AC Losses of a Grid-Connected Superconducting Wind Turbine Generator

We present a numerical method to estimate the steady-state AC losses of a superconducting wind turbine generator connected to the grid through its AC/DC/AC converter. We use a multiscale simulation with unidirectional couplings between a lumped-parameter wind energy conversion system model, a finite element machine model, and a finite element HTS tape model. The estimation include effects linked to the generator space harmonics, the exciter control, and the AC/DC/AC converter PWM and control. As the superconducting coil is made of several thousand of HTS tapes, we evaluate AC losses for a fraction of them and we interpolate the results to the others. The steady-state AC losses of a 10 MW class generator are estimated to be under 60 W.