MACHINE SYNCHRONE A ENROULEMENTS STATOR ET ROTOR SUPRACONDUCTEURS

A synchronous machine having a rotor fixed to a shaft carried by bearings (23), and having stator and rotor windings (1,2) which are superconducting and which are cooled by very low temperature helium, with each of the windings and the gap (5) therebetween being located in vacuum enclosure, the synchronous machine including the improvement whereby the stator windings are cooled by a bath of liquid helium (12), whereby the rotor windings are cooled by a flow of helium above its critical pressure (14, 15, 16), and whereby said flow of helium above its critical pressure and said liquid helium bath constitute parts of a circuit for cooling helium which is initially under high pressure, which is expanded (8) to a pressure slightly above its critical pressure, which is cooled in a heat exchanger (10) disposed in the liquid helium bath, which is heated by contact with the rotor windings, which is then liquified by further expansion (18), and which finally returned to the liquid helium bath (12).