Paul Boucherot biography
Date of birth : -
Date of death : -
Birthplace : Paris, France
Nationality : French
Category : Arhitecture and Engineering
Last modified : 2011-10-07
Credited as : Engineer, Inventor, Double-cage rotor
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French engineer Paul Boucherot invented the double-cage rotor that made self-starting induction motors possible -- before his work, ignition of an induction motor required a separate (and expensive) attachment. He studied the conduction of electrical energy, was a proponent of alternating current (AC), and calculated what is now called Boucherot's theorem, which defines the total reactive power of a closed AC system. Working with physicist Georges Claude, Boucherot designed a machine to exploit the difference between sea surface and deep undersea water temperatures to trigger flash evaporation for generating electricity. Though their ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) was beyond the technology of their time, it is presently being studied for development by the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Boucherot was interested in using polyphase supplies to power asynchronous motors as early as 1894. The squirrel-cage rotor asynchronous motor was invented by Mikhail Dolivo-Dobrovolsky in 1889 and they were being built industrially from 1891. A problem with asynchronous machines is that they are difficult to start. The coupling to the rotor is weak until it gets moving and the current drawn by the motor is high. Boucherot solved this problem with his discovery of the double cage asynchronous motor in 1912. In fact, Dolivo-Dobrovolsky had already invented the double cage all the way back in 1893 but it was long since forgotten.
