Water electrolysis will be used to produce renewable hydrogen for energy storage and Power-to-X applications in the future renewable-energy-based energy systems. Therefore, the energy efficiency of hydrogen production will probably become a major issue. In this study, the effect of practical supply power converters on the specific energy consumption ofMW-scale alkaline electrolyzers is studied and compared with an ideal DC power supply. The current quality and the stack specific energy consumption are studied in the case of traditional thyristor rectifiers and a transistor-based converter. The stack specific energy consumption is analyzed based on the simulated current waveforms and the electrical equivalent circuit of the electrolyzer stack. It is found that the transistor-based converter offers up to 14% lower electrolyzer stack specific energy consumption than the 6-pulse thyristor rectifier and up to 9.2% lower electrolyzer stack specific energy consumption than the 12-pulse thyristor rectifier as the current varies between 5000A and 1000A. The simulated change in the stack specific energy consumption of the MW-scale alkaline water electrolyzer outweighs the losses occurring in the rectifiers. Further, selection of the AC voltage level may have a more adverse effect on the stack specific energy consumption with the thyristor rectifier topologies compared with the transistor-based topologies.

A high demand for electrification of the transport sector has resulted in a need to provide compact and reliable electric power trains where the electric machine is a key element. The cooling system has a strong impact on the specific torque and power capability of the machine. The selection of the cooling solution should not be based on the steady-state cooling performance only but also on the transient characteristics owing to the typical operational load nature of the propulsion system, where the load is not continuous (as it usually is in industrial applications), but it frequently varies in time depending on the vehicle type and the driving style. This article investigates in detail the cooling capabilities of a direct winding liquid cooling solution and compares it with a traditional frame liquid cooling arrangement in the transient condition. As a result of the comparison, it was found that the location of heat removal close to the heat source makes the temperature transient time faster, which allows to apply overload operating points more frequently.

Direct liquid cooling (DLC) of electrical machine windings is a clearly effectual cooling method for high-torque and high-power-density applications needed, especially, in heavy vehicles. Usually, in electric vehicles, the stator copper winding losses are the most dominating losses during the accelerating or decelerating (recuperation) modes, and therefore, traditional windings may heat up significantly during high-torque periods. Removing the heat directly from the winding in which most of the heat is generated, allows the most straightforward and effective way of cooling. This paper investigates the feasibility of the direct liquid cooling in a radial-flux permanent-magnet traction motor. This case provides experimental information of the behavior of the direct liquid cooling of the windings. The prototype motor equipped with directly liquid-cooled windings is installed in an electric bus so that typical bus load cycles can be tested.

High-speed solid-rotor induction machines (HSIMs) are popular within high-speed (HS) applications because of their high rotor structural integrity and their fairly well-established manufacturing process guaranteeing high quality series products. Designing a new HS electric machine requires a multidisciplinary team to accomplish the machine performance desired. In case of a HS machine design, the components and applied materials often reach their physical limits at the rated operating condition. Therefore, the design process is highly iterative and, thus, a systematic approach has a high potential to reduce the time of the design phase significantly. In this article, a systematic design process is proposed for a modular, multimegawatt (MMW) HSIM with three radial active magnetic bearings. The process includes a traditional multidisciplinary design flow with extra critical aspects of MMW HS machines: manufacturability, bearing system, housing, and operating unit. In addition, the manufactured machine is reported. The proposed systematic design process is described, including several multidisciplinary critical design aspects of HS machinery.

This paper studies a modular permanent magnet synchronous machine (MPMSM) converted from a traditional single-core 24-slot 20-pole tooth-coil winding permanent magnet synchronous machine (TCW PMSM). The performance of the TCW PMSM is compared with the performance of the MPMSM (rearranged from this TCW PMSM) by the finite element method (FEM). It is found that if an electrical machine with a modular structure is designed, the efficiency of the MPMSM may be degraded compared with the conventional structure, especially, if a solid rotor yoke is used. However, the advantages of the proposed MPMSM are related to an option to scale up the machine by applying a certain number of modules, or removing faulty modules (while keeping the healthy modules working). This makes this type of a motor design applicable in certain life-critical applications, or in applications where scaling of the motor power might be needed. As a prototype, a low-power, low-speed generator added to a hook block of a hoist to supply power to measurement electronics is studied.