Mechanical Analysis of Flexible Support for the Superconducting Magnet of an HTS Motor

A high-temperature superconducting (HTS) motor was designed, which employs the HTS wires in the rotor. To support the HTS magnet, the flexible supports are designed, and the design process is summarized as follows. First, the structure of flexible supports was introduced. Second, the force of the support under normal temperature conditions with infinite stiffness of the leaf spring was analyzed. The results show that the axial force of the supports changes alternately in one cycle of rotation with infinite stiffness. Last, the mechanical property of supports under low-temperature conditions with constant stiffness of springs was analyzed. The results show that the error between the theoretical value and the FEA value is only 1.3%, which verifies the correctness of the FEA. And the axial force of the support is increased with the increase in the number of springs.