rarely carried out currently as stand-alone networks are rarely used. However, more recently the majority of specialized ship designs (e.g. Naval, Cruise or Offshore support) use similar systems. As the authors have some experience in this field we have derived this design approach. For illustration a ship system could be as follows:

Figure 6. Electric/Hybrid Ship Propulsion System Diagram. 5 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

From figure 5 it can be seen that the key input that sizes the system is the maximum required power. Parameter selection is normally done by choosing normal currents that will allow a practical size of the electric bus-bar. In addition, the value of the fault currents depends on the normal currents as well as on the transient (short-circuit) impedance. For example the fault level of a transformer in a system depends on the full load secondary current multiplied by its impedance which is generally expressed as a voltage percentage. This is the percentage of normal rated primary voltage required to cause a full-load rated current to flow in the short-circuited secondary and it normally gives a factor of 10-20 times (Eq. (1)). Similar equations apply to a short-circuit happening in other parts of an electrical network. These high levels of must be controlled with switchgear, which has limits to its interruption performance. This in turn limits the level of that can be chosen (typically between 500 and 2000A). I f I F . L * (100% / % Z subT ) (1)

In turns of frequency choice for ship applications, this is normally 50 or 60 Hz to match the availability of conventional equipment (motors, transformers, switchgear etc.). Once parameter selection is complete, we would normally begin a low-fidelity steady-state model that delivers the load flows and fault currents associated with a presumed topology of network. This data can then be used to size the key elements of the network including: 1. 2. 3. Motors and generators Switchgear for normal and fault current control Transformers or drives

Note that it is usually the switchgear that is the critical factor as many panels are required and fault interruption capability is limited to around 40KA which for such closely coupled networks can be a constraint. Also the steady state model would deliver the basic harmonic levels and protection coordination (required to ensure effective fault clearance). Once the steady-state modelling is complete a more comprehensive dynamic model is established which is capable of predicting the full dynamic behaviour of the system allowing a study of system stability and the effects of transient disturbances, such as motor starting and transformer inrush transients.

V. Superconducting Power Network (FSN)

Whilst some of the basic principles of designing a power network still apply, a fully superconducting network (FSN) requires a totally different design process. Furthermore, it will not use the same components used in a conventional system. A. Basic Parameter Selection HTS wire is now available with critical current density around 500-1000 times the one of a typical Cu wire. The latter reduces significantly the cost and the size of the main bus-bar. Clearly, within the standard range of normal currents this would result in a very small diameter wire indeed. For example, if we were to choose a 2000A bus-bar this would give us a HTS wire of 2-3A Cu wire. In fact in this system we will not want a very fine wire as our main cable for practical reasons of making connections and mechanical support. In view of this, it will seem logical to significantly increase the normal current levels giving for example a range between 6 and 30 kA. Normally this would result in major problems involving the generation of extremely high fault currents which are related to normal currents (as discussed in section IV), however crucially, these will now be controlled through the use of superconducting fault current limiters as described in part III of this paper. Not only does this remove the constraint of the high peak values of , but also the network will in fact see maximum currents of well below that value. In addition, such abnormally high levels of would also give problems in load-switching. Most power networks require frequent switching devices for circuit reconfiguration under no-fault conditions and even switching the usual levels of normal currents could be problematic if DC is used to remove AC losses as it is described later. This could be resolved using power electronic converters as load switchers. These converters could gain significantly in power density from being cryogenically cooled11, but nevertheless it seems a highly inefficient use of such complex 6 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

devices for this type of applications. However, new types of superconducting switching devices are under development which will address this problem without adding significant weight to the aircraft. One further issue to address is that of the electro-magnetic forces exerted between conductors at these current levels. This force derives from Amperes law (Eq. (2)), where the force per unit length is proportional to the product of the currents divided by the distance between wires. At these levels of normal current this must be taken account of in the system design.

Fm 2 * K a *
, where

I1 * I 2 r 0 Ka 4 *

(2) (3)

B. Design Issues One of the key differences between normal and superconducting networks is the main characteristic of superconductivity: zero resistance. Note that this is a real issue with power network design as current distribution in most networks relies on a resistive divider effect which is not present here. Clearly, this implies that current flow will be dominated by the load impedances. However, the load flows through a complex multi-node network will be difficult to predict by using standard models. Nevertheless, it has been reported recently that good current distribution has been obtained in multi-strand wire12. Although the arrangement of Ref. 12 is much simpler than the one described here, it does suggest that successful current distribution can be achieved. Fully superconducting networks will have AC losses, except if we choose a pure DC network for our system (but again other difficulties will exist). These losses will be a function of the AC harmonics and their impact will be different from a conventional network since they will affect the cooling requirements of the network. These cooling requirements of the network also add an extra control factor for the FSN. The overall performance of the network depends on the cooling system performance and reliability. Operational temperature will be an additional dimension to the overall performance of any architecture. As stated previously, very high prospective will exist, but they will be controlled by several SFCLs. These devices could act so quickly that high fault levels will not even been seen by the network. However, a new strategy will have to be developed to allow for multiple operation of SFCLs and allowing the impact of any fault to be minimized. This would also require novel methods of circuit post-fault reconfiguration. Potential differences will also exist in terms of system stability. The network stability of a lighter rotor is typically worse than a conventional one; however, with appropriately designed EM shielding on superconducting machines the stability could be improved. Moreover, the behaviour of a number of interconnected superconducting machines has not been studied yet and thus the dynamic stability and the architectural impact are still unknown. Clearly, this implies that the transient behaviour of the network and the dynamic modelling required cannot be achieved as yet without further experimental data. C. Structure and Benefits These networks will be complex multi-node networks with novel, non-mechanical, load break switches or contactors and specialised fault management devices. Whilst this adds complexity, it will allow maximum flexibility and minimise the impact of any failed component by allowing very rapid post fault reconfiguration for example. This would also permit rapid and seamless transmission of power to any combination of loads such as fan motors as well as optimising the use and recharging of energy storage systems.

VI. Conclusions
Recent progress in superconducting technology will allow the use of Fully Superconducting Networks which will have a significant gain in power density. These networks will also allow a very flexible power system that can rapidly switch large amounts of power between any aircraft loads, for example for rapid maneuvering of the aircraft as well as minimising the impacts of any faults or failures in the system. However, in order to fully model and design these networks it seems likely that novel techniques and processes will have to be developed. This is likely to require additional experimental data and validation systems before reliable modelling can be carried out.

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Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the support from NASA, under their grant NNX13AI78G enabling the presentation of this paper.

References
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