An HTS-Based Hatchable Transformer-Rectifier

Solutions are sought by the Navy to introduce a new design and/or new technologies to improve transformer-rectifier (T/R) maintainability, with a focus on modularity, hatchability, temperature regulation, and simplicity. The proposed solution by American Maglev Technology of Florida (AMT) and the University of Houston incorporates HTS-based transformers, coupled with LRU control unit partitioning, to minimize size and weight to meet design criteria. These HTS based transformers would be air core, not steel core, and thus eliminating weight and volume of the steel core of the conventional transformer. Air does not magnetically saturate, and so it is possible to attain required magnetic flux levels in smaller volumes. The use of HTS conductors in the transformers allows for much smaller conductors than conventional transformers and thus can be accomplished in a smaller volume. The true value of the following proposal is in the correlation of three areas. First, high temperature superconducting (HTS) tape development has reached a high point in its development. Our team is capable of sending a huge current through Rare Earth Barium Copper Oxide (REBCO) superconductor tape that is 4 mm wide and 1 mm thick, current ranging from 1,000 A to 6,500 A. Second, we know how to striate these tiny tapes with lasers so they can carry ac current at 60 Hz with minimal loss. Third, we know how to configure arrange these small tapes into a combination of solenoids as subunits and toroids as larger units arranged using a multi-turn reel so the magnetic field is self-contained. The result is high performance and light weight for applications such as transformers. All this is within the domain of high temperature superconductors, which can be achieved using ubiquitous, simple liquid air (N2) cryogenics. Manufacturing fabrication has caught up with this progress to the point that hundreds of kilometers of tape are available on the market today. This enables the attainability of powerful, lightweight transformers for the first time.