Analysis and Experimental Study of LN2 Cooled No-insulation High-Temperature Superconductor Applied Preliminary Magnetohydrodynamic Ship
Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) thruster has relative advantages compared to the traditional motor attached to a ship. Since the thruster has no moving parts, it is free of problems regarding cavitation and noise. It is propelled by Lorentz force, generated by the magnetic field of magnets and electric current between electrodes.
Figure 1: Lorentz’s force and overall design of a ship. The magnetic field is created horizontally and the voltage is applied to electrodes, inducing vertical current from the anode to the cathode. Lorentz’s force is generated in the direction of the external product of the current and magnetic field.Figure 2: Measured and simulated results of MHD ship. Under an operating current of 70.0 A, center magnetic fields are 0.18 T and 0.19 T each. Data regarding actual propulsion is collected from 150 s to 170 s since the ship moved at that interval.
Our research presents the results of the feasibility study, manufacturing, and experiments of a no-insulation (NI) high-temperature superconductor (HTS) applied magnetohydrodynamic ship. The stability of NI HTS allows magnets to flow current up to critical value, which is the maximum current for the superconductor to maintain superconductivity, enabling the ship to be propelled by maximum momentum. Open-ceiling which acts as an entrance of LN2 during the experiment and serial connection of the battery and superconducting magnets are the original design of our team, devised for moving the world’s first NI HTS applied MHD ship.
Figure 3: Experimental result of High-Temperature Superconductor (HTS) applied magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) ship at t = 0 s, t = 10 s, and t = 20 s.Figure 4: Magnetic field distribution around a unit thruster of scale-up MHD ship based on our experimental result.
