Neon-Helium Hybrid Cooling System for a 10 MW Class Superconducting Wind Power Generator

In this paper, we describe a cooling system for a high temperature superconducting (HTS) magnet of 10 MW class superconducting wind power generator (SWPG). To cool the HTS magnet below 35 K, a novel neon-helium hybrid cooling system is proposed. Neon cools the heat exchanger based on the thermosiphon principle and a cryogenic blower forcibly circulates helium gas between the heat exchanger, attached to a rotating neon vessel, and the HTS magnets. This cooling system has two advantages: applicability to large rotating HTS magnets and high reliability by removing a cryogenic or a high-pressure rotating coupling. To verify the performance of this cooling system, a lab-scale performance evaluation system(PES) is designed. The PES will be proved by cooling the generated heat and penetrated heat of the HTS magnets during operation. This paper describes the detail design process and the preliminary test results of the fabricated cooling system.