Low energy dissipation superconducting flywheel based on structural design

Abstract

Superconducting flywheels have potential application value in aerospace field, and its suspension time is a key factor. Alternating Current (AC) loss associated with rotation is an important parameter that affects the suspension time, so it is very important to study how to reduce the AC loss. Recently, a method of preparing YBa2Cu3O7−x (YBCO) high-temperature superconducting flywheels by Direct-Ink-Writing (DIW) 3D printing was developed. In this paper, the circular hole superconducting flywheel prepared by this method is optimized by the idea of structural optimization. Based on the finite element method, the AC loss before and after optimization is calculated and analyzed. It is found that the elliptical holes make the superconducting flywheel have lower AC loss than circular holes, with a reduction of 58.49%. Then, the YBCO superconducting flywheel with an optimized elliptical structure was prepared by the DIW 3D printing method. The magnetic levitation experiment found that the levitation time of the optimized superconducting flywheel was increased to 162 s compared with the previous 120 s under the same conditions, and the optimized structure had a higher levitation mass ratio. It provides theoretical and experimental support for reducing the AC loss of superconductors by applying the idea of structural optimization design in engineering practice.