Moderated By: Ron Sovak -- (Not Moderated) -- Started: 10/31/1996 6:45:00 PM Revision History
American Superconductor (AMSC) is the maker of high temperature superconducting material. By high temperature they mean slightly higher than liquid nitrogen (<-411 deg f). The product that they are making can be formed into wire and virtually no loss due to resistance in trasmitting electricity. Due to the temperature and brittleness of the material I'm not sure if it will ever replace transmission lines. They are working with Relience Electric (division of Rockwell, Inc) on a superconducting electric motor that uses superconducting coils wound from AMSC's product.
This motor has huge potential. As far as motors go, this tecnology is only practical for large motors used in industrial applications. The motor is in a research mode and continuing efforts are scaling up to bigger and bigger applications.
The target is 1000 horsepower for a comercial motor. Currently a 200 hp motor has been demonstrated. A four year estimate is the horizon for a comercial product. A 10,000 hp motor built with this technology would save $100k per year in electrical use! AMSC has recived R&D magazine's 100 best project project awards.
The company is operating on research grants and has other applications. Anyone else following this story? |
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