Hydrogenerator with an internally cooled rotor winding of salient pole construction

Abstract

A new and improved winding and pole construction is provided for a hydrogenerator field coil, comprising: a pole cap, and a winding having concentric inner and outer helices of conductor. The conductor has a central bore extending its length, whereby coolant is circulated therethrough. Each helix comprises a plurality of turns of concentric layers of conductor, bottom lead-outs and top lead-outs. The inner helix may be connected hydraulically in parallel and electrically in series to the outer helix. In one embodiment of the invention, the top lead-outs of the inner helix are accessed through an access port cut in the top of the pole cap. In this embodiment, a portion of each turn is skewed one conductor thickness so that the lead-outs may be proximate the access port with a minimum of available winding cross-sectional area not used. In an alternate embodiment, the access port is located in the rotor rim with a portion of each turn skewed by one conductor thickness toward the rim. This winding, and method for winding the pole, permits efficient cooling of winding conductors while at the same time achieves efficient use of available winding area.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.