Superconducting electric machines in watercraft

Superconductors, especially high temperature superconductors (HTS) are used in electric machines. Superconducting generators and motors have smaller mass and overall dimensions in comparison to conventional machines. Because of these specific quality that solutions are interested for ship propulsion applications. Current density in HTS superconducting winding may be two orders of magnitude higher than in copper windings, which allows to reach two times higher magnetic field density in the gap of synchronous machine, even without iron in the rotor and slots in the stator of the motor. Such design of synchronous machine can substantially reduce the distortion of current and voltage waveforms, as well as the acoustic effects. The construction without iron in rotor and higher magnetic induction makes the superconducting machine, with cooling system, several times lighter than conventional ones. The electric machines could be used in ships and airplanes where smaller dimensions and weight of propulsion equipment results in growth of ship displacement and cargo space. In ship propulsion supplied by generator with frequency converter, high speed generators e.g. 16 000 rpm (800 Hz) and low speed motors e.g. 230 rpm (115 Hz) are preferred for big weight decreasing. Paper presents basic knowledge about superconductors, the construction principles of electric superconducting devices and the examples of generators and motors with HTS winding. The parameters of these superconductor generators and motors were described too