Alternative Designs of High-Temperature Superconducting Synchronous Generators

This paper discusses the different possible designs of both cored and coreless superconducting synchronous generators using high-temperature superconducting (HTS) tapes, with particular reference to demonstrators built at the University of Southampton using BiSCCO conductors. An overview of the electromagnetic, thermal, and mechanical issues is provided, the advantages and drawbacks of particular designs are highlighted, the need for compromises is explained, and practical solutions are offered. The scalability of results obtained from small demonstrators is considered.