• Proceedings of the Korea Institute of Applied Superconductivity and Cryogenics Conference
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• 2000.02a
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• pp.180-184
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• 2000

The dymanic properties of the high-Tc superconductor journal bearings used in the KEPRI flywheel energy storage system was experimentally estimated by using the imbalance excitation method. The test reveals that the superconductor bearings have very low stiffness compared to that of typical oil film bearings with similar geometry and almost the same amount of damping as in roller bearings, which may not be helpful for the system to pass through the critical speeds. However, it was found out that the cross-coupled stiffness and damping terms were almost negligible so that the system could be more stable than the one using lil film bearings. Also with proper design of the rotor-bearing system and accurate balancing of the rotor, the high-Tc superconductor bearing is one of the most viable alternatives to the conventional ones due to its oil-free, non-contact running capability in a vacuum environment, which is literally essential for highly efficient flywheel energy storage systems.

• Progress in Superconductivity
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.58-63
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• 2011

Recently, superconductor flywheel energy storage systems (SFESs) have been developed for application to a regenerative power of train, a power quality improvement, the storage of distributed power sources such as solar and wind power, and a load leveling. As the high temperature superconductor (HTS) bearings offer dynamic stability without the use of active control, accurate analysis of the HTS bearing is very important for application to SFESs. Mechanical property of a HTS bearing is the main index for evaluating the capacity of an HTS bearing and is determined by the interaction between the HTS bulks and the permanent magnet (PM) rotor. HTS bearing rotor consists of PM and iron collector and the proper dimension design of them is very important to determine a supporting characteristics. In this study, we have optimized a rotor magnet array, which depends on the limited bulk size and performed various dimension layouts for thickness of the pole pitch and iron collector. HTS bearing rotor was installed into a single axis universal test machine for a stiffness test. A hydraulic pump was used to control the amplitude and frequency of the rotor vibration. As a result, the stiffness result showed a large difference more than 30 % according to the thickness of permanent magnet and iron collector. This is closely related to the bulk stiffness controlled by flux pining area, which is limited by the total bulk dimension. Finally, the optimized HTS bearing rotor was installed into a flywheel system for a dynamic stability test. We discussed the dynamic properties of the superconductor bearing rotor and these results can be used for the optimal design of HTS bearings of the 10kWh SFESs.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.44-50
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• 1998

This paper describes the simulation of the levitation force between permanent magnet and high Tc(critical temperature) superconductor(HTSC). Levitation force is evaluated numerically on the basis of the magnetic vector potential method and the critical state model. The superconductor is approximated to 2-D slab model. By performing computations, the following characteristics have been investigated: the process of the generation of hysteresis, the various hysteretic behaviors. The characteristics of hysteresis are important for the application to magnetic bearing, for the damping and the nonlinear stiffness is related to hysteresis.

• Progress in Superconductivity
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.57-61
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• 2009

A superconductor flywheel energy storage(SFES) system is mainly act an electro-mechanical battery which transfers mechanical energy into electrical form and vice versa. SFES system consists of a pair of non-contacting High Temperature Superconductor (HTS) bearings with a very low frictional loss. But it is essential to design an efficient HTS bearing considering with rotor dynamic properties through correct calculation of stiffness in order to support a huge composite flywheel rotor with high energy storage density. Static properties of HTS bearings provide data to solve problems which may occur easily in a running system. Since stiffness to counter vibration is the main parameter in designing an HTS bearing system, we investigate HTS bearing magnetic force through static properties between the Permanent Magnet(PM) and HTS. We measured axial / radial stiffness and found bearing stiffness can be easily changed by activated vibration direction between PM and HTS bulk. These results are used to determine the optimal design for a 10 kWh SFES.

• Proceedings of the Korea Institute of Applied Superconductivity and Cryogenics Conference
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• 1999.02a
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• pp.121-124
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• 1999

A horizontal axle-type superconductor flywheel energy storage system has many great features such as extensibility and stability compared to the traditional vertical axle-type flywheel systems. In this paper, a prototype flywheel device with a horizontal axle is presented briefly, and the hybrid construction as an essential supplement in superconductor journal bearing design against the levitation drift is proposed.

• Progress in Superconductivity
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.195-202
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• 2012

In this paper, we designed Active Magnetic Bearing (AMB) for large scale Superconductor Flywheel Energy Storage System (SFESS) and PD controller for AMB. And we experimentally evaluated SFESS including hybrid type AMB. The radial AMB was designed to provide force slew rate that was sufficient for the unbalance disturbances at the maximum operating speed. The thrust AMB is a hybrid type where a permanent magnet carries the weight of the flywheel and an electromagnetic actuator generates the dynamic control force. We evaluated the design performance of the manufactured AMB through comparison of FEM analysis and the results of experimental force measurement. In order to obtain gains of PD controller and design a notch filter, the system identification was performed through measuring frequency response including dynamics for the AMBs, a power amp and a sensor using a sine swept test method after levitating the flywheel. Through measuring the current input of the AMBs and the orbit of a flywheel according to rotational speed, we verified excellent control performance of the AMBs with small amount current for the large scale SFESS.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.124-128
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• 2011

This study estimated experimentally the loss distribution caused by magnetic friction in magnetic parts of a superconductor flywheel energy storage system (SFES) to obtain information for the design of high efficiency SFES. Through the spin down experiment using the manufactured vertical shaft type SFES with a journal type superconductor magnetic bearing (SMB), the coefficients of friction by the SMB, the stator core of permanent magnet synchronous motor/generator (PMSM/G), and the leakage flux of the metal parts were calculated. The coefficients of friction by the stator core of PMSM/G in case of using Si-steel and an amorphous core were calculated. The energy loss by magnetic friction in the stator core of PMSM/G was much larger than that in the other parts. The level of friction loss could be reduced dramatically using an amorphous core. Energy loss by the leakage magnetic field was small. On the other hand, the energy loss could be increased under other conditions according to the type of metal nearby the leakage magnetic fields. In manufactured SFES, the rotational loss by the amorphous core was approximately 2 times the loss of the superconductor and leakage. Moreover, the rotational loss by the Si-steel core is approximately 3~3.5 times the loss of superconductor and leakage.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.58 no.9
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• pp.1750-1756
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• 2009

In this paper, 5 kWh class Superconductor Flywheel Energy Storage System (SFES) was constructed including motor/generator, superconductor magnetic bearing(SMB), composite rotor and electromagnetic damper(EMD) system. High speed rotation test was performed after levitating flywheel rotor only using EMD without SMB. the PD controller of EMD was designed. the control system is constructed using xPC which is real time digital control system. the results of high speed rotation test showed that proposed EMD system have sufficient damping in cylindrical mode and conical mode, and vibration of wheel was suppressed below 10 ${\mu}m$.

• Progress in Superconductivity
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.122-126
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• 2006

This paper presents experimental and numerical investigation on heat generation of a bulk HTS for application to a 100 kWh Superconductor Flywheel Energy Storage System(SFES) bearing. An experimental device is manufactured to reproduce varying magnetic field conditions that a bulk HTS may experience during the operation of the 100 kWh SFES. The bulk HTS is directly cooled by a cryocooler while the heat is generated by the eddy currents created by varying magnetic fields induced by a coil. In order to design the cryocooling system for the 100 kWh SFES project, a preliminary experiment to investigate the actual cooling load variation under AC magnetic field has been carried out. In the experiment, two different copper holders were designed and tested. Several temperature sensors were installed on each component of the assembly and the temperatures were measured for several operating conditions of the 100 kWh SFES. The experimental investigation on the thermal response of the bulk HTS and its holder is considered to be a valuable step fur the successful materialization of a large-scale SFES.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.27-31
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• 2019

Large grain YBCO bulk superconductors are fabricated by the top-seeded melt growth (TSMG) or top-seeded infiltration growth (TSIG) method. Both growth methods use at least one of $YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-{\delta}}$, $Y_2BaCuO_5$, $BaCuO_3$ pre-reacted precursor powders. However, the synthesis of the pre-reacted powders includes multiple calcination runs which are cost-bearing and time-consuming. In this work, we report the successful growth of single-domain YBCO bulk superconductors directly by using the powder compact that has been pressed from the mixture of $Y_2O_3$, $BaCuO_3$ and CuO powders without any intermediate grinding step. Single-domain YBCO bulk superconductor has been also prepared by using $Y_2O_3$, $BaO_2$ and CuO powders without intermediate grinding step. Investigations on the trapped magnetic field and microstructure of the melt-processed specimen show that the elimination of the repeated processes of calcinations and pulverization has hardly affected on the crystal growth and the magnetic properties of the grown YBCO bulk superconductors. However, it is thought that the presence of residual carbon affects on the size of Y211 particles in melt-processed YBCO bulk superconductor.