SBIR-STTR Award

Lightweight cryogenic generators, made with advanced high temperature conductors will be needed to meet the demands for lightweight multi-megawatt electrical power in emerging high power airborne weapon systems. This program extends the HTS work done in previous programs, and will build and test a one-megawatt HTS generator using novel design concepts that will provide a full size high speed HTS generator suitable for emerging airborne weapon systems. The generator is designed to serve as a fully functional megawatt-class generator for early groundbased power system demonstrators. Additionally, the simplicity and low cost of this design allow it to function as a long term test facility with which new HTS conductors, cryogenic cooing systems and generator components can be easily (and inexpensively) retrofitted and tested under realistic operating conditions. This HTS generator is designed with easily replaceable rotor coil modules and is designed for easy substitution of complete stator windings; allowing the generator to produce a variety of output voltages, required by different airborne systems.This program will develop and test a low cost, high power, superconducting generator has been simplified to reduce the cost and increase the reliability of these machines. Immediate application will be for high power military systems, but the design principles developed in this program will make their way into commercial application, facilitated by the availability of the fully functional generator test facility developed in this program

New high power airborne and mobile military systems will require megawatts of electrical power from very lightweight power sources. Conventional generators will simply be too heavy for these systems and lightweight, high-speed, high temperature superconducting generators will be essential to the success of these missions. In this Phase II program, we will build and test a fully functional two-megawatt, 12,000-rpm, 5-kV, HTS generator that will prove the viability of these high-speed, lightweight machines for proposed airborne and mobile groundbased missions. This 22-month, program will deliver a fully functional proof of principle, two-megawatt, high speed HTS generator for $749,555. The generator is also designed to function as an agile and cost effective long-term test facility for advanced generator conductors, coils and other critical components. Finally, this generator is designed to interface a high-voltage transformer and power conditioning system that will built in a companion SBIR. These two carefully coordinated programs will produce a complete high power, high voltage power system that will be used as a risk reduction hardware demonstrator for a leading airborne system currently under development (the HEX system) and that is also applicable to a wide range of proposed airborne and mobile power systems