Northrop Grumman Team to Design Power Generators for Navy Ships

A Northrop Grumman Corporation led team has been selected by the Naval Sea Systems Command(NAVSEA) to begin a design of a 40-megawatt (MW) high-temperature superconductor (HTS) generator intended to provide a smaller, lighter and quieter main power source for future surface combatants. Under this initial nine-month contract, Northrop Grumman Marine Systems, teamed with American Superconductor Corporation, will complete a concept design and explore different configurations ofthe HTS generator while assessing the impact on generator characteristics associated with voltage, phase-count, pole-count and cooling selection. The Navy has an option to exercise an additional 3-year contract worth $3.9 million to continue the trade studies that will help evaluate differences from conventional generator designs while validating weight, size, acoustic performance and cost for a 40-MW high-temperature superconductor generator.

As the program lead, Northrop Grumman will provide trade studies, generator concept design, main turbine generator concept design, systems engineering, systems modeling and integration tasks with the work performed at the company's Marine Systems facility in Sunnyvale, Calif. American Superconductor based in Westborough, Mass., will provide trade studies, determine the electromagnetic parameters for the generator concept design, study superconducting materials, and provide the rotor, exciter and cryogenic systems concept design for the generator.