SupraMotor

Superconducting compact claw pole motor

with electrical solid-state cooling
SupraMotor
Superconducting compact claw pole motor
with electrical solid-state cooling

Cover Stainless-steel cryostat Stator claws

Cover on the cryocooler Vacuum chamber for the thermal insula- Magnetic guidance of
and inlet of the cooling air tion of the cold parts and for the thermal the linked flux
and mechanical coupling of the cryocooler

Fan
Forced convection cooling
of the warm end of the cryocooler

Cryocooler Magnetic ring Flange

Cooling unit for solid-state cooling with Permanent magnets arranged Connects GRP and stainless-
cold finger according to the Stirling principle in a ring shape on the rotor steel cryostat with the stator

Holder
Motor fastening

Fibre optics Air duct pipe

Additional optical Cooling air pipe
Superconductor visualisation of the
Double pancake coil made of super- motor speed
conducting tape in the GRP cryostat

GRP cryostat
Vacuum chamber for the thermal
insulation of the superconducting coils

Rotor
External rotor with counter-
interlocking for the timing belt

Roller bearing
Rotor bearing on both sides

Cold coupling Cooling plate

Thermal coupling of the cold finger Filigree cooling plate on the cryocooler
Would you like to bring the diagram to life?
for the convection cooling
Visit www.festo.com/supramotor and find out more!

2 Festo AG & Co. KG SupraMotor: Superconducting compact claw pole motor with electrical solid-state cooling 4
SupraMotor
Superconducting compact claw pole motor
with electrical solid-state cooling
In addition to the SupraMotion movement concepts, Festo is also
investigating technologies for direct superconducting drives.
The company will present the SupraMotor technology platform, a
superconducting claw pole motor with solid-state cooling, for the
first time at the Hannover Messe 2018. It is characterised by a
compact design, a high holding torque and a coolant-free, long-life
electrical direct cooling system.
Loss-free electricity transmission
The drive makes use of the effect that electricity within an appro-
priately cooled superconductor is transmitted without loss. This
allows a strong magnetic field to be generated using very high
currents. The SupraMotor has a high overload capacity and is suit-
able for applications in continuous operation. Overheating due
to conduction losses is ruled out as far as possible thanks to the
resistance-free superconducting coils.
5 Festo AG & Co. KG
Project participants
Project initiator:
Dr Wilfried Stoll, managing partner,
Festo Holding GmbH
Project coordination:
Georg Berner,
Festo Holding GmbH
Project team:
Martin Fuss, Dr. Benjamin Reutzsch, Michael Schöttner,
Festo AG & Co. KG
Low energy demand
It works particularly efficiently at low speeds with very high Technology partners:
torques: if a load has to be held, no energy is used in the drive evico GmbH, Dresden
even at maximum holding torque.
SmartDrives GmbH, Berne
The low energy demand is remarkable: whilst the motor’s output
power is in the double-digit kilowatt range, the total energy used IFW Dresden, Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials
for cooling is in the low three-digit watt range and less than five Research, Dresden
watts in the coil. The motor is currently only operated with low
phase currents, as the ferromagnetic materials available until now
are unable to take larger magnetic flux densities.
Through further research, however, new concepts and materials
could be investigated, which could fully exploit the supercon-
ductor’s current carrying capacity of well over 100 amperes.
The fascination of superconductors
Superconductors are materials with very special properties: if they
are cooled below a certain temperature, their electrical resistance
suddenly drops to zero. Below this so-called transition tempera-
ture, they can also freeze the field of a permanent magnet at a de-
fined gap – meaning that either the magnet or they themselves
start to hover.
Superconductors in automation
The use of superconductors in the industrial automation sector is
still in the development stage. Yet even today, completely new and
efficient processes are conceivable with the technology. This is
why Festo has been looking intensively into superconductivity
technology and its industrial use for years. A wide range of bearing
and movement forms have already been specifically tested with
the SupraMotion projects and turned into possible applications.
Festo is now carrying out investigations with partners and custom-
ers, whose application ideas can be turned into pilot projects.
You can find out exactly how superconductors work and what industrial appli-
cations are possible with the technology at www.festo.com/supra
Festo AG & Co. KG
Ruiter Strasse 82
73734 Esslingen
Germany
50097 en 3/2018
Phone +49 711 347-0
Fax +49 711 347-21 55
cc@festo.com
www.festo.com/supra