Transient heat transfer analysis of superconducting magnetic levitating flywheel rotor operating in vacuum

摘要

In the present study, transient temperature rise is analyzed in a flywheel type power storage system operated in vacuum environment. The flywheel rotor is levitated by high-temperature-superconducting magnetic bearing to reduce the bearing loss. Though the superconductor is cooled by liquid nitrogen, the temperature of the whole system rises due to Joule heating in the coils of the bearings and the motor during the operation. If the temperature should reach the critical temperature of the permanent magnet used for the magnetic bearings after long time operation, the magnetic bearings lose their effect. The heat generated in the levitated rotor diffuses within it by heat conduction and finally emitted to its surrounding solid materials by thermal radiation from the rotor surfaces across vacuum layer. Numerical simulation is carried out calculating the transient radiative-conductive heat transfer and time-dependent profiles of temperature within the rotor are obtained. The results are compared with the experimentally obtained temperatures by measured a test model of 1kWh power storage and the measured profiles of the temperature rise of the rotor fit very well with the calculated ones. Using this simulation tool, the effects of the surface emissivity of the materials of the rotor and the stator, the temperature of the surrounding casings and the thermal conductivity of the materials on the temperature profiles in the system are estimated.