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Physics Procedia 36 (2012) 963 – 968

Superconductivity Centennial Conference

Performance Calculation of High Temperature

Superconducting Hysteresis Motor Using Finite Element
Method

G. Konara*, N. Chakrabortya, J. Dasb

a Power Engineering Department, Jadavpur University, 2nd Campus, Kolkata-700098, India
b Electrical Engineering Department, NIT, Agartala, Tripura-799055, India

Abstract

Hysteresis motors being capable of producing a steady torque at low speeds and providing good starting
properties at loaded condition became popular among different fractional horse power electrical motors. High
temperature superconducting materials being intrinsically hysteretic are suitable for this type of motor. In the
present work, performance study of a 2-pole, 50 Hz HTS hysteresis motor with conventional stator and HTS rotor
has been carried out numerically using finite element method. The simulation results confirm the ability of the
segmented HTS rotor with glued circular sectors to trap the magnetic field as high as possible compared to the
ferromagnetic rotor. Also the magnetization loops in the HTS hysteresis motor are obtained and the corresponding
torque and AC losses are calculated. The motor torque thus obtained is linearly proportional to the current which
is the common feature of any hysteresis motor. Calculations of torques, current densities etc are done using
MATLAB program developed in-house and validated using COMSOL Multiphysics software. The simulation
result shows reasonable agreement with the published results.

© 2012
© 2011 Published
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under CC BY-NC-ND license.
Keywords: High temperature superconductors; hysteresis motor; YBCO; segmented rotor; magnetic vector potential;

1. Introduction

Hysteresis motors gained attentions for producing constant torque up to synchronous speed and pulling
wide range of loads of different inertia into synchronism. With lesser weights and compact sizes they
are suitable for fractional horse power applications. The hysteresis loss incurred in the rotors made of
high permanent magnet materials is utilized to develop torques in the hysteresis motor. After discovery
of high temperature superconductors (HTS), the rotors of hysteresis motors are replaced by bulk HTS
materials of cylindrical constructions. These materials are capable of trapping high magnetic fields at
the temperature of liquid nitrogen [1].
* gargi@pe.jusl.ac.in

1875-3892 © 2012 Published by Elsevier B.V. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of the Guest Editors.
Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license. doi:10.1016/j.phpro.2012.06.089
964 G. Konar et al. / Physics Procedia 36 (2012) 963 – 968

Mechanical torques are produced in the HTS hysteresis motors due to the repulsion of magnetic poles
induced in the rotors by the rotating magnetic field of the stator winding [2,3]. Several such motors
were constructed using bismuth strontium calcium copper oxide (BSCCO) and yttrium barium copper
oxide (YBCO) in the rotors [4,5]. Compared to BSCCO, the use of YBCO in the rotor gives much
better torque speed characteristics [6]. Due to very high critical current densities in these materials and
low magnetic fields produced by the conventional stator winding, the flux penetration remains
restricted within a very few fraction of high temperature superconductors. Thin hollow HTS rotors can
improve the field penetration at higher critical current densities, but the brittle nature of the HTS
materials sets hindrance to it [7]. Alternatively, rotors made up of several HTS segments, provides
better field penetration at high critical current densities. The influence of different numbers of single
domain HTS segments of rotor with specific radius, critical current density and applied field on field
penetration and torque has been simulated [8]. The superiority of segmented HTS rotors of hysteresis
motor over their conventional counterparts has been proved numerically and experimentally [9] in
terms of better power output, improved speed torque characteristics, better speed dynamics etc.
In this work, simulation of HTS hysteresis motor with segmented rotor is reported. The performance
study of the hysteresis motor having segmented YBCO rotor are done using MATLAB and finite
element software COMSOL Multiphysics.

2. Principle of operation of HTS Hysteresis Motor

A 2 pole, 50 Hz hysteresis motor with high temperature superconducting rotor has been considered
here. YBCO is chosen as the HTS material used in the rotor. The stator conductors are carrying the
alternating current of frequency 50 Hz which in turn produces a rotating magnetic field having
synchronous speed Ȧs=2ʌf/p, where f is the frequency of the stator current and p is the number of the
magnetic poles. When this magnetic field is applied to the segmented HTS rotor, the vortices start
moving in the mixed state until they achieved a new stable position. Their movement produces super-
currents in the superconducting segments; as a result the rotor is magnetized. The interaction of
applied field and magnetization of rotor produces a torque that has a magnitude equal to the product of
the magnitude of the stator field and rotor field and the sine of their displacement angle. This torque is
directly proportional to the area of the hysteresis loop and independent of the rotor speed. The motor
torque is increased with the increase of rotor diameter. The maximum developed torque is obtained
when Di =0.78D0 [10], where Di and D0 are the inner and outer diameters of the HTS rotor
respectively.

3. HTS hysteresis motor topology

Two dimensional cross sectional view of the HTS hysteresis motor used here is shown in figure 1.
This cross sectional model has been drawn in COMSOL Multiphysics using rotating machinery
module which is a perfect combination of perpendicular induction current and moving mesh element
modules. The specifications of the simulated motor are shown in table 1.

Table 1 Specifications of the simulated motor

Stator radius 40 mm
Rotor inner radius 21.7 mm
Rotor outer radius 18 mm
Length 60 mm
Air-gap 1 mm
Number of poles 2
Number of stator slots 12
 G. Konar et al. / Physics Procedia 36 (2012) 963 – 968 965

Figure 1 2Dcross sectional view of the hysteresis motor having segmented rotors made of YBCO. C1, C2, C3, C4, C5 represent
the conventional stator, HTS rotor, paramagnetic rotor core, motor shaft and stator conductor respectively.

Like the conventional stator, soft iron is used as the core material and copper as the stator conductor.
Instead of single superconducting cylindrical rotor, two segments of the HTS rotors are used for better
constructional stability. The rotor core and the shaft use paramagnetic material.

4. Simulation

For simulation of superconducting hysteresis motor using finite element method a time dependent 2D
cross sectional model (figure 1) has been chosen. Equation 1 is discretized and solved for the magnetic
vector potential in the stator and the rotor sub-domains. For simulation purpose proper boundary
conditions are applied at the stator and HTS rotor. Magnetic insulation appears at the outer boundary
of the stator whereas continuity is applied at all other inner boundaries for proper distribution of field.
Equations 2, 3 and 4 determine the electric field distribution, current density in the rotor and the
corresponding AC loss incurred there respectively.
wA 1
V  ’u ’u A 0 (1)
wt P
dA
E  (2)
dt
n
§ E ·
Jsc
Jc¨ ¸ (3)
© Ec ¹
B ’u A (4)
Where, A is the magnetic vector potential, E is the electric field, Jc is the critical current density, Ec is
the critical electric field of the high temperature superconductor and Jsc is the current density in the
superconductor. The critical current density and critical electric field of YBCO are chosen to be 4×107
A/m2 and 10-4 V/m respectively. The magnetic flux (B) is evaluated from the dependent variable A
according to equation (4). The rotation of the superconducting rotor, rotor core and shaft is modelled
using the transformation of stationary axes to rotating axes (Equation 5) [12].

ª xr º ªcos Zt  sin Zt º ª x s º
«y » « sin Zt « » (5)
¬ r¼ ¬ cos Zt »¼ ¬ y s ¼

Here, xr, yr and xs, ys are the displacements and positions in the rotating axis and stationary axis
respectively, Ȧ is the angular velocity of the rotating axis.
966 G. Konar et al. / Physics Procedia 36 (2012) 963 – 968

5. Results and Discussion

Figure 2 represents the contour plot of magnetic flux density of the hysteresis motor with
superconducting rotor. This plot reveals that most of the fluxes are concentrated in the
superconducting rotor segments and some are deviated through the paramagnetic rotor core. The stator
current produces rotating field in the air gap between the stator and the rotor, which in turn induces
currents in the superconductor and the HTS rotor is magnetized. Due to the high current leading ability
(ȟ=Jt¨/Js a) of HTS rotor [12] where Jt and Js are intra-granular and in-granular current densities and ¨
and a are dimensions of HTS rotor and HTS grain, most of the fluxes are trapped in the HTS
hysteresis rotor.

Figure 2 Contour plot of magnetic flux density of HTS hysteresis motor.

Hysteresis loop for the HTS rotor is shown in figure 3. Due to application of alternating currents of
different magnitudes in the stator conductors, different flux plots are obtained. Taking the values of
magnetizations and the flux densities at different stator currents, the magnetization loop is plotted.
The torque is directly proportional to the area of the hysteresis loop which in turn is approximately
proportional to the applied current. Therefore the torque is directly proportional to the current which is
a common feature of any hysteresis motor [13]. The torque (T) in HTS hysteresis motor is calculated
using the relation, T= (1/2ʌ)PVrAh, where, P is number of pole pairs, Vr is volume of the HTS rotor
and Ah is area of the hysteresis loop in the HTS rotor. MATLAB program has been developed to draw
the hysteresis curves and the corresponding torque developed in the motor. As shown in figure 4, the
torque changes almost linearly with the applied current. The simulated values of torque possesses
similar nature qualitatively that of the published [14] one, but quantitatively they are slightly different.
It is well known that the torque is directly proportional to the hysteresis loss in the superconducting
element [9] following the relation, Q=2ʌT, where Q is the hysteresis losses and T is developed torque.
Thus the loss can also be calculated from the torque which is already evaluated. The AC loss verses
applied current plot is shown in Figure 5. It is observed that the AC loss increases with the increase of
the applied current. This result shows good agreement with the AC loss obtained from MATLAB
program. Since the model geometry used in MATLAB is slightly different from the model used for
simulation in COMSOL Multiphysics, some mismatches in magnitudes are observed. When the
complete geometry of the cross sectional model of HTS hysteresis motor is drawn in MATLAB, large
numbers (9188) of triangular elements are formed in the model. Thus, large memory space and huge
time is required to simulate the model in MATLAB. Hence only the rotor, air-gap and shaft are
considered as the reduced geometry of HTS hysteresis motor with proper boundary conditions due to
the stator magnetic field are considered.
 G. Konar et al. / Physics Procedia 36 (2012) 963 – 968 967

B-M curve of a HTS hysteresis motor

0.3

0.2

Magnetic flux density(B) (T)

0.1

-0.1

-0.2

-0.3

-2 -1 0 1 2 3
Magnetization(M) (A/m) 5
x 10

Figure 3 B-M plot of HTS hysteresis motor

Figure 4 Torque (kg-cm) vs current (A) plot of HTS hysteresis motor.

Figure 5 AC loss (W/m) vs stator current (mA) plot of a HTS hysteresis motor.
968 G. Konar et al. / Physics Procedia 36 (2012) 963 – 968

6. Conclusions

In any HTS power apparatus, AC loss is an essential consideration for design of proper cryogenic
system design. In this work, performance study of high temperature superconducting hysteresis motor
along with the AC loss calculation is done using finite element analysis. Magnetic flux plot reveals
that the HTS material in rotor can trap higher value of magnetic field compared to best known
permanent magnets. Simulation result proves the linearity of torque current characteristics of HTS
hysteresis motor with that of the conventional one. The simulated AC loss in the HTS rotor increases
with the increase of applied stator current similar to the experimental one. This simulation model can
be helpful for performance calculations of any newly designed HTS hysteresis motor prior to
realisation.

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