Thermal and Mechanical Design for Refrigeration System of 10 MW Class HTS Wind Power Generator

A 10 MW class high temperature superconducting (HTS) wind power generator is being developed using REBCO wires for offshore installations. The REBCO coil operates at 35 K and is cooled via forced circulation of helium gas cooled though a heat exchanger in a rotating neon reservoir. Thermal and structural designs should be conducted to ensure that the structure can withstand mechanical stress created by the large torque from the 10 MW power, before building a cryogenic refrigeration system. This paper describes the design of supporting structures and the corresponding thermal characteristics of the HTS magnet. The supporting structure considers Lorentz force in the HTS magnet, fully coupled with an electromagnetic design result of the 10 MW class generator, under full load conditions. To estimate total heat loss, thermal radiation and heat loss at current leads are considered. A thermal analysis combined with cooling channels where the cold helium gas flows is performed to verify if the maximum temperature of the coil meets the design criteria. The analysis and design results are applied to develop a novel “neon-helium hybrid refrigeration system” for the 10 MW HTS wind power generator.