Full Power Test of a 36.5 MW HTS Propulsion Motor

TLDR

The 36.5 MW HTS propulsion motor was funded by the Office of Naval Research and successfully passed no‑load factory testing in March 2007. A dedicated test facility at the Navy’s Land‑Based Test Site in Philadelphia was built by the Naval Surface Warfare Center to conduct full‑power and full‑torque tests of the motor. The tests confirmed the motor’s performance, demonstrating that the HTS propulsion system is ready for integration into Navy electric‑drive combatants.

Abstract

This paper discusses the full-power testing of a 36.5 MW High Temperature Superconductor (HTS) propulsion motor at the Navy's Land Based Test Site (LBTS) located in Philadelphia, PA. This motor was developed under funding from the Office of Naval Research and passed no-load factory testing at Philadelphia in March 2007. The Naval Surface Warfare Center (Carderock Division - Philadelphia site) designed and installed a test facility at LBTS to support full-power/full-torque testing of the HTS motor delivered to the Navy in 2007. The facility, test plan and full-power and full-torque test results of the HTS propulsion motor are presented. These test results provide the final substantiation that this technology is ready for integration in to a Navy electric drive combatant.