Hypersonic aircraft having homopolar motor with graded resistance

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2019009902-A1
Application number	US-201715624237-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 15, 2017
Priority date	Jun 15, 2016
Publication date	Jan 10, 2019
Grant date	—

Abstract

A hypersonic aircraft having a homopolar motor with high temperature superconducting (HTS) non-insulated (NI) coil magnets is described. In some implementations, the HTS NI coil magnets can have a graded resistance design. In some implementations, the HTS NI coil magnets can include a series of stacked coils, each of the series of coils comprising multiple turns having turn-to-turn resistance, where the turn-to-turn resistance of the series of coils is graded coil-to-coil across the magnet. In some implementations, the HTS NI coil magnets can include an NI coil comprising multiple turns and two or more thermal barriers each disposed between two adjacent turns of the coil, where an electrically conductive portion of one of the thermal barriers does not overlap with an electrically conductive portion of a different adjacent one of the thermal barriers. Some implementations can include a disk-type homopolar motor/generator including one or more HTS NI coil magnets.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A hypersonic aircraft having a disk-type homopolar motor/generator, the disk-type homopolar motor/generator comprising:
an electrically conductive metal disk; an electrically conductive shaft coupled, mechanically and electrically, to the electrically conductive metal disk; a first electrical contact configured to be in electrical contact with an edge of the electrically conductive metal disk; a second electrical contact configured to be in electrical contact with the electrically conductive shaft; and a high temperature superconducting (HTS) non-insulated (NI) coil magnet, comprising: a series of coils that are stacked, each of the series of coils comprising multiple turns having turn-to-turn resistance, where the turn-to-turn resistance of the series of coils is graded coil-to-coil across the HTS NI coil magnet, wherein the HTS NI coil magnet is arranged so that a normal component of a magnetic field generated by the HTS NI coil magnet is substantially perpendicular to a face of the metal disk.

2 . The hypersonic aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the series of coils of the HTS NI coil magnet are axially stacked and graded coil-to-coil along an axial length of the HTS NI coil maanet.

3 . The hypersonic aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the series of coils of the HTS NI coil magnet are radially stacked and graded coil-to-coil along a radius of the HTS NI coil magnet.

4 . The hypersonic aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the turn-to-turn resistance of a first coil of the series of coils is different than the turn-to-turn resistance of a second coil of the series of coils, wherein the second coil is stacked adjacent to the first coil.

5 . The hypersonic aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the turn-to-turn resistance of each of the series of coils has a constant turn-to-turn resistance.

6 . The hypersonic aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the turn-to-turn resistance of each of the series of coils is graded turn-to-turn with respect to the multiple turns of that coil.

7 . The hypersonic aircraft of claim 6 , wherein the turn-to-turn resistance is radially graded from a first innermost turn to a last outermost turn of the multiple turns.

8 . The hypersonic aircraft of claim 6 , wherein turn-to-turn resistance varies as a step function of turn number.

9 . The hypersonic aircraft of claim 8 , wherein the turn-to-turn resistance of each turn of the multiple turns increases from a first innermost turn to a last outermost turn of the multiple turns.

10 . The hypersonic aircraft of claim 6 , wherein turn-to-turn resistance varies piecewise continuously from a first innermost turn to a last outermost turn of the multiple turns.

11 . The hypersonic aircraft of claim 10 , wherein the turn-to-turn resistance varies piecewise linearly or piecewise nonlinearly.

12 . The hypersonic aircraft of claim 1 , wherein turn-to-turn resistance is an electrical resistance or a thermal resistance.

13 . The hypersonic aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the turn-to-turn resistance of the series of coils is graded coil-to-coil across the HTS NI coil magnet using a layer selected from the group consisting of:
a co-wound layer having thermal resistive and electrical conductive segments; a layer soldered or bonded to a winding conductor, the soldered or bonded layer having thermal resistive and electrical conductive segments; a printed layer on a co-wound layer, the printed layer on the co-wound layer having thermal resistive and electrical conductive segments; and a printed layer on a surface of a winding conductor, the printed layer on the surface of the winding conductor having thermal resistive and electrical conductive segments.

14 . The hypersonic aircraft of claim 1 , wherein the NI coil comprises a winding conductor selected from a group consisting of:
non-insulated YBCO superconductor tape; non-insulated REBCO superconductor tape; and non-insulated Bi-2223 multi-filamentary superconductor tape.

15 . A high temperature superconducting (HTS) non-insulated (NI) coil magnet, comprising:
a series of coils that are stacked, each of the series of coils comprising multiple turns; and coil-to-coil interfacial materials disposed between adjacent coils of the series of coils, where the coil-to-coil interfacial materials comprise thin conductive materials with low coil-to-coil interfacial resistances that are graded coil-to-coil across the HTS NI coil magnet.

16 . The HTS NI coil magnet of claim 15 , wherein the series of coils are axially stacked and graded coil-to-coil along an axial length of the HTS NI coil magnet or are radially stacked and graded coil-to-coil along a radius of the HTS NI coil magnet.

17 . The HTS NI coil magnet of claim 16 , wherein the coil-to-coil interfacial resistance varies piecewise linearly or piecewise nonlinearly along the radius of the coil-to-coil interfacial materials of axially stacked coils or along an axial width of the coil-to-coil interfacial materials of the radially stacked coils.

18 . The HTS NI coil magnet of claim 15 , wherein the coil-to-coil interfacial resistance is an electrical resistance or a thermal resistance.

19 . The HTS NI coil magnet of claim 15 , wherein the coil-to-coil interfacial resistance of the multiple turns varies dynamically based upon local magnetic field strength.

20 . The HTS NI coil magnet of claim 15 , wherein the coil-to-coil interfacial resistance of the multiple turns varies dynamically based upon temperature.

21 . The HTS NI coil magnet of claim 15 , wherein the coil-to-coil interfacial materials are formed as a layer selected from the group consisting of:
a layer having thermal resistive and electrical conductive segments; a layer soldered or bonded to a conductive layer, the soldered or bonded layer having thermal resistive and electrical conductive segments; a printed layer on a conductive layer, the printed layer having thermal resistive and electrical conductive segments.

22 . A homopolar motor/generator including the HTS NI coil magnet of claim 15 .

23 . An aircraft including the homopolar motor/generator of claim 22 .

24 . The aircraft of claim 23 , wherein the aircraft is a hypersonic aircraft.

25 . A high temperature superconducting (HTS) non-insulated (NB) coil magnet, comprising:
a coil including multiple turns having turn-to-turn resistance, where the turn-to-turn resistance of the coil is graded turn-to-turn with respect to the multiple turns.

26 . The HTS NI coil magnet of claim 25 , wherein the coil is axially stacked or radially stacked with a second coil including multiple turns having turn-to-turn resistance, where the turn-to-turn resistance of the second coil is graded turn-to-turn with respect to the multiple turns.

27 . The HTS NI coil magnet of claim 25 , wherein turn-to-turn resistance varies as a step function of conductor length.

28 . The HTS NI coil magnet of claim 25 , wherein turn-to-turn resistance increases as a step function of turn number from a first innermost turn to a last outermost turn of the multiple turns.

29 . The HTS NI coil magnet of claim 25 . wherein the turn-to-turn resistance varies as a piecewise linear or piecewise nonlinear function of conductor length.

30 . The HTS NI coil magnet of claim 25 , wherein the turn-to-turn resistance is an electrical resist

Assignees

• Univ North Carolina State

Inventors

• Chan Wan-Kan
• Wang Yawei
• Song Honghai
• Schwartz Justin

Classifications

• B64C30/00 Primary

  Supersonic type aircraft · CPC title

• H01F41/048

  Superconductive coils · CPC title

• H01F6/02

  Quenching; Protection arrangements during quenching {(protection circuits H02H7/001)} · CPC title

• H01F6/06

  Coils, e.g. winding, insulating, terminating or casing arrangements therefor · CPC title

• B64C23/005

  by other means not covered by groups B64C23/02 - B64C23/08, e.g. by electric charges, magnetic panels, piezoelectric elements, static charges or ultrasounds · CPC title